Which programs are the best (and worst) at mounting and preventing comebacks?
The gap between bad and good teams and good and great teams are their ability to seal the wins that present themselves, and steal the ones that don't.
Brian Femeau of Football Outsiders has tracked each FBS program's records since 2007 and put each victory and defeat and put them into separate buckets: wins where the team never trailed, losses where the team never led, comeback wins and comeback losses. Since allowing an opening drive field goal could technically qualify as a "comeback" win, I've sorted the list by wins and losses that came after 10-point separations.
Since the list goes back nearly a decade now, nearly every program has changed coaches from the beginning of Femeau's tracking until now. But, still, it's an interesting look. (For fairness purposes, I included only programs that have competed at the FBS level since 2007.)
Most Wins When Trailing by 10+ Points
1. Florida State -- 16
2. Houston -- 14
3. Rutgers -- 13
Nebraska -- 13
Nevada -- 13
5. LSU -- 12
Fresno State -- 12
Michigan State -- 12
North Carolina -- 12
Texas Tech -- 12
Least Wins When Trailing by 10+ Points
1. Army -- 2
Florida -- 2
Kent State -- 2
Purdue -- 2
5. Akron -- 3
Kansas -- 3
Miami (Ohio) -- 3
New Mexico State -- 3
Notre Dame -- 3
Oregon State -- 3
Tulane -- 3
USC -- 3
Least Losses When Leading by 10+ Points
1. Texas -- 1
2. Houston -- 2
LSU -- 2
Miami (Ohio) -- 2
Mississippi State -- 2
Ohio State -- 2
Most Losses When Leading by 10+ Points
1. Arkansas -- 15
Texas A&M -- 15
Western Kentucky -- 15
4. SMU -- 14
5. Colorado -- 13
