Ad Disclosure
Explosive plays are the reason most of us watch football.
There’s nothing more exciting than holding your breath as your favorite quarterback lets one fly 50 yards down the field, or when the conference’s most exciting running back slips through a seam and has nothing but daylight in front of him.
So this season, we’re going to be tracking explosive plays for each team … how well they’re able to produce them, and how they are able to defend them.
The numbers may get a little skewed early based on non-conference opponents, but this should even out as the season goes along.
For the purposes of this story, SDS defines an explosive play as a run of at least 20 yards or a pass of at least 30 yards.
EXPLOSIVE PLAY MARGIN
This is the ultimate measure of how well a team is performing in the explosive plays department. It is simply a tally of explosive plays created measured out against the amount of explosive plays allowed. If your team has made more explosive plays than they have given up, there’s a good chance they are doing something right.
Ole Miss retained its spot atop the list with a plus-2 performance in Week 2. Alabama and Missouri were the biggest risers this week with plus-5 efforts.
The Missouri defense has yet to allow a single explosive play. Of note, the vaunted Auburn offense is tied for 13th in the SEC with just three explosive plays.
| TEAM | MARGIN | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1. Ole Miss | +8 | 13 | 5 |
| T1. Alabama | +8 | 9 | 1 |
| T3. Georgia | +7 | 10 | 3 |
| T3. Missouri | +7 | 7 | 0 |
| T5. Arkansas | +3 | 7 | 4 |
| T5. Texas A&M | +3 | 8 | 5 |
| T7. Kentucky | +2 | 10 | 8 |
| T7. Mississippi State | +2 | 7 | 5 |
| T7. Florida | +2 | 6 | 4 |
| 10. LSU | +1 | 2 | 1 |
| 11. Auburn | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 12. Tennessee | -2 | 5 | 7 |
| 13. Vanderbilt | -3 | 3 | 6 |
| 14. South Carolina | -4 | 5 | 9 |
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: OFFENSE
This will be the area in which we break down how the explosive plays are happening for each team.
Given their scores in each of the first two weeks, it is no surprise to see the Rebels atop this list. They are balanced too.
Georgia’s rushing attack has the Bulldogs near the top, and Kentucky is sneaking up there behind the production of QB Patrick Towles and RB Stanley “Boom” Williams.
| TEAM | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS | RUSHES FOR 20+ | PASSES FOR 30+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ole Miss | 13 | 7 | 6 |
| T2. Georgia | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| T2. Kentucky | 10 | 6 | 4 |
| 4. Alabama | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| 5. Texas A&M | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| T6. Arkansas | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| T6. Mississippi State | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| T6. Missouri | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| 9. Florida | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| T10. Tennessee | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| T10. South Carolina | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| T12. Auburn | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| T12. Vanderbilt | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 14. LSU | 2 | 2 | 0 |
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: DEFENSE
Much like the offensive rankings above, we’ve taken similar effort to breakdown exactly how the SEC defenses are allowing explosive plays.
Again, while Southeast Missouri and Arkansas State aren’t the stiffest competition, it is still impressive that Missouri’s defense has yet to allow an explosive play.
Vanderbilt was one of the week’s biggest duds in this department, allowing five explosive plays to Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and the Georgia rushing offense.
| TEAM | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED | RUSHES FOR 20+ | PASSES FOR 30+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Missouri | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T2. LSU | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T2. Alabama | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T4. Georgia | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| T4. Auburn | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| T6. Arkansas | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| T6. Florida | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| T8. Mississippi State | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| T8. Texas A&M | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| T8. Ole Miss | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 11. Vanderbilt | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 12. Tennessee | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| 13. Kentucky | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| 14. South Carolina | 9 | 7 | 2 |
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
