Forde-Yard Dash: The Seven Things the Best College Football Teams Do Better Than Everyone

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where Texas A&M home games always deliver police blotter gold. First Quarter: Save-Your-Job Saturday?

Second Quarter: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teams

There are many ways to win football games—and lose them, for that matter. But there are a few key areas where the best teams tend to shine, while others struggle. The Dash looks at seven ways winners win:

They don’t beat themselves (11)

Indiana (5–0 and riding a 21-game winning streak) remains the foremost practitioner of this foundational principle. The Hoosiers’ ball security numbers are staggering. Their refusal to commit penalties is steadfast.

The Hoosiers have played eight straight games without an offensive turnover, since Fernando Mendoza threw an interception against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. Their lone giveaway of the season was a fumbled punt return with fewer than two minutes to play in a 55–0 victory over Howard. The guilty party was Michigan transfer Tyler Morris. He hasn’t returned a punt since.

Now consider one of the most amazing stats in recent college football history: Indiana has run 1,359 consecutive offensive plays without losing a fumble. Its last one came in the first quarter of the 2025 season opener, when running back Lee Beebe Jr. coughed one up.

In 34 games under Curt Cignetti, Indiana has committed multiple turnovers only twice.

On the penalty front: The Hoosiers are tied with Notre Dame for the second-fewest yards penalized per game at 27.6. (Rutgers actually leads the nation at 26.6, which proves there is an exception to every rule.) Last year Indiana also was second nationally, behind only Army, with the same average of 27.6 yards per game.

The only significant statistical departure from last year for Indiana is a lack of takeaways by its defense—only three so far, all on interceptions. The Hoosiers forced 30 turnovers in 2025, third-most nationally.

(Dash shout-out to those wild men at New Mexico, who have generated 19 takeaways in five games and lost just one turnover to date. That’s six more takeaways than the second-best team, Alabama, and the +18 margin is eight better than Notre Dame’s runner-up +10. It’s assuredly an unsustainable pace, but a +3.6 turnover margin per game would be second-best in FBS history, topped only by UCLA’s +4 in 1952.)

They win on first down offensively (12)

The No. 1 teams in the nation in first-down running and first-down passing are both undefeated, and played for the national title last season—Indiana and Miami.

The Hoosiers are averaging 7.28 yards per rush on first down, despite the fact opponents know it’s coming. Indiana runs on first down 69.3% of the time and is still making it work. Backs Turbo Richard and Beebe each have a 200-yard game this season against a Big Ten opponent.

The Hurricanes lead the nation in first-down pass efficiency at a whopping 272.93. They’ve had a dozen completions of 25 yards or longer on first down, with 14 touchdown passes. Just four of the Canes’ TD throws have been on second or third down.

The top five teams in first-down pass efficiency are a combined 24–1: Miami, Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama.

They win on first down defensively (13)

Undefeated teams Notre Dame and Utah excel in this area. The Fighting Irish allow the fewest yards per run on first down at 1.97, with a long run of 15 yards and only two of longer than 10. The Utes have the best pass efficiency defense on first down at 71.03, with opponents completing just 39.7% of their first-down throws with one touchdown and two interceptions. Not coincidentally, Utah leads the nation in pass efficiency defense on all downs, too.

They create more explosive plays than their opponents (14)

Differentials for scrimmage plays of 30 or more yards gained vs. 30 or more yards allowed: Miami is +16; Georgia is +13; Indiana is +12; LSU, Ohio State and Utah are +11; and Wake Forest is +10.

Differentials for scrimmage plays of 20 or more yards gained vs. allowed: Indiana +24; Georgia +23; Miami +21.

Georgia’s improvement in this area is especially noteworthy. The Bulldogs were +3 for the entire season in plays of 30 or more yards in 2025 and +17 in plays of 20 or more yards. Long way still to go, but at present their average yards per play has shot up from 5.65 last season to 7.93.

They sustain drives and stop drives (15)

For what it’s worth, Big 12 teams rank Nos. 1–4 in third-down conversion percentage: Houston, Kansas State, Arizona and BYU, all at better than 57%. Their combined record: 15–3. Houston’s pass efficiency rating on third down is a remarkable 202.03, a testament to the veteran playmaking ability of quarterback Conner Weigman.

Oregon (3–1) and Nebraska (5–0) are the national leaders in third-down defense at 21.15% and 21.31%, respectively. No opponent has converted 30% of its third downs against the Ducks yet this season.

They win in the red zone (16)

Three highly ranked teams have a greater than 40% differential between their red zone touchdown percentage and that of their opponents: Miami is +41.67%; Oregon is +41.25%; and Texas is +41.15%. The Longhorns are the hardest team to score a touchdown against in the red zone in the nation, surrendering six points just 27.27% of the time.

They win in the margins (17)

Undefeated James Madison has three punt-return touchdowns and ranks fourth nationally in average kickoff return. Florida (4–1) has two punt returns for TDs and is 100% on all placekicks. Wisconsin (4–1) has a nation-leading four blocked kicks.

Baylor, Duke and Texas Tech—a combined 13–1—are the three teams in FBS averaging 50 or more yards per punt. The Red Raiders (5–0) lead the nation in net punting at 47.63 yards per kick.

Alabama leads the nation in defensive touchdowns with four, all on interception returns, by four separate players. The four pick-sixes are the most in a season for the Crimson Tide since 2018, when they had four in 15 games.

Alabama defensive back Dijon Lee Jr. gets a pick-six against Mississippi State. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

And on the Flip Side, the Three Habits of Unsuccessful Teams

If your team is struggling, it might be because it …

… Turns the ball over too often, like Oklahoma (18), with 10 giveaways in just four games. The Sooners have increased their turnovers every game, from one in the first to four in the most recent, the beatdown at Georgia.

… Commits too many penalties, like Syracuse (19), which is averaging 103.3 yards in flags per game. The Orange did have a season-low 84 yards in penalties against Connecticut on Saturday, and perhaps not coincidentally won the game, 42–41 in overtime.

… Cannot throw touchdown passes, like Clemson (20), which is tied for last nationally with two. Of the four teams tied for the bottom in that department with the Tigers—Kennesaw State, Louisiana, Wyoming and Central Michigan—none has attempted as many passes as Clemson’s 153. Its touchdown percentage of 1.3% is easily the lowest in FBS.

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