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Red Zone Watch: MSU flourishing on both sides of the ball, LSU struggling on D
Published:
We keep track of red zone stats for you each week.
OFFENSIVE RED ZONE STATISTICS
Kentucky had scored on a perfect 16 of 16 opportunities in the end zone through Week 7, but the Wildcats have failed to do so once in each of the last two weeks. Nonetheless, their scoring percentage of 92 percent still leads the SEC.
Kentucky’s opponent last Saturday, Mississippi State, showed why it’s been among the best in the SEC at getting the ball in the end zone. The Bulldogs scored a TD in 6 of their 8 red zone trips, and Dak Prescott was responsible for all those scores. MSU’s touchdown percentage of 75.8 percent is by comfortably the best in the league.
No. 4 LSU has also been impressive near the goal line, coming away with points on 28 of 31 chances for a 90.3 percentage that ranks right behind Kentucky. The Tigers have punched it into the end zone on 21 of those 31 trips, which ranks 3rd-best in the SEC.
Red zone touchdown percentage is very telling for the worst teams in the SEC. South Carolina ranks dead last among 128 FBS teams by only converting TDs 28.6 percent of the time, and Missouri (126th) and Vanderbilt (124th) aren’t much better.
This list is sorted by scoring percentage.
| SCHOOL | GAMES | ATT | SCORES | SCORE% | TD | TD% | FG | FG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kentucky | 7 | 25 | 23 | 92% | 16 | 64% | 7 | 28% |
| 2. LSU | 7 | 31 | 28 | 90.3% | 21 | 67.7% | 7 | 22.6% |
| 3. Mississippi State | 8 | 33 | 29 | 87.9% | 25 | 75.8% | 4 | 12.1% |
| 4. Texas A&M | 7 | 31 | 27 | 87.1% | 18 | 58.1% | 9 | 29% |
| T5. Tennessee | 7 | 35 | 30 | 85.7% | 22 | 62.9% | 8 | 22.9% |
| T5. Alabama | 8 | 35 | 30 | 85.7% | 21 | 60% | 9 | 25.7% |
| T5. Auburn | 7 | 28 | 24 | 85.7% | 19 | 67.9% | 5 | 17.9% |
| 8. Ole Miss | 8 | 38 | 32 | 84.2% | 22 | 57.9% | 10 | 26.3% |
| 9. Florida | 7 | 31 | 26 | 83.9% | 21 | 67.7% | 5 | 16.1% |
| 10. Missouri | 8 | 18 | 15 | 83.3% | 6 | 33.3% | 9 | 50% |
| 11. South Carolina | 7 | 21 | 17 | 80.9% | 6 | 28.6% | 11 | 52.4% |
| 12. Georgia | 7 | 26 | 21 | 80.8% | 13 | 50% | 8 | 30.8% |
| 13. Arkansas | 7 | 31 | 22 | 70.9% | 16 | 51.6% | 6 | 19.4% |
| 14. Vanderbilt | 7 | 26 | 16 | 61.5% | 10 | 38.5% | 6 | 23.1% |
DEFENSIVE RED ZONE STATISTICS
Mississippi State has not only been the best at getting in the end zone, it’s also the best at preventing opponents from getting in. In fact, the Bulldogs (33.3 percent) and Commodores (34.8 percent) rank 4th and 5th in the FBS, respectively, in that regard.
When it comes to just preventing opponents from putting up points, Vanderbilt is 2nd only to Wisconsin among Power 5 teams, only allowing scores 69.6 percent of the time.
One of the quirkiest stats out there is LSU’s defensive struggles in the red zone. The Tigers, the only unbeaten team left in the SEC, is surprisingly 127th out of 128 FBS teams by allowing teams to reach the end zone on 14 of 17 trips, a rate of 82.4 percent. Only Fresno State (84.4) has a worse mark. To be fair, the Bulldogs have allowed way more TDs: 27 of them in 32 attempts. However, LSU did allow Western Kentucky to go 2-for-2 scoring TDs in the red zone last Saturday.
| SCHOOL | GAMES | ATT | SCORES | SCORE% | TD | TD% | FG | FG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Vanderbilt | 7 | 23 | 16 | 69.6% | 8 | 34.8% | 8 | 34.8% |
| 2. Georgia | 7 | 19 | 14 | 73.7% | 10 | 52.6% | 4 | 21.1% |
| T3. Mississippi State | 8 | 27 | 21 | 77.8% | 9 | 33.3% | 12 | 44.4% |
| T3. Tennessee | 7 | 27 | 21 | 77.8% | 13 | 48.2% | 8 | 29.6% |
| 5. Kentucky | 7 | 32 | 25 | 78.1% | 18 | 56.3% | 7 | 21.9% |
| 6. Missouri | 8 | 23 | 18 | 78.3% | 10 | 43.5% | 8 | 34.8% |
| 7. Texas A&M | 7 | 28 | 22 | 78.6% | 11 | 39.3% | 11 | 39.3% |
| T8. Ole Miss | 8 | 29 | 24 | 82.8% | 14 | 48.3% | 10 | 34.5% |
| T8. Arkansas | 7 | 29 | 24 | 82.8% | 17 | 58.6% | 7 | 24.1% |
| T8. South Carolina | 7 | 29 | 24 | 82.8% | 18 | 62.1% | 6 | 20.7% |
| 11. Alabama | 8 | 18 | 15 | 83.3% | 9 | 50% | 6 | 33.3% |
| 12. Florida | 7 | 19 | 16 | 84.2% | 9 | 47.4% | 7 | 36.8% |
| 13. Auburn | 7 | 32 | 27 | 84.4% | 21 | 65.6% | 6 | 18.8% |
| 14. LSU | 7 | 17 | 16 | 94.1% | 14 | 82.4% | 2 | 11.8% |
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
