College Football: Breaking Down LSU's Ridiculously Efficient Offense

This headline may have raised a few eyebrows. The words LSU and "efficient offense" in the same sentence? With no big-name players and an offense that managed zero first downs in the first half against Georgia, surely this is some sort of a mistake.

It isn't. LSU's offense is one of the most efficient in the nation. More efficient than Alabama's. More efficient than Houston's. More efficient than Oklahoma State's. More efficient than Oregon's. 

I know what you're thinking. No, I did not drink the entire store's supply of egg nog already.

Before we get into the what makes LSU so efficient, let's examine the facts.

LSU is averaging 5.91 yards per play. Good, but nothing to write home about. They're ranked 40th in the nation in this regard, behind all of the aforementioned teams and others such as Ohio, Fresno State and UCLA.

Their strength is their running game. They average 215.15 yards per game on the ground, only four yards per game fewer than Alabama. Michael Ford, Spencer Ware and Alfred Blue may not be Trent Richardson, but the sum of LSU's parts is as great as the whole at Alabama.

The Tigers average 160.2 yards per game through the air, which has them ranked 105th in the nation. This is the seventh lowest ranking of any of the bowl teams.

So overall, the Tigers average a paltry 375.3 yards per game, good for 75th in the nation. Mediocre at best.

So where does their strength lie? Where does efficiency come in?

As we all know, the name of the game is points scored. You don't win football games based on yardage, you win on points. Despite averaging 375.3 yards per game, the Tigers average 38.5 points per game.

This gives them an incredibly low 9.75 yards per point. What does that mean? Basically, every first down the Tigers get, they score a point.

This is tops in the nation by far. Houston's No.1 offense averages 11.79 yards per point. Oklahoma State averages 11.3. Alabama averages 12.04. LSU blows them all out of the water (remember, the lower the better).

You may be asking: How do you earn a low yards per point average? Besides the obvious answer of scoring touchdowns, yards per point is a combination of starting field position, tempo of the offense, time of possession, red zone offense, made field goals and turnovers.

Let's examine the final three in more detail. When a team has a low yards per point, you can bet that they don't turn the ball over, make their field goals and convert in the red zone.

Are these things true with LSU? Absolutely.

LSU is tied for first in the nation with only four fumbles lost. They're tied for first in the nation with four interceptions. Naturally, they are tied for first in the nation in turnovers lost (Wisconsin has four of each also).

LSU is tied for first in the nation in field goal percentage. They're 16-for-18 and haven't missed a field goal since September.

Finally, LSU is fifth in the nation in red zone conversions. They've scored on 57-of-61 attempts in the red zone, good for 93.44 percent. 44 were touchdowns and 13 were field goals. Their 72.13 touchdown-per-red-zone attempt is only 12th in the nation. In other words, they could be even more efficient!

All combined, LSU sports the nation's most efficient offense. They're not going to put up gaudy passing numbers like some other schools, but they will convert on their opportunities.

You may be asking if LSU is destined to come back to rest of the world and increase in yards per point. Are high and low yards-per-point trends or anomalies? 

The answer is both. In LSU's case, it's extraordinarily low, and if they were to play 5,000,000 games, it would increase.

Over the course of a 14-game season, however, there's no reason to believe it is going to get worse. They would need to start turning the ball over, missing field goals, start playing much worse defense and have a decrease in punting. Then, and only then, would their efficiency go down.

On the other hand, things can change drastically over time. Take the case of Notre Dame. Through the first two games the Irish turned the ball over nine times, a couple of times inside the 5-yard line. They totaled 1,021 yards and only 51 points, good for a 20.02 yards per point average!

That's saying that if you started at you're own 30-yard line that you would have to drive the length of the field twice just to score one touchdown, which was what the Irish were pretty much doing. Everyone knew that if they would cut down their turnovers that they'd be more successful. They were right, and the Irish had a 12.91 yards per point average the next 10 games.

Overall, this makes LSU the most efficient offense in the nation. Does it make them the best? Not necessarily, but it makes it the most efficient, and the best suited for what they want to accomplish.

Houston averages 15 more points per game than LSU, so it would be safe to say that Houston has a better offense than LSU. But, Houston also ran 191 more plays than LSU, turned the ball over seven more times, scored nine percent less times in the red zone and had a five percent worse field goal percentage.

Which offense would you rather have? Call me crazy, but I'm taking LSU's. They don't want to run Houston's offense.

LSU could run 15 more plays per game, increase their yardage and probably increase their point total to make it look sexier, but they would be running the risk of turning the ball over more, and they simply wouldn't be playing their game anymore.

In short, LSU's offense is the most efficient because it has the lowest yards-per-point ratio in the nation. The ratio is a great measuring stick, as it takes into account all facets of the game, not just points.

Don't think it matters? Remember this: LSU beat Alabama despite being out-gained. Alabama had a 49.16 yards per point, LSU a 26.55. The low number always wins (and both were ridiculously high. That's why everyone who is predicting a higher scoring game in the rematch is right).