Are Stats for Losers?

Stats really aren't for losers if you ask me. They can be a rich source of insight into the success or failure of a sports program. The loser part comes when you try to generalize using one or two stats to characterize an athlete or a program. The use of statistical analysis needs to be an important tool for coaches and gameplanners.


Having said all that, someone at the Hive ran across this interesting football stat website. I haven't really dug into it, but I did find it interesting that by far our worst passing down was first down. We attempted 148 passes last season on first down with a 46.6% completion %. However, the result was 1 TD and 7 INT's. That is the only passing down last season where we had a TD/INT ration of less than 1........... and it wasn't even close to 1. On 2nd downs our TD/INT ratio was 2-to-1. On 3rd down it was 2.3-to-1. Was it all those "take a long-shot to Calvin on 1st down" attempts?


As far as the defense, I found this stat of bit weird. Check out our opponents average rush per carry against the Tech defense depending on field position:


Opp 1 To Opp 20 Yd Ln......2.29 yards/carry
Opp 21 To Opp 39 Yd Ln.....4.05
Opp 40 To Own 40 Yd Ln.....2.61
Own 39 To Own 21 Yd Ln.....2.92
Own 20 To Own 1 Yd Ln......2.83


What is it about being between the 21-39 yardline? That covers 117 carries, so it should factor out a few long runs fairly well.


Interesting stuff, and they claim they will be updating the site weekly during the upcoming season. I'll make sure we have a permanent link in the football section.


cfbstats.com - College Football Statistics