College football rankings: Top 10 team performances of Week 3 – Alabama nearly perfect

The Terrific 10, our weekly college football rankings utilizing on-field games grades for every FBS team, explores the best of the best in Week 3.

Since the invention of the College Football Playoff, national discussion of the sport has largely shifted. For decades, pollsters awarded the “most deserving” teams with national championships, placing a heavy emphasis on wins and losses above all else.

However, recent seasons have given rise to the belief the four “best” teams should play for the title, and strong teams should be rewarded – or at least not heavily penalized – for well-played losses against quality opponents. Meanwhile an undefeated team with a pillow-soft schedule coast to a playoff spot. In other words, teams should be evaluated by how well they played, and who they played against, and not their final record alone.

Similar thinking led CFB Winning Edge to develop its Team Performance ratings. Since it began tracking FBS college football in 2018, CFB Winning Edge has assigned a game grade to every team in every game it has played based on a variety of statistical factors, and adjusted so that games against high-quality opponents carry more weight. Grades fall on a 60-100 scale.

Here are the top 10 Team Performance ratings for Week 3 of the 2019 college football season:

CFB Winning Edge Team Performance ratings are pretty harsh on games against FCS opponents, so Tennessee’s spot in the Terrific 10 is an indication of just how thoroughly the Vols dominated Chattanooga.

The defense led the way as Tennessee held the Mocs to an incredible 2.9 yards per pass attempt. For reference, Rutgers ranked last among FBS teams with an average of 4.5 yards per pass in 2018. The Vols also forced four interceptions (five turnovers overall), in a 45-0 victory.

The shutout, coupled with an efficient offensive performance and a special teams touchdown, meant Tennessee outscored Chattanooga by an average of 0.79 points per play, which was the fifth-best ratio of the week.

Most fans – of the Gators or otherwise – would be shocked to see Florida ranked No. 9 after escaping Lexington with a 29-21 win Saturday night. But Florida did several things really well, and the Wildcats are a quality SEC team.

First of all, quarterbacks Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask (who saved the day following Franks’ season-ending ankle injury), combined to throw for 300 yards and averaged 10.0 yards per attempt. Yards per pass is one of the most correlated statistics to overall team success. Only three FBS quarterbacks surpassed 10.0 YPP through the entire 2018 season, and only 14 teams are currently averaging double-digits this year.

Secondly, the Gators finished with a season-best 7.68 yards per play (which was admittedly boosted by Josh Hammond’s 76-yard touchdown run that iced the game in the fourth quarter). Coupled with a stingy defense that held the Wildcats to a mediocre 5.36 yards per play (which would rank No. 88 on the FBS leaderboard this season, and No. 95 a year ago) and forced four turnovers, the Gators out-gained UK by an average of 2.33 yards per play.

Given Kentucky is a Top-40 team with Top 25 talent, the numbers were impressed on all accounts.

It doesn’t get much better than a 55-0 victory. Georgia averaged 11.8 yards per pass and 8.1 yards per carry offensively against Arkansas State while combining for 656 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs also allowed just 220 total yards, including a 4.4-yard average on passes, and 1.5 yards per rushing attempt. Put it all together, and the Dawgs out-gained the Red Wolves by an average of 6.7 yards per carry, which was the second-best average of the week behind Louisiana (the Ragin’ Cajuns were plus-7.06 in a 77-6 win over Texas Southern) and the fourth-best among all FBS teams this year.

Is it crazy to think Ohio State lost Urban Meyer and got better? The Buckeyes were dominant once again Saturday, beating Indiana 51-10 in the Big Ten opener. J.K. Dobbins and Master Teage spearheaded a rushing attack that rolled up 306 yards and averaged 7.3 yards per carry, and the Buckeyes defense suffocated the Hoosiers’ rushing offense, holding Indiana to 42 yards on 31 carries – an average of 1.4 yards per attempt. Ryan Day’s squad now ranks No. 3 in the country in Team Performance (95.31 average rating) through the first three weeks of the season.

Western Michigan ranked No. 82 in Team Performance coming into Week 3. The Broncos earned a 67.05 game grade in a loss to Michigan State, which kept the squad out of the Terrible 10 by a mere 0.97 points last week. But Tim Lester’s squad bounced back in a big way with a dominant 57-10 win over Georgia State.

The Broncos needed just 65 offensive plays to score 57 points, an average of 0.88 points per snap that ranked No. 7 in the nation last week. Western Michigan posted plus-0.73 points per play for the game, which ranked ninth overall. The star of the day was LeVante Bellamy, who ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 attempts. As a unit, the Western Michigan rushing attack averaged 10.2 yards per carry while rolling up 450 yards on the ground.

Washington also bounced back from an ugly performance in Week 2. The Huskies notched a 72.13 grade while sleepwalking through a 20-19 lightning-delayed loss to Cal – but appeared to be wide awake while jumping out to a 38-0 first-half lead against Hawaii. Though Washington eased up a bit and the Rainbow Warriors pulled to within a 38-20 margin in the third quarter, the Dawgs prevailed 52-20.

Jacob Eason threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 10.5 yards per pass, and Washington averaged 6.1 yards per carry. The defense held Hawaii to just 254 passing yards (the Rainbow Warriors threw for 857 yards combined against Arizona and Oregon State), and picked off quarterback Cole McDonald three times to win the turnover battle 3-0.

Sure, Trevor Lawrence hasn’t looked like the football god we anointed him to be during his magical true freshman campaign, but the Clemson quarterback still threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns in a tough road environment and led his No. 1 Tigers squad to a 41-6 victory over Syracuse. Lawrence’s two picks meant Clemson actually finished minus-1 in turnover ratio for the game, but it didn’t matter as the Tigers out-gained the Orange 612-187 overall and by an average of 5.99 yards per snap (fourth-best of Week 3). Clemson held Syracuse to just 15 rushing yards on 42 attempts (0.4 yards per carry), thanks in large part to eight sacks.

By now you probably know the magic number for passing yards per attempt is 10, and anything better is elite. Former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray set a national record with 11.6 yards per attempt in 2018 (adjusted AY/A of 13, according to Sports Reference), and Jalen Hurts leads the nation with an unbelievable 14.4-yard (17.4 AY/A) average through three weeks.

Well, Notre Dame averaged 16.1 yards per pass against New Mexico. Ian Book threw for 360 yards and five touchdowns without an interception on 24 attempts – an average of 15.0 yards per attempt. ‘Bout sums it up.

Jalen Hurts is ridiculous. Not only is Hurts on pace to shatter Murray’s national yards-per-pass record, but he has also been just as good on the ground. Hurts ran for 150 yards on just 14 carries in Oklahoma’s 48-14 beatdown of UCLA. Through three games with the Sooners, Hurts has 373 rushing yards (No. 6 nationally, and the best by a quarterback by 145 yards) on just 38 carries, an average of 9.82 yards per attempt, which is third-best among FBS players with at least 30 carries this season.

Thanks to Hurts and the bevy of talented playmakers around him, OU leads the nation with an average of 10.46 yards per play. By the way, the Sooners’ 8.6-yard average per snap in 2018 was the highest on record, and the 8.29 yards per play the team averaged in 2017 is second best to date.

It’s no wonder Oklahoma ranks No. 1 in the nation in net yards per play (plus-5.03) despite a defense that has surrendered 5.43 yards per snap, which currently ranks 70th in the country – but is still an improvement over the 6.13 yards is allowed on average in 2018.

On the surface, a 43-20 victory over South Carolina wouldn’t appear worthy of a nearly-perfect game grade. But keep in mind, Alabama averaged an outstanding 12.7 yards per pass attempt (quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was 28-for-36 for 444 yards and five touchdowns without an interception), and though the Gamecocks threw for 324 yards, freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski needed 57 pass attempts to do it (5.7 yards per pass). Hilinski also lost a fumble and threw an interception, while the Tide never turned the ball over.

The Crimson Tide passing attack has relied heavily on short passes and long yardage after the catch to overcome what has been a somewhat disappointing traditional running game. Though Alabama only averaged 3.0 yards per carry and finished with 76 rushing yards in Week 3, the Tide still averaged 8.92 yards per play, which was a top-10 performance of the week.

Defensively, Alabama held the Gamecocks to 5.34 yards per snap, which works out to plus-3.58 yards per play. And the final score was more impressive than it appeared as the Crimson Tide allowed a meaningless (not meaningless!) garbage-time touchdown with 11 seconds left to play.

As a result, Alabama posted its highest game grade of the season and sits No. 1 overall through three weeks.

Terrific 10: The 10 best teams so far in the 2019 season