YAC kings: How Mizzou, FSU, NC State and more are bringing back the run game

Florida State began the play with a paradigm-shifting (or possibly paradigm reshifting) blowout of Alabama. After going 2-10 a twelvemonth ago, the Seminoles are backmost successful the AP apical 10 similar 2024 ne'er happened.

Indiana mislaid a fig of cardinal contributors from past year's College Football Playoff team, but the unbeaten Hoosiers conscionable perfectly crushed a top-10 Illinois team. Texas Tech conscionable went to Salt Lake City, played a carnal Utah squad connected its ain terms, and walloped the Utes, 34-10, contempt losing starting backmost Behren Morton to wounded midway done the game.

Missouri is present 25-5 since the commencement of 2023. Like Indiana, the Tigers mislaid a fig of players aft past play but nailed a bid of transportation portal acquisitions and person started this play 4-0. And aft a quiescent offseason with much middling headlines than positives, USC, 15-11 successful 2023-24, is averaging 52.5 points per crippled and is already 2-0 successful Big Ten play. BYU and Washington person outscored their archetypal six opponents by 226 combined points (and BYU has done truthful contempt starting a existent freshman quarterback).

UNLV and Navy are unbeaten. Georgia is, too, though that one's not a surprise. Virginia is 3-1 and has astir cracked the SP+ apical 40 for the archetypal clip since the 2010s. Iowa is 3-1 and has scored much than 30 points 3 times, which I didn't adjacent recognize was ineligible successful Iowa.

These 12 teams are a combined 41-2. Some were expected to beryllium bully but are great. Some had debased to middling expectations but are intelligibly precise good. What's the concealed to their comparatively astonishing success? They are 2025's assemblage shot YAC kings.

Net YAC leaders are overachievers

YAC, of course, stands for yards aft contact. It's 1 of the astir satisfying-sounding acronyms successful the past of the satellite -- "YACK!" -- and looking astatine rushing yards gained and allowed aft contact, successful a measurement we'll telephone nett YAC, gives america a beauteous bully database of 2025 occurrence stories.

Now, yards are yards. They pb to points, and astir immoderate nett yardage fig you travel up with volition astir apt springiness you a database of palmy teams astatine the top. But the yards astatine the extremity of a tally play, aft execution has played retired and it's down to axenic physicality, adhd up. They springiness reasonably talented teams chances to go winners and highly talented teams chances to go champs. Not each YAC is the aforesaid -- a defender nicking your ankle arsenic you tally by counts conscionable the aforesaid arsenic moving implicit a linebacker -- and you can't number connected making the apical of this database each twelvemonth (though Georgia and the work academies travel close). But erstwhile you do, you're astir apt going to execute astatine a precocious level.

Last year's apical six teams successful nett YAC per crippled included 3 playoff teams with unthinkable moving backs (Ashton Jeanty astatine Boise State, Cam Skattebo astatine Arizona State and Read Entire Article