This week's picks

Big Al's CFB Lab

Data updated
American Athletic

Florida Atlantic

5–2 (2–1 American Athletic). 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.

SP+ rating-2.686th of 138
SP+ offense28.954th of 138
SP+ defense31.8114th of 138
PRIME-6.295th of 138
Elo1239117th of 138
Week 9

Florida Atlantic at North Texas

Thu, Oct 29, 7:30 PM ET. SP+ projection: Florida Atlantic 35, North Texas 39. Big Al's pick: North Texas (79%).

Full head to head

Offense

StatValueRank
Points per game37.317th
Yards per play6.0675th
Success rate47.3%31st
Explosive play rate9.9%116th
Yards per carry4.16125th
Yards per pass attempt7.8759th
Sack rate allowed4.3%37th
3rd down conversion50.0%14th

Defense

StatValueRank
Points allowed34.0129th
Yards per play allowed7.38136th
Success rate allowed45.2%105th
Explosive plays allowed14.7%125th
Yards per carry allowed6.93137th
Yards per attempt allowed8.59113th
Sack rate5.6%80th
3rd downs allowed41.9%95th

Players

Ethan Ervin (RB), Leonard Farrow (RB).

Results

WeekOpponentResult
1at FloridaL 21–66
2vs. NavyW 38–30
3vs. Florida InternationalW 16–10
4at UL MonroeW 45–17
5vs. Texas SouthernW 66–10
7at ArmyL 24–56
8vs. RiceW 51–49

Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams. Stats from play-by-play; scoring counts FBS opponents only. Compare Florida Atlantic with any team.

Site
Picks two teams at random. Any FBS team can come up.

How we picked it

Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. Big Al's pick is the team at least two of them favor.

Where the game is won

Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.

What these mean

  • SP+ Bill Connelly's opponent-adjusted efficiency rating. Points better than an average FBS team on a neutral field.
  • PRIME A second opponent-adjusted rating, built from possession efficiency, on the same points scale. SOS is schedule difficulty; SOR is wins above what an average team would get against that schedule.
  • Elo A results-only rating that moves after each game based on the score and the opponent. 1500 is average.
  • Success rate Share of plays that stay on schedule: 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, all of it on 3rd and 4th.
  • Explosive rate Share of plays that are runs of 12+ yards or completions of 16+ yards.
  • Defense rows What opponents did against the team. Lower is better except sack rate and interception rate.
  • Projection Rating gap, plus 2.5 points for the home team, and games usually land within about 14 points of it. A coin flip is 50%.

Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.

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