There aren’t too many stats that directly pinpoint which offensive lines are the best in college football.

There’s no measurable statistics like the ones skill position players have such as 100-yard receiving games, and there’s not a formula such as passer rating or QBR. We weigh the success of an offensive line based on how it helps others succeed.

So with that in mind, we came up with a formula using four statistics to try to figure it out: Yards per rush, yards per pass attempt, sacks allowed and tackles for loss allowed. We gave each team a score for each of those categories from 1-14 based on their SEC rank. For instance, the highest possible score would be a 4 if a team ranked 1st in all four stats. The lowest possible score would be a 56 if a team ranked 14th in all of them.

Here’s some quick reasoning as to why we picked these stats. We wanted to take rushing and passing into account equally but focus on efficiency rather than total yards per game as some teams prefer to run or pass more, so we used yards per rush and yards per pass attempt.

Numbers can always be skewed by a few factors such as a quick wide receiver screen that goes for a lot of yards. Since the pass is so quick, an O-line wouldn’t necessarily help the QB have enough time to make that throw. For yards per rush, an elite RB may break four tackles on the way to a long gain.

However, every team has played 10 games now with the exception of LSU (nine), so our belief is that over the course of a season, yards per rush will show us consistency in holes opened for running backs, while yards per pass attempt will show us consistency in time allowed for a QB to make that pass.

Sacks allowed and tackles for loss allowed account for how well an offensive line prevents a defense from getting into the backfield on passing plays and running plays, respectively.

Here’s a look at the final results. Please note that some teams are tied in SEC rank, so they’d each get the same score in that instance.

TEAM YDS PER RUSH YDS PER PASS ATT SACKS ALLOWED TFL ALLOWED SCORE
1. Arkansas 3 1 2 2 8
T2. Georgia 2 6 1 1 10
T2. LSU 1 3 3 3 10
4. Ole Miss 4 2 4 5 15
5. Auburn 10 6 4 3 23
6. Alabama 5 6 4 13 28
7. Mississippi State 9 4 9 8 30
8. Texas A&M 6 10 11 5 32
9. Tennessee 7 6 8 12 33
10. South Carolina 8 10 9 7 34
11. Vanderbilt 12 13 7 9 41
12. Florida 13 5 14 10 42
13. Kentucky 11 12 11 10 44
14. Missouri 14 13 11 14 52

As you can see, Arkansas has the top score, and that’s thanks to senior guard Sebastian Tretola and junior tackles Dan Skipper and Denver Kirkland, three of the Hogs’ four returning starters this season. They’ve helped lead the most balanced offense in the entire SEC. The Razorbacks are the only team that ranks in the top 5 in the SEC in rushing yards per game (203.0) and passing yards per game (266.3).

New Georgia offensive line coach Rob Sale inherited quite a group in his first year in Athens, and the position has enjoyed plenty of stability since last season. The Bulldogs featured John Theus (LT), Isaiah Wynn (LG), Brandon Kublanow (C), Greg Pyke (RG) and Colton Houston (RT) in the first eight games before switching the lineup just two weeks ago against Kentucky. Last season, Georgia started the same offensive line in all 13 games, marking the first time that had happened since 2000. Georgia has been the most impressive team in the conference in terms of stonewalling opponents from getting into the backfield. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in sacks allowed (10) and tackles for loss allowed (34). In fact, Georgia’s 34 TFL allowed stands as the best mark in the FBS.

LSU senior RT Vadal Alexander, a first-teamer on the preseason all-SEC team, has been outstanding for one of the top rushing offenses in the country this season. Junior center Ethan Pocic has been honored as SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week twice. Alexander also won the award back in Week 7 against Florida as he led an offensive front that held the Gators without a sack for their only time. However, the line has struggled over the last two games, and the injury to junior left tackle Jerald Hawkins caused some shuffling last week while allowing 5 sacks to Arkansas. He’s expected to start this week against Ole Miss.