In recent years, advanced analytics have become more common in sports analysis and online sports betting. Because of that, average fans have become more interested in stats like EPA per play, or EPA/play.
EPA, or expected points added, is a stat that reduces every snap of the football down to an empirical value.
A simple explanation for the uninitiated: Before every snap, EPA modeling can predict the expected number of points any given drive is likely to produce, based on history and in-game context like the field position, down, and distance.
After a play has been run, the expected numbers of points can be recalculated and adjusted up or down. The delta between those two numbers can be represented as the EPA for that specific play.
Another way to think of EPA/play is that it’s a truer and more comprehensive way to think about the success or failure of an individual play, when compared to yards gained or lost.
And of course, the higher EPA/play, the better.
These are the college football teams that rank highest in EPA/play, as of Oct. 27, 2026.
College Football EPA Per Play Leaders (2026)
| Rank | Team | EPA/Play |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame | +0.35 |
| 2 | Ohio State | +0.34 |
| 3 | Miami (FL) | +0.31 |
| 4 | UCLA | +0.31 |
| 5 | Wake Forest | +0.29 |
| 6 | LSU | +0.28 |
| 7 | Nebraska | +0.28 |
| 8 | Liberty | +0.26 |
| 9 | Utah | +0.25 |
| 10 | New Mexico | +0.25 |
| 11 | Northwestern | +0.22 |
| 12 | Indiana | +0.21 |
| 13 | Alabama | +0.19 |
| 14 | Oregon State | +0.19 |
| 15 | Arizona | +0.19 |
| 16 | Boise State | +0.19 |
| 17 | Georgia | +0.17 |
| 18 | Michigan | +0.17 |
| 19 | Louisville | +0.16 |
| 20 | Tennessee | +0.16 |
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