Field position isn’t sexy. No one has a hot take on it. But when it comes to winning football games, field position matters in a major way.
In a 2014 article explaining his “Five Factors” — the five most important statistics in football — Bill Connelly of SB Nation determined that the team that won the field-position battle won the game 72 percent of the time the previous season. The larger the margin — based on average starting field position — the higher the winning percentage.
Flash forward to 2016 and your Arizona Wildcats — the reluctant but ideal case study for the importance of field position.