College Football by the Numbers

Statistical Review: Minnesota #74

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000-04:00

Phillip Nelson attempted 154 passes in 2012 for Minnesota. He completed 48.7% of them. Only Dayne Crist attempted more passes for a lower completion percentage. But if you count passes he completed to the opposition, that completion percentage jumps to just under 54%, very similar to Max Shortell's 56% completions. Minnesota didn't have much success throwing the ball, so they ran 61% of the time

Statistical Review: Duke #75

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000-04:00

Duke won six of their first eight games. They lost their last five games, and in losing those games they allowed 246 points. If one of those five opponents had managed a touchdown instead of a field goal on one possession, Duke would have allowed 50 points per game over a five game stretch. That's the kind of thing you right epic poems about. Did Duke collapse? The short answer is no. Their

Statistical Review: Nevada #76

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000-04:00

Nevada lost six games. They lost three by one point and another by six. That's not to say Nevada was better than we thought; they lost that claim by allowing no fewer than 21 points in every game this season despite facing one of the nation's softest schedule. No, Nevada wasn't any better than we thought, but they're record could have been better. How does a team go about winning or losing a

Statistical Review: Western Kentucky #77

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000-04:00

Western Kentucky 2012 is the reason I use two metrics to measure strength of schedule. They played one team in the top 25, two in the top 50, and four in the bottom 25 plus Austin Peay. But that one team in the top 25 was Alabama. Fewer teams had an easier road to six regular season wins - six by my count - but almost 100 teams had a better chance of going undefeated based on schedule alone.

Statistical Review: Rice #78

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000-04:00

The Rice defense is a mystery that demands attention. They were terrible in the red zone, terrible at preventing explosive plays, terrible at defending the run, and yet they allowed fewer points per game than 45 other teams. Thirty points per game is not good, but 4.9 yards per carry, 14.4 yards per reception, and 5.06 points per red zone possession, and an average tempo should add up to more.

Statistical Review: Connecticut #79

2013-05-14T04:00:00.000-04:00

Connecticut was fairly hopeless with the football. They averaged less than 18 points per game and got 30% of those from the special teams. The defense was another story. Connecticut averaged only 2.5 yards per rush attempt but allowed only 2.7, and they held opponents under 100 yards rushing per game. The pass defense was less stout but still capable. The only real weakness was a painful

Statistical Review: Iowa #80

2013-05-13T04:00:00.000-04:00

Iowa began the 2012 season at 4-2 with wins over Northern Illinois and Michigan State and two losses by a combined four points. They finished the season 4-8. Why? Oddly, according to the numbers, Iowa's performance didn't trend down, or up, during the 2012 season. A combination of tougher opponents and a little bit of bad luck - three losses to Indiana, Purdue and Nebraska by a combined 13

Statistical Review: Indiana #81

2013-05-10T04:00:00.000-04:00

The Indiana defense was not good, but the data suggests that all of their problems really revolved around one particular issue: 5.0 yards/carry. That's not very good. More specifically, the Hoosiers were average at getting runners in the backfield, so the real issue was second level run defense. The problem was compounded by an inability (bad luck?) to force fumbles - Indiana recovered a fumble

Statistical Review: Central Michigan #82

2013-05-09T04:00:00.000-04:00

After getting off to an encouraging 2-5 start, Central Michigan four of five and their last three to slide into a prestigious day-after-Christmas bowl game, which they won. As the schedule suggests, this is a team that got better as the season progressed. That being said, this was not a good team at the beginning or end of the season, and they sneaked into a bowl game despite having the nation's

Statistical Review: Temple #83

2013-05-08T04:00:00.000-04:00

Temple averaged only 121 passing yards per game. More than 50 teams averaged twice that. The Temple total is partially excusable because they ran the ball almost 70% of the time so they didn't have many opportunities to amass passing yards. And they ran the ball fairly effectively; they averaged 4.7 yards per attempt. But Temple quarterbacks completed just over half of their passes, averaged less

Statistical Review: Troy #84

2013-05-07T04:00:00.000-04:00

Troy finished the season at 5-7, but they actually outscored their opponents over the course of the season (by .1 points per game). They were within one TD in every game but one this season, joining an elite group of 27 teams that lost no more than 1 game by more than 7 points (9 teams won or were within 1 TD in every game). But outscoring Sun Belt opponents by .1 points per game isn't

Statistical Review: Virginia #85

2013-05-06T04:00:00.000-04:00

It seemed through 2011 that Mike London was orchestrating a turnaround in Virginia. The Cavaliers doubled their win total from 2010. Meanwhile Richmond, London's old stomping grounds, fell from national FCS power to 6-5 in 2010 and closing out 2011 with an 8 game losing streak (though they did beat the mighty Blue Devils of Duke earlier in the season). Then 2012 happened. Offensively, Virginia

Statistical Review: Wake Forest #86

2013-05-03T04:00:00.000-04:00

Wake Forest's offensive ineptitude knew few bounds. A few stats to demonstrate: on average, teams cross midfield 56% of the time when they start the drive on the wrong side of the 50 yard line; Wake Forest crossed midfield 41% of the time. Teams reach the 30 yard line 41% of the time, but Wake Forest only did so 25% of the time. On a positive note, if Wake Forest did get that far they scored TDs

Statistical Review: California #87

2013-05-02T04:00:00.000-04:00

Cal did a lot of things poorly in 2012: 83 penalty yards/game, 3.6% INTs/pass, 2.8% fumbles/play, 11.2% sacks/pass, 18.6% TFL/run, 4.8 plays/possession. In case you're wondering, each of those is among the worst nationally. Offensively, they did one thing well, 4.9 yards per carry, but those yards translated into a no better than average EPA/rush (EPA converts a play's impact into points). The

Statistical Review: Marshall #88

2013-05-01T04:00:00.000-04:00

The Marshall offense is abuzz with contradictions. They averaged only 4.2 yards per rush and 7.2 yards per pass, below average nationally, but scored 3 points per possession, scoring TDs on 39% of the time, both 8th best nationally. There are two ways a team can score at a high clip despite averaging relatively few yards per play. The first is to start possessions close to the other team's end