By Thomas Bassinger, Times Staff Writer Published: April 22, 2017
It can be easy to overthink football.
Allow Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter to stop you.
"I've said many, many times that we believe — besides turnovers — explosive plays are the next biggest factor in winning and losing."
It's that simple: Make more big plays than the other team.
[...]
Explosive plays per 100 touches
Ranked from most to least
Player, school Runs Passes Runs and passes
Curtis Samuel, Ohio State 21.5 20.6 21.1
Alvin Kamara, Tennessee 14.7 24.3 17.2
Dalvin Cook, Florida State 15.7 21.5 16.3
Joe Mixon, Oklahoma 15.0 20.0 15.8
Kareem Hunt, Toledo 14.4 10.9 14.1
D'Onta Foreman, Texas 13.2 30.8 13.7
Marlon Mack, South Florida 14.0 9.2 13.5
Leonard Fournette, Louisiana State 12.2 31.7 13.4
Christian McCaffrey, Stanford 11.6 22.2 13.0
One more time: Koetter believes that explosive plays, after turnovers, are the biggest factor in winning and losing. Where will those plays come from this season? We'll soon find out.
