A Brief History of College Football Knockouts

As I said in my last post, I was able to redefine the college football knockout because I found detailed drive data from fbsdrivestats.com. Every FBS vs. FBS game since 2005 is included. So that means we have 10 whole seasons of numbers to dig through.

As a reminder, the new definition is

A knockout occurs after the last play in which the losing team had possession while within one score (8 points).

I'm going to leave much of the digging to whomever wishes to do so. Want to use this stat in a ranking of your own? Go for it. Want to see how a particular team has improved or worsened through the years? Take it away. Want to compare coaches rather than teams? Good idea! Got another idea for how to use this? Please, show us!

KO time for every game since 2005: URL or downloadable .CSV

Average KO time for every team since 2005: URL or downloadable .CSV

Now, let me show off a few things.

Best/Worst Average KOs

The best KO averages since 2005.

Year	Team	Wins	Losses	Avg KO	rk
2012	Oregon	11	1	40:26	1
2010	Boise St.	12	1	40:23	2
2013	Florida St.	13	0	39:56	3
2012	Alabama	12	1	38:40	4
2011	Boise St.	12	1	38:14	5
2008	Florida	12	1	36:15	6
2008	Oklahoma	11	2	35:41	7
2010	TCU	12	0	35:06	8
2011	Alabama	11	1	34:35	9
2013	Alabama	10	2	33:50	10

Oregon has had two shots at the national title in the last 10 years (2010, 2014), but a three point loss to Stanford prevented the 2012 team from making it three. The only opponents to make it past halftime were Stanford and Cal (and the Ducks ended the Cal game with five straight TDs for a final of 59-17).

It's no surprise to see Bosie State listed twice. They have been a very good team in a weak conference for most of the last 10 years. It's also no surprise to see Florida State's 2013 team listed at number 3 (and for the same reasons).

Now, the worst averages since 2005.

Year	Team	Wins	Losses	Avg KO	rk
2006	Utah St.	1	11	-37:05	1205
2012	New Mexico St.	0	11	-37:27	1206
2013	Eastern Michigan	1	10	-37:38	1207
2011	New Mexico	1	10	-37:39	1208
2005	New Mexico St.	0	12	-38:15	1209
2008	North Texas	1	11	-40:06	1210
2005	Temple	0	11	-40:43	1211
2013	Cal	0	11	-40:56	1212
2008	Washington St.	1	11	-42:04	1213
2009	Washington St.	1	11	-44:53	1214

Ouch. Washington State could only stick with opponents for about a quarter in 2009. And they weren't much better the year before.

As you well know, Auburn has had it's ups and downs over the last 10 years. It's no surprise that 2012 delivered Auburn's worst average KO time of -18:18. On average, the fourth quarter wasn't worth playing.

But it is surprising that the 2005 team has the best average KO time of the last decade despite three losses. As fun as 2010 and 2013 were, there were a lot of close calls. Our Tigers got plenty of W's, but you and your heart know too well just how many of those games went to the wire. The 2005 team blew a lot of teams out of the water and of its three losses, two were knockouts in the last  three minutes.

Year	Team	Wins	Losses	Avg KO	rk	Yearly rk
2005	Auburn	8	3	22:37	80	5
2006	Auburn	11	2	10:28	295	28
2007	Auburn	8	4	6:09	418	40
2008	Auburn	4	7	1:48	544	55
2009	Auburn	7	5	5:27	440	44
2010	Auburn	13	0	17:22	160	17
2011	Auburn	7	5	-7:23	810	79
2012	Auburn	2	9	-18:18	1044	105
2013	Auburn	11	2	11:53	263	30
2014	Auburn	7	5	9:46	314	31

Quickest KOs

Just how quickly can a game get out of hand? Would you believe less than 60 seconds?

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO	rk
2008	09/06/08	Washington St.	3		Cal	66		59:08	1
2014	10/04/14	Indiana	49		North Texas	24		59:06	2
2010	10/09/10	Ball St.	16		Western Michigan	45		59:01	3
2012	10/20/12	Louisiana Tech	70		Idaho	28		58:58	4
2010	11/20/10	Tulane	14		Central Florida	61		58:48	5
2009	11/28/09	Houston	73		Rice	14		58:41	6
2011	09/10/11	Middle Tennessee	21		Georgia Tech	49		58:35	7
2013	11/16/13	Wisconsin	51		Indiana	3		58:30	8
2007	10/20/07	West Virginia	38		Mississippi St.	13		58:27	9
2007	09/01/07	Oklahoma	79		North Texas	10		58:26	10

The Cal Bears claimed the quickest KO when they beat those poor 2008 Cougars 66-3. Cal scored a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, intercepted a Wazzu pass on the third, and scored again on the fifth. The Cougars never had the ball down one score again.

As you would expect, a lot of these games involve non-BCS/Group of 5 teams. What if we only look at BCS/Power 5 matchups?

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO	rk
2008	09/06/08	Washington St.	3		Cal	66		59:08	1
2013	11/16/13	Wisconsin	51		Indiana	3		58:30	8
2007	10/20/07	West Virginia	38		Mississippi St.	13		58:27	9
2012	01/02/13	Florida	23		Louisville	33		58:11	13
2009	10/31/09	Tennessee	31		South Carolina	13		58:08	15
2012	10/27/12	Oregon	70		Colorado	14		58:05	16
2014	11/08/14	Kentucky	31		Georgia	63		57:58	18
2006	10/21/06	Arkansas	38		Mississippi	3		57:49	20
2014	11/22/14	Baylor	49		Oklahoma St.	28		57:49	21
2009	11/07/09	Arizona	48		Washington St.	7		57:48	23

Most of these are total blowouts, so how did Florida get KO'd with that much time left and still only lose by 10? Well, the Gators threw a pick six on the first play from scrimmage and then went three-and-out on the next possession. The Cardinals would go up by 14 after their next drive and that lead would be the same at halftime. Louisville pushed the lead to 33-10 before two Florida touchdowns in the last eight minutes of the game made the final look respectable, but in reality, the Cardinals controlled that game from start to finish.

Auburn's quickest KO came against Florida-Atlantic in 2013. Auburn scored on its first drive, forced a fumble and then scored on the next play. Jeremy Johnson came in to start the second quarter, added another touchdown with his first pass, and won SEC Player of the Week. Also in the top 5 is the 2005 Iron Bowl, the one where Brodie Croyle may have literally been knocked out by one of the 11 sacks he took.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO	rk
2013	10/26/13	Auburn	45		Florida Atlantic	10		56:34	112
2010	10/02/10	Auburn	52		Louisiana-Monroe	3		56:04	177
2005	09/17/05	Auburn	63		Ball St.	3		53:54	450
2014	10/04/14	Auburn	41		Louisiana St.	7		53:50	461
2005	11/19/05	Auburn	28		Alabama	18		53:36	496

Last year's blowout over LSU takes the top spot when looking only at matchups against BCS/Power 5 opponents, followed by that 2005 Iron Bowl. 2005 Auburn also takes the 4th and 5th spot in blowouts over Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO	rk
2014	10/04/14	Auburn	41		Louisiana St.	7		53:50	461
2005	11/19/05	Auburn	28		Alabama	18		53:36	496
2007	10/06/07	Auburn	35		Vanderbilt	7		51:02	863
2005	09/10/05	Auburn	28		Mississippi St.	0		49:06	1140
2005	10/01/05	Auburn	48		South Carolina	7		49:04	1143

How quickly has Auburn been knocked out? Well, the quickest was that rain-soaked night in Baton Rouge in early 2013. Yes, we (or at least I) felt like Gus Malzahn could have had us right back in it, but Auburn never had the ball down one score after just five minutes. But, hey, LSU got their comeuppance in 2014.

The next three are all from 2012 (no surprise) followed by the first of Barry Alvarez's many swan songs.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO	rk
2013	09/21/13	Louisiana St.	35		Auburn	21		54:59	303
2012	10/27/12	Auburn	21		Texas A&M	63		54:48	324
2012	11/24/12	Alabama	49		Auburn	0		54:32	353
2012	11/10/12	Auburn	0		Georgia	38		49:30	1085
2005	01/02/06	Auburn	10		Wisconsin	24		48:39	1197

Fortunate Wins and Untimely Losses

Some teams didn't win many games and were fortunate to win the ones they did. Take UTEP's 2007 team for example. It only won three games that year. The knockout only came in those games when the final whistle blew.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO
2007	09/01/07	UTEP	10		New Mexico	6		0:00
2007	09/29/07	SMU	45		UTEP	48		0:00
2007	10/06/07	UTEP	48		Tulsa	47		0:00

Similarly, Vanderbilt only won four games in 2005. The Commodores delivered KO's with 0, 1, 13 and 16 seconds left.

On the other side of fortune, Clemson lost four games in 2005 and it was knocked out at the last possible moment in all four.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO
2005	09/17/05	Clemson	30		Miami (FL)	36		0:00
2005	09/24/05	Clemson	13		Boston College	16		0:00
2005	10/01/05	Wake Forest	31		Clemson	27		0:00
2005	10/29/05	Georgia Tech	10		Clemson	9		0:00

Perhaps even worse was Notre Dame's six losses in 2009. The Irish stumbled to 6-6 that year, but their losses averaged a knockout time of only 31 seconds.

The closest thing I could find like this applying to Auburn was in 2007. Auburn lost to Mississippi State with less than a minute left and lost to South Florida in overtime. LSU knocked Auburn out with over three minutes to go, and Georgia had the game in hand with 18 minutes to go. A few close ones, but nothing like what some teams faced.

One more thing about Auburn

Finally, I don't know why 2005 is the cutoff, but that's what it is for all college football advanced stats. I've always wished 2004 could be included just to see how Auburn stacked up against USC and Oklahoma that year. Anyway, I went the extra mile and hand-calculated Auburn's 2004 KOs.

Average time of knockout: 36:40, the best number for Auburn in the last decade by over 12 minutes.

I don't know how it compares to other teams that year, but 2004 Auburn ranks 6th when compared to 2005-2014 teams. If there's ever any doubt as to how good that team was, here's their schedule and KO times.

Season	Date	Home	Score		Away	Score		KO
2004	09/04/04	Auburn	31		Louisiana-Monroe	0		51:46
2004	09/11/04	Mississippi St.	14		Auburn	43		52:55
2004	09/18/04	Auburn	10		Louisiana St.	9		0:09
2004	10/02/04	Tennessee	10		Auburn	34		46:14
2004	10/09/04	Auburn	52		Louisiana Tech	7		54:05
2004	10/16/04	Auburn	38		Arkansas	20		55:46
2004	10/23/04	Auburn	42		Kentucky	10		54:41
2004	10/30/04	Ole Miss	14		Auburn	35		13:01
2004	11/13/04	Auburn	24		Georgia	6		39:56
2004	11/20/04	Alabama	13		Auburn	21		16:51
2004	12/04/04	Tennessee	38		Auburn	28		16:29
2004	01/03/05	Auburn	16		Virginia Tech	13		38:07
							avg	36:40

Only one game was still a game into the fourth quarter. (Granted, it went deeeeep into the fourth quarter.) Only three other games lasted into the third quarter. And six games were over before the end of the first quarter. It may be hard to definitively say this was the best Auburn team in the last 15 years, but it was certainly the most dominant.

If you want to see every Auburn game since 2005, I have them filtered out right here.

So with that, I'm done with KO's until September or so. I'll get something set up so that rankings can get updated automatically throughout next season. Nothing to spend much time on, but something that might be interesting as the season progresses.