Technology helps identify the best play callers in college football

RII Sports Technology announced its annual 2025 Graphite Award winners recognizing the most efficient offensive and defensive play caller in each Division I football conference. Each year RII Sports Technology analyzes play-by-play data for all Division I FBS football programs and assesses the degree to which offensive and defensive play callers make decisions that best align their team’s strengths with their opponent’s weaknesses. This assessment is quantified in a Play Calling Efficiency Ratio (PCER) – a measure of how frequently a play caller put their team in advantageous strength-on-weakness positions while minimizing the number of times they operated from a disadvantage.

Tom Woods, RII Sports Technology’s founder, explained – “This award is about recognizing the coaches that are getting the most out of what they’ve got, not wasting plays, knowing well their opponents, and being smart in the creation and application of their gameplans. Some of the best play callers aren’t necessarily associated with the highest ranked teams, but they are the ones that didn’t hold their teams back, the ones that helped their offenses or defenses maximize their potential in ways that few other play callers were able to do last season.”

The Graphite Award’s name is a nod to RII Sports Technology’s deep engineering roots in the Aerospace & Defense industry; graphite is a highly efficient engineering material – with a very low coefficient of friction and high electrical conductivity – and embodies the spirit of the play calling efficiency demonstrated by this year’s winners:

FBS Graphite Award Winners Offensive Coordinator by Conference:

AAC: Jordan Davis, North Texas

ACC: Shannon Dawson, Miami

BIG10: Mike Shanahan, Indiana

BIG12: Jason Beck, Utah

CUSA: Tony Franklin, Louisiana Tech

Independents: Gordon Sammis, UConn

MAC: Robert Weiner, Toledo

MWC: Mike Thiessen, Air Force

PAC12: Ryan Gunderson, Oregon State

SEC: Derrick Nix, Auburn

Sun Belt: Rod Smith, Marshall

FBS Graphite Award Winners Defensive Coordinator by Conference:

AAC: Jordon Hankins, Memphis

ACC: Randy Bates, Pittsburgh

BIG10: Bryant Haines, Indiana

BIG12: Sheil Wood, Texas Tech

CUSA: Luke Olson, Louisiana Tech

Independents: Chris Ash, Notre Dame

MAC: Vince Kehres, Toledo

MWC: Nick Benedetto, Fresno State

PAC12: Jesse Bobbit, Washington State

SEC: Jay Bateman, Texas A&M

Sun Belt: Colin Hitschler, James Madison

The importance of operating from strength-on-weakness positions when calling plays may seem intuitively obvious, but when quantified the impact is striking. Last year when the average DI football team operated from a strength-on-weakness play calling position they were successful 66% of the time, but when they operated from a weakness-on-strength position they were successful just 39% of the time. And when you consider that the typical play-caller only called roughly 40% of their plays from a strength-on-weakness position, there’s plenty of room for improvement for most teams. “Being in the right type of call at the right time is key, and it is something that play callers can see in data well before game time. These play callers did it better than anyone else in their conference last year,” says Woods.

Detailed 2025 Graphite Play Calling reports are available on request for all Division I FBS and FCS football programs. These reports show every offensive and defensive play call from the 2025 season, where the call fell on the strength-on-weakness continuum, and an assessment of other play calling alternatives. Interested staff members are encouraged to contact RII Sports Technology for their team’s report.