Official Statistical Analysis Thread

[DaddyBigBucks]

CollegeFootballNews.com

...the Big10 fun stats article...

...
Ohio State
- Rushing touchdowns: Ohio State 21 - Opponents 3
- Penalties: Ohio State 72 for 574 yards - Opponents 53 for 483 yards
- First quarter scoring: Ohio State 121 - Opponents 32...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Jim Tressel Era Scoring Defense

The following shows all FBS (I-A) teams ranked according to points-per-game allowed over the past 7 seasons. Points-per-game were calculated by taking all points scored for all seasons and dividing by all games played. A slightly different ranking results from simply averaging the average ppg for each season. One other note: The official NCAA site did not include Bowl Game stats in the numbers for the 2001 season. This was a mostly automated process, and adding in the bowl game numbers for that year would have been laborious at best.



___________||______________Average___________||________Worst__________||
Rk____Name___Pts/Gm__Pts/Ssn___TDs______AvgRk__Pts/Gm__Pts/Ssn__TDs__MaxRk
1_____tOSU___15.443__194.143__22.714____9.714___19.4_____229____28___20
2_____VT_____15.516__201.714__24.143___10.857___23.0_____299____40___45
3_____Aub.___16.386__206.000__24.429___12.857___24.1_____265____33___48
4_____LSU____16.407__213.286__26.286___13.286___22.3_____279____35___39
5_____MiaFL__16.686__205.000__24.143___15.571___26.0_____312____35___52
6_____UGA____16.944__217.857__26.286___11.286___20.2_____262____29___20
7_____USC____17.382__221.000__26.286___13.714___22.8_____297____38___35
8_____OK_____17.398__231.143__28.143___14.429___23.1_____284____34___37
9_____PSU____18.235__221.429__26.286___18.143___25.5_____281____34___55
10____Ala.___18.448__229.286__27.571___22.286___25.6_____333____38___61
11____Texas__18.551__235.857__29.571___20.000___25.3_____329____40___45
12____BC_____19.068__239.714__28.857___22.143___25.5_____331____44___60
13____Iowa___19.221__236.143__28.714___22.857___22.0_____269____34___45
14____TSUN___19.356__240.571__28.857___21.429___23.3_____279____34___42
15____FLA____19.364__243.429__29.714___23.571___25.5_____331____39___46
16____Utah___19.750__237.000__29.571___25.000___24.1_____289____38___50
17____Md_____19.802__243.286__29.286___26.857___25.0_____284____35___55
18____GT_____20.180__256.571__30.286___26.143___22.3_____271____34___37
19____S.Mss__20.386__256.286__30.571___27.571___24.8_____314____39___54
20____FSU____20.404__259.429__30.714___29.857___26.1_____301____38___64
21____Tenn.__20.629__262.286__30.571___28.143___27.3_____382____46___61
22____TCU____20.635__250.571__30.429___32.000___33.9_____373____49__103
23____Clem.__21.012__258.143__30.714___32.429___28.6_____349____42___79
24____BSU____21.044__270.571__35.000___33.143___25.7_____317____42___64
25____WV_____21.195__263.429__31.571___33.286___24.4_____302____39___51
26____S.FL___21.341__250.000__31.000___34.000___31.9_____351____45___94
27____Wisc.__21.400__275.143__33.000___37.143___28.8_____346____43___81
28____UVa____21.648__272.143__32.429___35.000___27.6_____348____41___74
29____Troy___21.708__260.500__31.500___36.667___24.6_____295____37___55
30____S.Car__21.819__258.714__31.429___35.143___26.2_____314____43___63
31____KanSt__22.070__271.143__34.286___46.571___30.8_____370____48___86
32____NCSU___22.082__268.143__31.143___38.286___29.6_____385____46___81
33____Pitt___22.202__266.429__33.000___38.714___24.3_____311____40___60
34____Conn___22.389__268.667__33.500___42.667___27.0_____324____39___93
35____Neb.___22.420__281.857__35.143___41.000___37.9_____455____60__114
36____PU_____22.908__284.714__34.571___45.857___28.1_____374____45___90
37____Ark.___22.908__284.714__34.429___43.857___26.5_____345____42___54
38____NewMx__23.000__285.857__34.429___45.286___29.7_____358____44___84
39____Lou.___23.023__286.143__35.857___44.000___31.4_____377____50___91
40____ND_____23.353__283.571__34.429___47.714___28.8_____345____42___72
41____OreSt__24.034__298.714__36.714___51.286___33.2_____365____48__105
42____MiaOH__24.126__299.857__38.429___51.143___27.1_____333____43___79
43____Cinci__24.174__297.000__36.857___53.571___31.4_____345____43___96
44____WF_____24.212__294.000__36.143___52.143___28.9_____347____42___77
45____UCLA___24.414__303.429__37.571___52.429___34.2_____410____53__108
46____Frsno__24.516__318.714__40.429___52.429___28.3_____379____48___97
47____Mizz___24.581__302.000__38.286___53.857___30.0_____352____45___84
48____NIU____24.655__295.857__37.143___53.571___30.8_____370____48___86
49____Cal____24.826__305.000__37.571___49.857___39.2_____431____56__110
50____Miss___24.892__295.143__37.571___55.143___28.5_____342____44___76
51____OR_____25.435__308.857__38.429___58.286___27.8_____362____48___89
52____WSU____25.470__302.000__36.857___60.571___32.4_____389____49___97
53____BG_____25.482__309.429__40.429___59.429___32.1_____417____55___98
54____Col____25.753__327.429__41.429___60.000___33.2_____398____51___98
55____Buff___25.965__315.286__40.143___63.429___30.5_____396____53___85
56____MTSU___26.012__304.714__39.000___62.286___31.3_____375____48___90
57____TA&M___26.048__312.571__40.000___57.857___38.8_____465____64__115
58____AF_____26.167__314.000__40.000___63.000___32.2_____386____51__100
59____CSU____26.235__318.571__40.143___64.143___30.8_____369____45___91
60____Marsh__26.357__316.286__39.714___64.857___34.3_____411____52__102
61____TT_____26.659__335.143__42.286___64.000___34.0_____442____59__101
62____Minn___26.767__328.857__41.286___67.000___36.7_____440____55__109
63____UAB____26.780__313.714__38.286___65.571___35.1_____421____53__105
64____Memph__26.976__327.571__42.000___66.714___32.2_____419____56__103
65____OKst___27.035__332.143__42.429___70.429___31.3_____384____50___95
66____NTex___27.071__324.857__41.286___64.857___45.1_____541____71__119
67____IoSt.__27.094__329.000__42.143___67.000___36.4_____437____57__109
68____Rutg___27.095__325.143__41.286___66.286___36.1_____397____51__104
69____SDSU___27.145__321.857__40.286___71.571___34.4_____413____54__103
70____ASU____27.218__338.286__42.143___69.286___32.8_____407____50___94
71____MSU____27.333__328.000__41.857___70.857___33.2_____398____52__100
72____MssSt__27.402__321.000__40.571___68.714___39.3_____471____63__117
73____Ohio___27.566__326.857__41.714___71.571___31.2_____374____49___88
74____UCF____27.576__334.857__41.429___70.571___32.9_____373____49__101
75____KS_____27.607__331.286__42.571___64.429___42.3_____507____67__115
76____Navy___27.624__335.429__43.143___68.714___36.4_____473____61__108
77____AZ_____27.630__319.714__40.000___68.286___35.8_____429____56__107
78____Syr____27.747__329.000__41.000___71.714___34.8_____418____53__104
79____Tol____28.035__344.429__44.143___70.571___39.2_____470____64__116
80____Illi___28.110__329.286__42.286___71.000___39.5_____435____58__115
81____KntSt__28.235__326.714__40.571___71.857___35.3_____424____55__103
82____Vandy__28.272__327.143__40.286___74.000___36.5_____402____52__106
83____Wyo____28.402__332.714__41.429___73.286___36.0_____432____54__107
84____Wash___28.602__339.143__41.571___79.714___31.6_____411____49___92
85____Akron__28.651__339.714__43.714___77.000___32.7_____379____48___93
86____WMU____28.659__335.714__43.429___74.857___39.6_____436____58__114
87____ArkSt__29.000__343.857__43.571___79.286___33.4_____401____51__102
88____Stan___29.139__328.857__40.857___78.857___34.3_____377____46__108
89____FLAtl__29.240__365.500__46.000___87.000___33.2_____432____55___99
90____UNLV___29.272__338.714__42.429___80.857___34.6_____382____49__109
91____Tulsa__29.511__371.000__46.857___80.429___35.2_____467____60__103
92____KY_____29.627__351.286__45.714___84.286___34.1_____385____50__107
93____Haw____29.663__389.857__49.571___80.571___38.4_____499____65__112
94____NC_____29.771__353.000__44.429___78.429___38.3_____459____58__113
95____LaLaf__30.049__347.714__45.286___83.000___35.8_____430____58__106
96____BYU____30.451__356.714__46.000___82.286___37.1_____445____59__116
97____Nev____30.624__371.857__47.857___86.143___39.2_____431____58__110
98____BllSt__30.646__359.000__47.429___86.571___37.8_____416____56__112
99____ECar.__30.651__363.429__46.143___85.000___39.9_____439____60__115
100___CMU____30.882__375.000__48.143___86.429___36.9_____517____68__111
101___LaMon__30.988__358.571__46.857___85.571___38.9_____467____64__116
102___Houst__31.151__382.714__48.857___88.143___39.3_____468____62__112
103___SMU____31.235__361.429__46.714___86.714___39.8_____477____65__117
104___NW_____31.333__376.000__49.286___89.714___41.1_____493____65__113
105___Indi___31.695__371.286__49.000___92.429___37.1_____445____58__111
106___Tuln___32.349__383.571__49.429___93.000___41.3_____495____66__113
107___NMSU___32.488__389.857__50.714___94.714___38.8_____471____60__114
108___FLInt__32.583__391.000__49.500__101.000___39.1_____469____60__115
109___LaTch__32.940__390.571__50.571___91.286___41.7_____542____73__119
110___Army___33.085__387.571__49.714___95.429___40.9_____491____61__112
111___SJSU___33.277__394.571__51.143___94.286___42.6_____469____65__117
112___Duke___33.593__388.714__49.286___96.286___44.6_____491____65__114
113___EMU____33.852__391.714__50.714___94.000___47.2_____566____76__117
114___Rice___33.902__397.143__51.857___97.000___42.9_____515____68__118
115___UTEP___33.988__407.857__52.286___96.286___42.6_____511____70__116
116___Templ__34.111__394.714__50.714___92.571___45.3_____498____66__118
117___UTst.__34.113__389.857__50.286___98.143___39.3_____462____62__117
118___Baylr__35.062__405.714__53.143__102.000___41.3_____496____67__114
119___ID_____36.451__427.000__55.857__104.857___45.0_____495____66__115


Average = Average for the last 7 seasons
Worst = Stats for worst season of the last 7
Pts/Gm = Point per Game
Pts/Ssn = Points per Season
AvgRk = Average Scoring Defense Rank over last 7 seasons
MaxRk = Worst Scoring Defense Rank over last 7 seasons



Noteworthy:

• Ohio State is the only team that:
  • Gave up fewer than 200 points per season since 2001
  • Gave up fewer than 20 points per game in their worst season since 2001
  • Had an average rank in scoring defense higher than 10
  • Gave up fewer than 20 XP kicks per season since 2001 (19.857)
• The average number of touchdowns given up by I-A teams in their BEST season for rushing defense since 2001 is 28.7. The median is 29.
  • Ohio State is the only team that gave up fewer touchdowns than that in their WORST season for scoring defense since 2001. That's right. OSU, in their worst season, is better than an average team in their best season. No one else can say that.
  • The only team within 5 TDs of that number in their worst season was Georgia (29)
• OSU and Georgia are the only teams whose worst ranking in scoring defense in the last 7 years was 20th. USC was a distant third, with a worst ranking of 35th.
• The stats get just plain unfair if you drop 2001, when OSU went 7-5. In the last 6 years, OSU is the only team to give up fewer than 15 points per game.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Experience

I was going to make this post in the USC Game thread, but I didn't find the data I needed...

What I wanted to do was compare the Buckeyes level of experience to USC's level of experience. For good measure I was going to show the disparity in experience in last year's BCS-CG (a big reason why we lost).

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the data for minutes-played for each player for either USC or LSU. So instead of a comparison of the '07 Buckeyes to '07 LSU and the '08 Buckeyes to '08 USC; what follows is a comparison of the '07 Buckeyes to the '08 Buckeyes with respect to career minutes played as of the start of the season.

One quick aside first: Experience is understood to be a factor in success and nothing more. JamO had a lot more experience than Kurt Coleman at the start of last year, but Coleman started.

That having been said, the '08 Buckeyes are known to be talented. What follows shows just how dramatically the experience has been upgraded.



OFFENSE

The offenses will be broken down by formation. Obviously some formations will be used more this year than last year and vice versa; but as you will soon see, that's a moot point.


Pony Formation

_________|__________2007____________||______2008___________
Position_|_Starter________Minutes___||__Starter_____Minutes
SE_______|_Hartline_________119_____||__Hartline______421
LT_______|_Boone____________432_____||__Boone_________798
LG_______|_Rehring__________345_____||__Rehring_______713
C________|_Cordle____________42_____||__Cordle________410
RG_______|_Person____________66_____||__Person________434
RT_______|_Barton___________745_____||__Browning_______59
TE_______|_Nicol____________332_____||__Nicol_________573
FL_______|_Robiskie_________236_____||__Robiskie______580
QB_______|_Boeckman__________20_____||__Boeckman______379
HB_______|_Saine______________0_____||__Saine__________72
TB_______|_Wells_____________69_____||__Wells_________307

Average__|__________________218.7___||________________431.5
​

I-Formation

_________|__________2007____________||______2008___________
Position_|_Starter________Minutes___||__Starter_____Minutes
SE_______|_Hartline_________119_____||__Hartline______421
LT_______|_Boone____________432_____||__Boone_________798
LG_______|_Rehring__________345_____||__Rehring_______713
C________|_Cordle____________42_____||__Cordle________410
RG_______|_Person____________66_____||__Person________434
RT_______|_Barton___________745_____||__Browning_______59
TE_______|_Nicol____________332_____||__Nicol_________573
FL_______|_Robiskie_________236_____||__Robiskie______580
QB_______|_Boeckman__________20_____||__Boeckman______379
FB_______|_Johnson__________124_____||__Lukens_________10
TB_______|_Wells_____________69_____||__Wells_________307

Average__|__________________230.0___||________________425.8
​

​

2 Tight - 2 Wide

_________|__________2007____________||______2008___________
Position_|_Starter________Minutes___||__Starter_____Minutes
FL_______|_Hartline_________119_____||__Hartline______421
LT_______|_Boone____________432_____||__Boone_________798
LG_______|_Rehring__________345_____||__Rehring_______713
C________|_Cordle____________42_____||__Cordle________410
RG_______|_Person____________66_____||__Person________434
RT_______|_Barton___________745_____||__Browning_______59
TE_______|_Nicol____________332_____||__Nicol_________573
FL_______|_Robiskie_________236_____||__Robiskie______580
QB_______|_Boeckman__________20_____||__Boeckman______379
TE_______|_Ballard___________66_____||__Ballard_______268
TB_______|_Wells_____________69_____||__Wells_________307

Average__|__________________224.7___||________________449.3
​

​

3 Wides

_________|__________2007____________||______2008___________
Position_|_Starter________Minutes___||__2008________Minutes
SE_______|_Hartline_________119_____||__Hartline______421
LT_______|_Boone____________432_____||__Boone_________798
LG_______|_Rehring__________345_____||__Rehring_______713
C________|_Cordle____________42_____||__Cordle________410
RG_______|_Person____________66_____||__Person________434
RT_______|_Barton___________745_____||__Browning_______59
TE_______|_Nicol____________332_____||__Nicol_________573
FL_______|_Robiskie_________236_____||__Robiskie______580
QB_______|_Boeckman__________20_____||__Boeckman______379
WR_______|_Small_____________26_____||__Small_________149
TB_______|_Wells_____________69_____||__Wells_________307

Average__|__________________221.1___||________________438.5
​

​

Obviously there are formations and permutations of personnel that have not been considered. None of this changes the fact that the offense has roughly twice as much experience as they had at the beginning of last year, including a season of experience at QB that we didn't have last year.


Observations:

• Number of players with < 100 minutes (dependent on formation)
  • 2007: 4 or 5, including the quarterback
  • 2008: 1 or 2
• Number of players with > 350 minutes
  • 2007: 2
  • 2008: 8, and that doesn't include Beanie

This team was good enough to get to the BCS-CG with the 2007 offense. How much better the 2008 team will be is an open question, as is how much better they will need to be; but the fact that they should be significantly better is indisputable.

Defense coming up next...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

OK, same deal but for the

DEFENSE

Rather than break the defenses down by formation (Nickel, Dime, Goal-line, etc...) I chose to show experience for the entire 2-deep for both years. This works best for defense IMHO because there is more platooning going on with the defense (which is evidenced by the increase in experience across the entire 2-deep). There may be errors, but they don't change the simple fact that the defense has been upgraded even more than the offense.

__________|____________________2007_____________________||____________________2008__________________
Position__|__1st_Team______Min.____2nd_Team________Min._||__1st_Team______Min.____2nd_Team______Min.
DE________|__Gholston______291_____Gibson____________0__||__Wilson________191_____Gibson_________38
DT________|__Worthington____27_____Abdallah_________23__||__Worthington___220_____Abdallah______186
DT________|__Denlinger______91_____Larimore__________0__||__Denlinger_____199_____Larimore______157
DE________|__Heyward_________0_____Rose_____________33__||__Heyward_______216_____Rose__________138
WB________|__Freeman_______288_____Homan____________65__||__Freeman_______582_____Homan__________97
MB________|__Laurinaitis___363_____Spitler__________15__||__Laurinaitis___657_____Spitler________81
SB________|__Grant__________78_____Moeller___________0__||__Terry_________134_____Moeller________30
CB________|__Jenkins_______544_____Clifford__________0__||__Jenkins_______870_____Lane___________60
CB________|__Washington____250_____Chekwa____________0__||__Washington____552_____Chekwa________185
FS________|__Russel_________86_____Gant_____________22__||__Russel________392_____Gant___________41
SS________|__Coleman________25_____O'Neal__________296__||__Coleman_______335_____O'Neal________352
Average____________________185.7____________________41.3__________________395.3_________________124.1
minus_JO____________________________________________15.8________________________________________101.3

Observations:

• Fewest minutes for any 2008 starter:
  • 134 (Curtis Terry - according to official Spring 2-Deep)
  • 97 (Ross Homan - according to what most believe)
• Number of 2007 starters with fewer minutes than that: 6 (more than 1/2)

• 2007 2nd teamers with < 30 minutes experience before Game 1: EIGHT
• 2008 2nd teamers with < 30 minutes experience before Game 1: ZERO

Granted, not every team who returns 9 starters improves. But what about defenses that start out with athletes who were good enough to:

1. Get to the BCS-CG, and
2. Be ranked #1 in most statistics

OSU's athletes accomplished those things while very green. Experience increased dramatically across the entire 2-deep.

This just in: The 2008 OSU Defense should be pretty good

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Experience II

In the last two posts I showed how the average experience has increased. It just occurred to me that median, rather than average, might be a better comparison. To oversimplify the definition, median experience is the number of minutes for which the number of guys with more experience than that is equal to the number of guys with less experience than that.

OFFENSE

For the offense, for most formations; Brian Hartline is the "median" for both 2007 and 2008. (The lone exception was I-Formation, 2007, where Dionte Johnson's 124 minutes was the median).

So:

• 2007 Median Experience: 119 or 124 minutes
• 2008 Median Experience: 421 minutes

That is a dramatic difference, and is probably a better illustration of the difference in experience between the two offenses.


DEFENSE

The difference between the '07 and '08 defenses is even greater:

• 2007 Median Experience (1st Team): 91 minutes
• 2008 Median Experience (1st Team): 335 minutes
• 2007 Median Experience (2nd Team): 15 minutes
• 2008 Median Experience (2nd Team): 97 minutes

The most interesting point to me is that this year's 2nd team defense has a higher median experience than last year's starters.

 

[smithlabs]

DBB -

I went back to the May discussion on differential passing yardage. I am claiming some GIGO there. My biggest knock on OSU pass defense is playing soft corners and allowing an easy 5 yards on each pass attempt. Those 5 yard out passes drive me nuts. Likewise, the pass offense doesn't use enough intermediate routes and resorts to the bomb way too much. Therefore the differential pass statistics might not be as favorable as one would first assume. There are lies, damn lies...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

DBB -

I went back to the May discussion on differential passing yardage. I am claiming some GIGO there. My biggest knock on OSU pass defense is playing soft corners and allowing an easy 5 yards on each pass attempt. Those 5 yard out passes drive me nuts. Likewise, the pass offense doesn't use enough intermediate routes and resorts to the bomb way too much. Therefore the differential pass statistics might not be as favorable as one would first assume. There are lies, damn lies...

Sorry

If you allow fewer yards than your opponents typically gain, that means something. It doesn't mean everything, but to say it means nothing, which you quite clearly are implying, is just not reasonable.


You're one of many people here who clearly has the ability to run some numbers and come up with something interesting once in awhile. Why not do some analysis of your own and present it as a counter-point?

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

90 seconds or so of work suggests that you're having the same problem the media is having: You remember 2006 better than 2007. That, combined with the typical Buckeye problem of having incredibly high standards...

While OSU was 64th in defensive pass completion % in 2006, they jumped up to 12th last year. Yes, there were some games where the Buckeyes played soft on the corners and allowed too many short completions; but nothing like 2006.

 

[smithlabs]

Sorry

If you allow fewer yards than your opponents typically gain, that means something. It doesn't mean everything, but to say it means nothing, which you quite clearly are implying, is just not reasonable.


You're one of many people here who clearly has the ability to run some numbers and come up with something interesting once in awhile. Why not do some analysis of your own and present it as a counter-point?

First off, let me say how much I appreciate this thread and the work you do. The in depth statistical analysis is really neat. My questions are more of my tribute to you than anything else. Also, it's kind of slow and my Kriging algorithms are hard to program on a Sunday afternoon.

My argument is with outliers in the data. DYPA is a statistic that can be influenced by outliers more the DYPC. Rushing plays are almost always designed to gain small, continous chunks of yardage. Passing plays are discontinous. They gain incremental amounts of yardage based on the type of play called.

Football is a game of down and distance. To avoid the hassle of actual research I will revert to Greek logic. A Socratic argument is to assume an absurd position and consider its consiquenses. When the consiquensis prove to be obserb than the position is refuted. Let's assume two teams. One that gains 4 YPA by always gaining 4 yards. Another gains 10 YPA by making a 40 yard gain every 4 tries. The first team will always score a touchdown while the second team will have to punt after a 40 yard gain. Therefore, it is not always better to have a higher YPA. In our two losses last year, Illinois and LSU there was a common theme of sustained drives. Illinois kept the ball for the majority of the 4th quarter. LSU seemed to always gain positive yards and pick up a first down while OSU seemed to be 1/2 a yard short. Again, admitted laziness on my part for not finding the actual data and resorting to a narrative argument.

I don't know what the solution is but I believe that DYPA is a valuable statistic. It just can be affected by outliers.

 

[smithlabs]

90 seconds or so of work suggests that you're having the same problem the media is having: You remember 2006 better than 2007. That, combined with the typical Buckeye problem of having incredibly high standards...

While OSU was 64th in defensive pass completion % in 2006, they jumped up to 12th last year. Yes, there were some games where the Buckeyes played soft on the corners and allowed too many short completions; but nothing like 2006.

It's worse than that. I was picturing Dustin Fox.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

First, the biggest problem with the Illinois game was giving up 260 rushing yards because we failed to play assignment football.

Second,

It's worse than that. I was picturing Dustin Fox.

 

[TheIronColonel]

I think the issue here is more about using the mean; it's a poor measure of centrality when the variance is high. You could, of course, use the median, but no one publishes the median and you'd have to dig the entire data set out of the play-by-play transcripts (you can find them on Yahoo, for example) to get the median. I've done this by hand, and it's a pain in the ass. If you are a better programmer than me (which isn't hard, because I stink), you could write a utility to parse the html and give you the pretty numbers.

If I could, I'd do this. I can't, though, so no dice.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

To me, the NCAA version of passing efficiency is a pretty good combination of stats with about the right weighting. And that's what is really needed, a combination.

While the mean can be misleading by itself, so can the median. Taken together, they can tell a story.

The same is true of completion %, yards/attempt, TD/attempt and int/attempt. Taken together, they can tell a story; and that's exactly what passing efficiency is. Turn that into differential PE defense, and you've got something that is useful IMHO.

Last year, I showed that OSU and LSU were the top two in passing efficiency defense. I further suggested that, because they faced tougher competition, LSU could objectively state that their's was clearly the best in the land. And that was just taking the season statistics without accounting for the fact that they were so banged up.

The numbers really did show how good LSU was last year. I tried hard not to listen...

 

[smithlabs]

Good answer. Thanks.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

When TSUN rolls into town on November 22nd, it will have been 8 weeks since Ohio State scored an offensive touchdown in the 'Shoe (a pass to Robo 5 seconds into the 4th quarter vs. Minnesota).

It will be the first such occurrence in my lifetime. I got too depressed to look further back than that.