The 2023 college football season still has a long way to go, but with three weeks gone, the rankings are certainly starting to come together.
Each Sunday, teams wait to hear where they will rank in the AP Top 25, but those aren't the only rankings that tell us what's going on with a team.
On the football field, the ability of a team to make the most of their drives on offense and defense is key. So who is doing that the best so far?
Let's look at how each Top 25 team ranks in points per drive on offense and defense.
All stats courtesy of BCFToys.com.
College football rankings: Comparing offensive points per drive
- USC [Actual AP rank: 5] — 5.04
- Oklahoma [16] — 4.72
- Washington [8] — 4.56
- Michigan [2] — 4.00
- Oregon [10] — 4.00
- Florida State [4] — 3.82
- Notre Dame [9] — 3.82
- Ohio State [6] — 3.61
- Miami [20] — 3.60
- Oregon State [14] — 3.39
- Texas [3] — 3.28
- Ole Miss [15] — 3.23
- Duke [18] — 3.11
- Georgia [1] — 3.06
- LSU [12] — 3.00
- North Carolina [17] — 2.97
- UCLA [22] — 2.95
- Washington State [21] — 2.90
- Penn State [7] — 2.83
- Colorado [19] — 2.83
- Tennessee [23] — 2.76
- Alabama [13] — 2.52
- Iowa [24] — 2.03
- Utah [11] — 2.00
- Florida [25] — 1.90
Caleb Williams is leading USC's offense as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, so it's no surprise to see the Trojans topping the charts in terms of offensive points per drive.
Oklahoma may not be a Top 5 team according to the voters, but the Sooners offense is as close as anyone comes to rivaling the effectiveness of USC.
Washington with Michael Penix running the show is also storming through the opposition so far this season.
The least effective offenses in the Top 25 so far? It's no surprise to see Iowa in that bottom five. Utah without Cam Rising also makes sense down there. But Alabama and Tennessee? Those were supposed to have high-powered offenses, yet the Crimson Tide rank No. 44 nationally in points per drive while the Volunteers are No. 35.
What about the defense?
College football rankings: Comparing defensive points per drive
- Michigan [Actual AP rank: 2] — 0.25
- Ohio State [6] — 0.68
- Georgia [1] — 0.74
- Duke [18] — 0.74
- Washington [8] — 0.85
- Iowa [24] — 0.97
- USC [5] — 1.03
- Oklahoma [16] — 1.04
- UCLA [22] — 1.05
- Utah [11] — 1.09
- Oregon State [14] — 1.12
- Washington State [21] — 1.14
- Notre Dame [9] — 1.17
- Texas [3] — 1.19
- Alabama [13] — 1.19
- Penn State [7] — 1.22
- Florida State [4] — 1.48
- Oregon [10] — 1.57
- Miami [20] — 1.71
- Tennessee [23] — 1.77
- North Carolina [17] — 1.84
- Ole Miss [15] — 1.87
- Florida [25] — 1.90
- Colorado [19] — 1.94
- LSU [12] — 2.50
The Big Ten powers of Michigan and Ohio State have taken care of business on defense in the opening portion of the season.
Colorado's offense has flipped the script this year but their defense still has a lot of work to do. But no one expected the Buffaloes to field a shutdown defense right away.
The real surprise here is LSU, which ranks No. 90 nationally in defensive points per drive. It doesn't help that they gave up 45 points to Florida State to start the year. They'll be digging themselves out of that hole for a while.
