Some interesting splits for rushing offense in the SEC

Lots of stats below (rushing yards per attempt vs. P4, SEC, and specific opponents). If you aren’t interested in numbers, this is probably the time to bow out.

Someone made a comment in another thread that LSU was ranked last in the SEC for rushing offense (technically we are second to last, but still bad). One thing I’ve been struggling to wrap my head around is how the level of competition - specifically the Clemson and UF defensive lines - plays into all of this. My theory was that the defensive fronts we’ve faced are probably tougher than what most other teams in the SEC have faced. So, some stats (all numbers are rushing yards per attempt; which I think are more useful than per-game averages):

There are only 6 SEC teams who have played more than 1 P4 opponent so far this year. Those teams are LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Alabama, and Vanderbilt.

Here are the rushing yards per attempt for SEC teams against P4 opponents:
1. Arkansas 5.97
2. Auburn 5.90
3. Missouri 5.55
4. Vanderbilt 5.51
5. Tennessee 5.01
6. Kentucky 4.65
7. Texas 4.49
8. Texas A&M 4.00
9. Ole Miss 3.84
10. LSU 3.64
11. Georgia 3.60
12. Oklahoma 3.45
13. Alabama 3.12
14. South Carolina 3.11
15. Florida 2.93
16. Mississippi State 2.20

The teams who have played two P4 opponents are in bold above.

So what about vs. SEC opponents? Only 9 SEC teams have played a conference game so far:
1. Arkansas 5.97
2. Kentucky 4.65
3. Vanderbilt 3.95
4. Ole Miss 3.84
4. LSU 3.84
6. Tennessee 3.68
7. Georgia 3.60
8. South Carolina 2.97
9. Florida 2.93

My next thought was.. of the teams who have played multiple P4 opponents, who were the opponents?

Here are the individual game rushing averages per attempt, ranked from highest to lowest:
Vanderbilt @ Va Tech 7.1
Tennessee N Syracuse 6.2
Ole Miss @ Kentucky 4.6
Vanderbilt @ South Carolina 3.9
LSU vs. Florida 3.8
Tennessee vs. Georgia 3.7
LSU @ Clemson 3.5
Alabama vs. Wisconsin 3.3
South Carolina N Va Tech 3.2
Ole Miss vs. Arkansas 3.0
South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt 3.0
Alabama @ Florida State 3.0

The last thing I looked at was the teams we’ve played, and how other teams’ rushing offenses performed against them. Here are the individual game rushing averages per attempt against the teams we’ve faced:
USF @ Florida 4.4
LSU vs. Florida 3.8
LSU vs. La Tech 3.8
LSU @ Clemson 3.5
Ga Tech vs. Clemson 3.5
Southeastern @ La Tech 2.9
Troy @ Clemson 2.4
New Mexico St @ La Tech 1.6
LIU @ Florida 1.2

I find a few things interesting about these stats:
- Most of the SEC seems to be struggling to run the ball against P4 competition, oddly.
- I do believe that LSU has faced stronger rushing defenses than most (if not all) other teams in the SEC so far.
- In this context LSU’s rushing numbers don’t look good, but they also don’t look as cataclysmic as they do without the context. Maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Take it for what it’s worth. Maybe not much. I was just a little surprised at the numbers and thought I’d share with the board.

One last note.. Ole Miss is ranked dead last in the SEC for rushing defense (opponent rush yards per attempt) at 5.36. They are also dead last against P4 opponents at 5.31 yards per attempt. They gave up 5.5 ypc to Georgia State. If we still struggle against them.. that would worry me more than anything we’ve seen so far.