Explosive plays are the reason most of us watch football.

There’s nothing more exciting than holding your breath as your favorite quarterback lets one fly 50 yards down the field, or when the conference’s most exciting running back slips through a seam and has nothing but daylight in front of him.

So this season, we’re going to be tracking explosive plays for each team … how well they’re able to produce them, and how well they are able to defend them.

For the purposes of this story, SDS defines an explosive play as a run of at least 20 yards or a pass of at least 30 yards.

EXPLOSIVE PLAY MARGIN

This is the ultimate measure of how well a team is performing in the explosive plays department. It is simply a tally of explosive plays created measured out against the amount of explosive plays allowed. If your team has made more explosive plays than they’ve given up, there’s a good chance they are doing something right.

Georgia allowed four explosive plays to Alabama last Saturday, dropping it into a tie with LSU for the best margin in the SEC. Texas A&M and Arkansas continue their trend of connecting on a lot of big plays and allowing a lot of big plays. The Aggies are one of only four teams in the league with at least 19 explosive plays, but they’ve also allowed 15, which is third-most.

Tennessee coach Butch Jones has stressed how he feels his team needs more big plays. It would also help if it prevented them, too, as the Vols rank dead last with a margin of minus-4.

TEAM MARGIN EXPLOSIVE PLAYS EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED
T1. Georgia +12 19 7
T1. LSU +12 18 6
3. Mississippi State +10 19 9
T4. Alabama +9 16 7
T4. Ole Miss +9 20 11
6. Kentucky +7 17 10
7. Missouri +5 9 4
8. Texas A&M +4 19 15
9. Arkansas +2 18 16
10. Florida +1 12 11
11. Vanderbilt 0 10 10
12. South Carolina -1 12 13
13. Auburn -2 10 12
14. Tennessee -4 13 17

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: OFFENSE

This will be the area in which we break down how the explosive plays are happening for each team.

The Rebels’ 20 plays are still the most in the SEC despite not recording a single one in the loss to the Gators last week. LSU has racked up 16 rushes of 20 or more yards. The only Power 5 team with more is Arizona (18). On the other hand, the Tigers aren’t making a splash in the passing game. LSU has only recorded two passes of 30 or more yards. The only Power 5 team with fewer is Utah (1).

Missouri has to pick up the pace as it ranks last in total explosive plays with 9, one fewer than Vanderbilt and Auburn. The Gators haven’t had an easy time breaking loose for long runs. Their 3 explosive gains on the ground are last in the SEC, with Washington State as the only Power 5 team with fewer (2).

TEAM EXPLOSIVE PLAYS RUSHES FOR 20+ PASSES FOR 30+
1. Ole Miss 20 9 11
T2. Georgia 19 14 5
T2. Mississippi State 19 9 10
T2. Texas A&M 19 9 10
T5. Arkansas 18 8 10
T5. LSU 18 16 2
7. Kentucky 17 8 9
8. Alabama 16 9 7
9. Tennessee 13 7 6
T10. Florida 12 3 9
T10. South Carolina 12 8 4
T12. Vanderbilt 10 6 4
T12. Auburn 10 6 4
14. Missouri 9 6 3

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: DEFENSE

Much like the offensive rankings above, we’ve taken similar effort to breakdown exactly how the SEC defenses are allowing explosive plays.

Nobody has been better than Missouri at preventing the big play. The Tigers’ 4 total explosive plays allowed this season is two better than LSU. Mizzou allowed 2 against South Carolina last week but had only allowed 2 all season before that.

Auburn and South Carolina rank among the worst in the SEC. Despite doing a great job against the pass, both teams have been hurt on the ground for 10 explosive runs apiece. It’s the opposite story for Arkansas, which has been hurt for 10 big passing plays.
Speaking of the Razorbacks, they got loose for 6 explosive plays against the Vols last week — 3 runs, 3 passes — which put Tennessee in the basement with 17 explosive plays allowed this season.
TEAM EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED RUSHES FOR 20+ PASSES FOR 20+
1. Missouri 4 2 2
2. LSU 6 2 4
T3. Alabama 7 3 4
T3. Georgia 7 4 3
5. Mississippi State 9 5 4
T6. Kentucky 10 5 5
T6. Vanderbilt 10 7 3
T8. Florida 11 6 5
T8. Ole Miss 11 5 6
10. Auburn 12 10 2
11. South Carolina 13 10 3
12. Texas A&M 15 9 6
13. Arkansas 16 6 10
14. Tennessee 17 8 9