Unique Stats from the 2023 College Football Regular Season

Numbers are an integral part of college football.

Whether you're previewing games, ranking teams or picking an award winner, statistics help shape the story. They're the backbone of nearly any conversation around the sport.

The best part for us number nerds, though, is that statistics don't always have to support or disagree with a narrative.

Sometimes, averages and outputs are very meaningful—as we'll mention with Big Ten defenses, for example. On the other hand, they can be flat-out bizarre or just plain unique.

All of the choices here are subjective. There's no particular method for why I decided to highlight which ones, other than emptying my cranial notebook as the 2023 regular season is over and we shift our focus to bowl games and the College Football Playoff.

There is simply no argument that any conference had a greater claim to elite defense than the Big Ten.

Penn State ranked first nationally in yards allowed per play, followed by Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan. In points allowed per game, Michigan headlined the list ahead of Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa.

Not coincidentally, each program won 10-plus games.

The most recent comparable year to the Big Ten's excellence is 2013; three ACC defenses ranked second, third and fourth in yards allowed per play. Two years earlier, the SEC boasted five of the top eight.

To have the four best defenses, however, is an exceedingly rare and clearly special accomplishment.

Speaking of Iowa...

What makes the Hawkeyes' stellar defensive season even more impressive is how much the team desperately needed it.

Among the many factors of Iowa's offensive woes, injuries hammered the unit in 2023. Most notably, after offseason surgery made quarterback Spencer Petras unavailable, a knee injury sidelined Michigan transfer Cade McNamara in late September.

Fast-forward to today, and Iowa enters bowl season averaging just 16.6 points—the fourth-worst mark in the nation.

Iowa, however, sports a 10-3 record. The other sub-17 teams (Michigan State, Akron and Kent State) posted a combined 7-29 mark. Last season, the country's five sub-17 offenses ended 8-52 altogether. None of the six programs won more than three games in 2021, either.

Making a joke about Iowa's offense is easy, but this defense helped the Hawkeyes become an outlier.

Take a look at the FBS leaders in tackles for loss, and you'll notice an incredible trend: James Madison has three representatives.

UCLA's Laiatu Latu posted a nation-best 21.5 TFLs, but JMU's Jalen Green—who missed three games—registered 21 stops for loss. Jamree Kromah (19.5; T-fourth) and Mikail Kamara (18.5; T-sixth) are close behind.

Three players in the top seven of the category? Absolutely absurd.

Pitt boasted a trio of top-25 defenders in 2020, but schedule lengths varied from conference to conference that season. The closest unit otherwise is probably 2017 Michigan, which had three defenders finish in the top 18, although none recorded a top-10 total.

Knowing all that, I'd say it's unsurprising that James Madison piled up a nation-best 109 tackles for loss.

If you've followed along lately, you might have noticed Jason Henderson on B/R's All-American team or being selected as our Group of Five Player of the Year.

The reason is apparent: The Old Dominion linebacker made an FBS-best 170 tackles, including 19.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks.

That's merely a surface-level note, though.

Henderson is the first player since Luke Kuechly to have consecutive seasons of 170-plus stops. (Anytime you become the "first player since Luke Kuechly" is usually a really good thing, too.) Kuechly went for 183 and 191 tackles in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Henderson will either declare for the 2024 NFL draft or return next season with a shot to become the career FBS tackle leader. Carlton Martial is only 144 stops ahead of Henderson, after all.

Illinois star Jer'Zhan Newton is best recognized for his contributions as a defensive tackle. A potential first-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft, he recently earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

But he's also a menace on special teams.

He prevented eight points this season, deflecting a pair of field goals and extra points. He's the first player since Toledo's Reggie Gilliam (2018) to block four kicks in a season, and the first since Kansas State's Raphael Guidry (2011) to have four in conference games.

Newton, who has formally announced his intention to turn pro, will leave two massive voids at Illinois next season.

Few categories are more influential than the turnover battle. While a positive margin isn't a guarantee for success, it's awfully difficult to consistently win with a negative number.

Unfortunately for Temple, it ended the year as an extreme example.

Yes, the Owls struggled with turnovers all season. They ranked 102nd in fumbles lost (nine), and E.J. Warner tossed 12 interceptions—the eighth-highest total for an individual QB. Overall, the offense ended with the nation's fourth-worst mark at 25 giveaways.

But the defense didn't provide much help, generating a meager—and historically low—five takeaways.

Excluding the shortened 2020 season, nobody since 2000 has finished at a handful of takeaways or below.

Temple stumbled to 3-9 for the third straight year.

UCLA hasn't officially joined this limited club, but the stinginess of the Bruins' run defense merits a mention.

Entering the postseason, UCLA has surrendered only three rushing touchdowns. Since 2000—and excluding 2020—only six defenses have yielded three or fewer scores on the ground.

Now, the Bruins certainly would be an aberration. Among that six-team group, each program won nine-plus games. Two of them (2011 Alabama and 2021 Georgia) earned the national title, and a third (2007) Ohio State made the BCS Championship Game.

As for UCLA? A disappointing 7-5 season.

Boise State, the Bruins' opponent in the LA Bowl, is tied for seventh nationally with 32 rushing scores. Obviously, there's a substantial chance UCLA doesn't end the year within this small group.

UCLA's run-stoppers deserve the attention for now, though.

Washington posted a 13-0 record, celebrated a Pac-12 title and reached the 2023 College Football Playoff. That is, so far, the quick summary of the Huskies' outstanding year.

One significant trend that emerged is how UW continually found ways to win close games. In fact, after hammering its first four opponents by 27-plus points, the team managed a single double-digit winning margin for the remainder of the campaign.

As a result, the Huskies are only the fifth program ever to have eight victories of nine points or fewer. The latest was 2012 Stanford.

Nerve-wracking fourth quarters are not ideal, and Washington would undoubtedly prefer to avoid late-game drama.

But, hey, an uncomfortable win over Texas would send the Huskies to the national championship. They'd take it.