These college football rankings take a look at the best team performances from the previous week. Introducing the Terrific 10.
College football teams across the country emerged from a long offseason to take the field this weekend. We watched the games, reviewed the highlights, and read through the post-game recaps for the entire slate of games for Week 1 of the 2019 college football season. Some teams struggled to shake off the rust that had accumulated since the end of last year, while others fielded the bigger, faster, stronger, best-shape-of-my-life players we’ve heard about since spring practice.
But final scores and box scores can be deceiving. In order to analytically assess the performance of every team on the field, CFB Winning Edge developed a Team Performance rating, which dives deep into the statistics of every game, while also accounting for the strength (or weakness) of each opponent, in order to assign a game grade from 60-100.
Just because one team beat another 55-3 or 79-0 doesn’t mean it truly captured the most impressive performance of the weekend. But by dominating categories like net yards per play, points per possession, turnover margin, and more, we can determine the best of the best.
And with that in mind, we offer our first Terrific 10 of 2019: the top 10 team performances of Week 1. This is a top 10 ranking based strictly on the previous game, not a reflection of the 10 best teams, or a projection of the AP Top 25. These college football rankings capture the essence of weekly domination and team performance.
Following a 24-20 come-from-behind upset victory over South Carolina, Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels now need just one more win to match last year’s win total. North Carolina outgained the Gamecocks 483-270, true freshman quarterback Sam Howell averaged 10.2 yards per pass attempt, and the Heels gained an average of 16.3 yards per completion.
UNC won the turnover battle 2-1 thanks to a pair of interceptions from Myles Woolfolk, and the Tar Heels limited South Carolina to 4.43 yards per play defensively – which would be an improvement of 1.55 yards per play compared to its performance in 2018.
Maryland was the only FBS team to average more than one point per play in Week 1, needing only 78 offensive snaps in its 79-0 win Saturday. Though it’s important to celebrate win No. 1 for new head coach Mike Locksley and to recognize the poignancy of the No. 79 on the scoreboard following the tragic loss of Jordan McNair in 2018, we must also recognize Howard doesn’t pose a threat anywhere close to what the Terps will see in the Big Ten East.
Still, Maryland posted a net yards per play average of plus-6.79. In more than 1,700 team games in 2018, only five FBS teams produced a higher number.
Boston College looked explosive offensively and captured a huge ACC victory with its 35-28 upset win over Virginia Tech Saturday. Though 10.2 yards per pass attempt is excellent (only three FBS offense averaged more than 10 yards per pass in 2018) the story of the day was the Eagles forcing five turnovers, including three interceptions. BC also held the Hokies to just 2.3 yards per carry, which allowed a young Eagles secondary to pounce on the passing game.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw a pair of interceptions, but the rest of the Clemson starting unit looked close to perfect on offense. Travis Etienne scored three times and ran for 205 yards on just 12 attempts to spearhead a rushing attack that rolled to 411 yards and averaged 8.4 yards per carry. Only Oklahoma (9.57) was harder to stop on the ground.
The CFB Winning Edge Team Strength ratings doubt Cincinnati has what it takes to repeat last year’s 11-win run of success. We even projected the Bruins to pull off an upset on the road. However, the Bearcats proved us wrong – at least for one week – by suffocating the Bruins offense. UCLA managed just 3.52 yards per play, including 1.72 yards per carry. Though Cincinnati was far from explosive on offense, the Bearcats managed a solid 2.04-yard edge in net yards per play – one of just 20 FBS teams at plus-2 or better – despite ranking 71st with an average of 5.56 yards per play on offense.
Facing a handful of suspensions and preseason injuries, Alabama started slowly in its neutral-site matchup with Duke. But the Crimson Tide came to life offensively in the second quarter and looked like the Alabama of old in the second half in its 42-3 victory in Atlanta. The defense was dominant throughout, stuffing a pair of important fourth-down opportunities to keep the Blue Devils out of the end zone, and forcing three turnovers in the second half.
Georgia wasn’t perfect in Week 1, but the Bulldogs completely outclassed an SEC opponent on the road in the season opener. The Dawgs were just 1-for-7 on third downs, managed a mediocre 6.8 yards per pass attempt, and racked up 115 penalty yards. Nevertheless, the ground game was dominant as Georgia averaged 8.1 yards per carry, which was the third-best of the week behind only Oklahoma (9.57) and Clemson (8.39). Georgia also averaged 3.97 yards per play more than it allowed in the 30-6 victory.
Few teams put together a more complete performance in Week 1 than Wisconsin. The Badgers went on the road to hot, humid Tampa, and looked like the better-conditioned team in front of a prime time national television audience. The Wisconsin defense outscored USF 6-0 in a 49-0 blowout of one of the most talented teams in the AAC and held the Bulls to 4.0 yards per pass attempt, 1.1 yards per carry, and a combined 3-for-16 performance on third and fourth downs.
LSU dominated Georgia Southern on both sides of the football in its 55-3 victory. Ed Orgeron’s defense held the Eagles’ triple-option offense to just 98 total yards on 50 plays, an average of 1.96 yards per play that ranked best among FBS teams against FBS opponents in Week 1. The Tigers also averaged a solid 6.56 yards per play against what should be one of the best defenses in the Sun Belt Conference this year and won the turnover battle as well.
We had to wait until Sunday to see the top performance of Week 1. New Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts looked like the next Heisman Trophy winner for the Sooners while passing for 332 yards and three touchdowns and running for 176 yards and three more scores. But diving deeper, we see Hurts averaged a gaudy 14.4 yards per pass attempt while completing 20 of 23 passes. He also averaged 11 yards per carry. Both numbers are unheard of.
And while Hurts was the star of the game and boosted the offense, the defense showed much-needed improvement. OU held Houston quarterback D’Eriq King to 6.2 yards per pass, and keep the Cougars in check to the tune of 5.91 yards per play. Given the Sooners averaged an incredible 11.25 yards per play on offense, the net result (+5.53) was just the best in Week 1 this season, it would have been a top 25 result in 2018 as well.
For reference, the Sooners 97.53 Team Performance rating would have been the 12th best of the 2018 season. So there’s plenty of time for Hurts and Oklahoma to take aim at No. 1.