Some Power 5 offensive numbers haven’t been what you’d think

We dove into teams Tuesday that had players meet certain statistical plateaus in the past six seasons, and we’re piggybacking off that by looking even closer at which teams have done well – or not done well – meeting those plateaus.

COVID wreaked havoc on a lot of things in 2020, and one was college football schedules. As a result, some teams played as few as four games while others managed to play 13. Obviously, the fewer games you play, the fewer chances a player has of piling up stats. As a result, a lot of consecutive-season streaks ended in 2020.

Still, a handful of teams managed to keep alive some impressive streaks. For the most part, though, the number of teams that have had a 1,000-yard rusher or receiver or a 3,000-yard passer of late was negatively impacted by the paucity of games in 2020. There are just three FBS teams that have had players reach those statistical plateaus for at least the past six seasons: Appalachian State has had a 1,000-yard rusher for eight consecutive seasons, Memphis and SMU have had a 3,000-yard passer for eight consecutive seasons and Memphis has had a 1,000-yard receiver for six consecutive seasons.

Indeed, only six FBS teams have had players reach any of those statistical plateaus even three seasons in a row. They are listed below.

That got us thinking about something else: Which Power 5 teams have gone the longest without reaching those plateaus? Some of the results were surprising, especially among the teams without a 1,000-yard receiver: The top three in that category are SEC teams that have won national titles this century.

Details are below.

1,000-yard rushers

Longest current stretch

8: Appalachian State
4: Buffalo
3: Alabama
3: North Carolina

Longest without among Power 5

Washington State: 2005, with Jerome Harrison
Purdue: 2008, with Kory Sheets
Rutgers: 2012, with Jawan Jamison
Florida: 2015, with Kelvin Taylor
Tennessee: 2015, with Jalen Hurd
Texas Tech: 2015, with DeAndre Washington
(All other Power 5s have had a rusher with 1,000 since 2016)

1,000-yard receivers

Longest current stretch

6: Memphis
4: Alabama
3: North Carolina

Longest without among Power 5

Auburn: 1999, with Ronney Daniels
Florida: 2002, with Taylor Jacobs
Georgia: 2002, with Terrence Edwards (only 1,000-yard season in school history)
Georgia Tech: 2009, with Demaryius Thomas
Kansas: 2009, with Dezmon Briscoe
Iowa: 2011, with Marvin McNutt
Rutgers: 2011, with Mohamed Sanu
Boston College: 2013, with Alex Amidon
Michigan: 2013, with Jeremy Gallon
Utah: 2013, with Dres Anderson
Vanderbilt: 2013, with Jordan Matthews
Wisconsin: 2013, with Jared Abbrederis
Arizona: 2014, with Cayleb Jones
Duke: 2014, with Jamison Crowder
Illinois: 2014, with Mike Dudek
Kansas State: 2014, with Tyler Lockett
South Carolina: 2014, with Pharoh Cooper
(All other Power 5s have had a receiver with 1,000 since 2016)

3,000-yard passers

Longest current stretch

8: Memphis
8: SMU
3: North Carolina

Longest without among Power 5

Georgia Tech: 2001, with George Godsey
Rutgers: 2008, with Mike Teel
Kansas: 2009, with Todd Reesing
Kentucky: 2010, with Mike Hartline
Iowa: 2011, with James Vandenberg
Wisconsin: 2011, with Russell Wilson (only 3,000-yard season in school history)
Boston College: 2012, with Chase Rettig
Duke: 2012, with Sean Renfree
Syracuse: 2012, with Ryan Nassib (only 3,000-yard season in school history)
Tennessee: 2012, with Tyler Bray
Georgia: 2013, with Aaron Murray
Illinois: 2013, with Nathan Scheelhaase
Kansas State: 2014, with Jake Waters
(All other Power 5s have had a player pass for 3,000 since 2016)