Total Offense Crashes, Scoring Holds

[cookies]

Mario and Greg McElroy touched on this in their interview wherein they stated — forget talking about how the game was played when Greg played — the college game is much different than it was five to seven years ago.

Total offense was down to its lowest point in a generation last season

The North Texas offense was an irresistible force in the 2025 college football season. Former walk-on quarterback Drew Mestemaker was a revelation as a first-time starter, leading

www.footballscoop.com

Of course, we're not picking on the Mean Green here. They were the best of the bunch, after all: the only team to even surpass the 500-yard per game mark in FBS, the first time that's happened since 2006. Consider: 54 teams averaged at least 400 yards per game last season; 71 did so in the Peak Offense season of 2013, and 67 did so as recently as 2021. Interestingly, the 400-yards-per-game club has held eerily steady of late: exactly 54 teams have averaged 400 yards over the past three seasons, and 55 did so in 2022.

"You heard Nick Saban's comments a couple years back -- playing great defense and scoring 20 points a game wasn't enough anymore," Morris said. "Defensive disguises have gotten a lot better. People are figuring out these RPOs."

Like Morris says in the article about running the ball more, as did Greg and Mario w/ “gut,” play calls.

"I've always thought football goes in waves and history repeats itself. I think people are managing the game more defensive-minded. Watching some of the Big 12 from last year and looking ahead, so much more 12 personnel, 13 personnel. Slowing things down, running the ball," Morris, now the Oklahoma State head coach, said Monday morning on spring break vacation from Hawaii.

"I think motioning is become more and more a thing, and it takes time to motion," Morris said. "Everybody's motion and shifting."

In Morris's case, that also meant running the ball more. North Texas ran the ball on 52 percent of its 992 snaps. That allowed the Mean Green to lead the nation in total offense at just 70.9 snaps per game, a nearly identical rate as Miami in 2024. A decade ago, Texas Tech needed nearly 87 snaps to put up 566.6 yards per game.

The upshot of all this is while total yardage has fallen off the proverbial cliff, scoring has not.
For instance, while averaging "only" 512.4 yards in 2025, North Texas still scored 45.1 points per game. What that means is that while UNT gained 90 percent of the yardage that Texas Tech did to lead the nation in 2016, they scored 99 percent of the points that 2016 national-leader Western Kentucky did (45.4) that same season.

 

[skyman]

Been saying it for awhile, defenses have caught up to the high flying offenses in last couple years, both in NFL and CFB. Look at numbers guys like Mahomes was putting up few years ago and he forced teams to sit in two high shell looks that Fangio is I guess most popular for it in nfl, what McDonald/Minter did in that Michigan era was one of most impressive defenses I saw on cfb level and they rode that to NFL and both are HC and MacDonald just won Super bowl.. That Mich defense to me is what ushered it in cfb game..

Its not a coincidence that Broyles award was dam near all DCs this year, Idk how bobo got an invite, lol.. Haines IU defense had same looks with simulated pressures up front and zone on back end with all types on confusing looks from 2 shell, they stayed in base D and killed QBs with hesitation as they try to decipher rotating looks, is it cover 2, 4, 6, rotating to 1, tampa 2, 3, split coverage? That hesitation allows dline come in unblocked as they use your line calls against you and bring 4 guys to one side while you slide other way..

Heatherman did some of stuff on back end but since year one of install kept front more simple also while having absolute dawgs on line that allowed him to KISS and just hunt upfront.. TTU Shiel Wood is another DC who forces QBs to make adjustments post snap with different looks..

I know Dawson has said his offense is progression based so the way he teaches QBs makes it a little eaiser to deal with these types of defenses but I wont be surprised after IU rode it to championship we dont see most teams lean heavy into these types of looks.. Thats why you see teams like the Rams in NFL who were 99% 3 Wide few years ago completely flipped the script and go TE heavy and run even 3 TE type offense as they felt that was best way to combat Seattle in their base D.. I know Mario loves McVay and his offense so will be interesting to see if we follow that trend (we didnt go portal TE so doubt it and room needs a revamp at moment and it takes awhile to do because position is hard to depend on freshman)

Can go much deeper on this subject because to me its one of biggest trend in football across the board, great topic..

 

[305407cane]

Been saying it for awhile, defenses have caught up to the high flying offenses in last couple years, both in NFL and CFB. Look at numbers guys like Mahomes was putting up few years ago and he forced teams to sit in two high shell looks that Fangio is I guess most popular for it in nfl, what McDonald/Minter did in that Michigan era was one of most impressive defenses I saw on cfb level and they rode that to NFL and both are HC and MacDonald just won Super bowl.. That Mich defense to me is what ushered it in cfb game..

Its not a coincidence that Broyles award was dam near all DCs this year, Idk how bobo got an invite, lol.. Haines IU defense had same looks with simulated pressures up front and zone on back end with all types on confusing looks from 2 shell, they stayed in base D and killed QBs with hesitation as they try to decipher rotating looks, is it cover 2, 4, 6, rotating to 1, tampa 2, 3, split coverage? That hesitation allows dline come in unblocked as they use your line calls against you and bring 4 guys to one side while you slide other way..

Heatherman did some of stuff on back end but since year one of install kept front more simple also while having absolute dawgs on line that allowed him to KISS and just hunt upfront.. TTU Shiel Wood is another DC who forces QBs to make adjustments post snap with different looks..

I know Dawson has said his offense is progression based so the way he teaches QBs makes it a little eaiser to deal with these types of defenses but I wont be surprised after IU rode it to championship we dont see most teams lean heavy into these types of looks.. Thats why you see teams like the Rams in NFL who were 99% 3 Wide few years ago completely flipped the script and go TE heavy and run even 3 TE type offense as they felt that was best way to combat Seattle in their base D.. I know Mario loves McVay and his offense so will be interesting to see if we follow that trend (we didnt go portal TE so doubt it and room needs a revamp at moment and it takes awhile to do because position is hard to depend on freshman)

Can go much deeper on this subject because to me its one of biggest trend in football across the board, great topic..

It’s always ebbs and flows. Trends get trendy. Then it’s back to the other. You always gotta stay ahead of your opponent.

 

[Bender]

Possessions are different and scoring is different. More and more teams go for it on 4th down and succeed at it, which lengthens drives, costs time on the clock and overall reduces the total amount of possessions.

Clock rules have changed, of course, that point has been mentioned on here a lot. Offensive schematics have changed, because defensive personnel at the line of scrimmage just trumps the O-Line. Coverages are simpler, but more flexible. Defenses match personnel far better and have started morph philosophies better. The NT was considered a dying breed not too long ago, now every NFL team looks for one to run lighter personnel behind them.

I also believe that the talent at QB is lacking. Athletically no, cognitively yes. There's less coaching happening and more executing of pre-set plays with no adjustments. Changing protections is a rarity in college football and some pro teams don't have that as we speak. Defenses have given QBs more stuff to think about and immediately, the level drops.

Professionally, we'll get back to more under center, more PA passing, more heavy run sets. It's been the trend. At the college level though? Difficult to predict. Don't think under center is coming in here any time soon, but I think PA percentages will also rise.

 

[NJshoreCane]

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Friday approved a rule change for 2023 that will allow the clock to run after first downs in all divisions except Division III, the NCAA announced on Friday.

Shaw told ESPN on Friday the combined changes are estimated to shorten the game by seven to eight minutes and eight plays.

We averaged 537.2 ypg and 7.57 yyp in '24.
Give us 8 more plays and that puts us right at 600 yards per game.

That would be 3rd best in the last 24 years.

There's no "crashing".
The game has changed, yes, but the rule change is the major culprit here.

 

[cookies]

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Friday approved a rule change for 2023 that will allow the clock to run after first downs in all divisions except Division III, the NCAA announced on Friday.

Shaw told ESPN on Friday the combined changes are estimated to shorten the game by seven to eight minutes and eight plays.

We averaged 537.2 ypg and 7.57 yyp in '24.
Give us 8 more plays and that puts us right at 600 yards per game.

That would be 3rd best in the last 24 years.

There's no "crashing".
The game has changed, yes, but the rule change is the major culprit here.

The rule change is an apart of it, no doubt. Yet, was it the main culprit, trigger puller, or co-conspirator? I don’t believe this to be the case. It appears to be an accessory/accomplice/abettor moreso.

Even with the clock stopping, the paradigm had already been shifting. In the early and mid 10s, there were a handful of teams averaging under 20 seconds per play year by year. As we get to 2018, 2019, skip 2020 (no data showing), 2021 and 2022; that goes down to 3, then 2 then 1 then 0 respectively. In 2023, we stay at 0 and 2024 North Texas is the only team to qualify post rule change. Eric Morris comments about changing things by self-scouting are important in this regard.

The national median speed in 2018 is 26.5 seconds per play. The 2024 national median speed was 26.4 seconds per play. In 2019, there were 37 teams under 24 seconds per play. In 2025, there were only 20.

The rule change has been in place for three seasons. In 2023, 61 teams’ defenses averaged less than 20 first downs per game. In 2024, 55 teams’ defenses averaged less than 20 first downs per game. In 2025, that number was at 58.

In 2003, 58 teams held their opponents to <20 1st downs on average. Pre-rule change, as time goes on, the effects of the explosion of offense overwhelm defenses. In 2013, there were 39 teams’ defense averaging less than 20 first downs per game. Jim Harbaugh goes to Michigan in 2015. 2017, that number shoots back up to 55. In 2021 and 2022, we are at 52 and 49 respectively.

On the high-end flip-side, as in giving up 6 1st downs per quarter average (24 in total), there were 12 teams that did just that in 2003. 21 teams that fit the bill in 2013. 20 teams in 2017. 2018; 16 teams. 2019; 11 teams. The two years prior to the rule change there were 12 and 10 teams that qualified. In the three years after the rule change; 4, then 6, and most recently 6 teams qualified.

Note the variance between two pairings: 2024 and 2017; 2003 and 2025. They match each other on the low end but not on the high end. IMO, this is largely because of the poor Oline performance cited by Mario/McElroy, the reasons given by Eric Morris & footballscoop, and….

Skyman being correct in pointing out Michigan as a turning point and their defenses being the standard bearer in the college football then the league; and vice versa with the Rams offense changing. Tight ends and centers are more valuable now.

To state the obvious, running plays chew more clock and yield less yardage. 2025 North Texas ran the ball 52% of the time yet rushing yards yielded only 38% of their total offense.