Tuesday, June 02, 2009

2008, By The Numbers Part 3

Welcome back to the Stat Department at OTP.

Last week we discussed 20 teams that were grossly mismatched against all their opponents, whether it be for the better (Boise State) or the worse (Washington). Today, let's take a step back and look at a larger chunk of teams. I promised that we would let some numbers destroy a conference, and I think we've found it. By "destroy" I do of course mean "humiliate them in front of the rest of the class".

We throw around the term "cupcake" around here, but I think we're about to find out what that means. Ladies and gentlemen, let me pull back the curtains and reveal to you a conference that lives up to the "cupcake". In fact, their logo should look something like this:That's right. I have just called the ACC (Atlantic Cupcake Conference) a bunch of cupcakes. Wanna throw down? Well, let's look at the figures first. Then if you still want to fight about it, we'll meet at the jungle gym at three today where I'll bust your ass.

I'm sure you're aware the ACC has 12 teams. But, did you know out of all the games they played, a whopping 9.62% of them were against FCS schools? Four of the 12 teams had two FCS opponents apiece. Only one didn't have an FCS opponent, so Wake Forest, you are free to leave from this discussion. The rest of you, sit down a minute. Now that we took away Wake's schedule, the rest of the ACC played 10.49% of their games against an FCS school. For shame.

I suppose this brings forth some interesting questions. Why would a team really need two FCS opponents? Does any team really need one for that matter? Most programs dole out some nice cash to play an FCS school to just make sure all the practice will translate to game situations. Nearly three-fourths of all FBS school had at least one FCS opponent in 2008. But check this out: in the ACC, Florida State had two FCS opponents to start the season, Clemson had its second and fourth games against FCS opponents, GA Tech had one at the start and another at the sixth game, and VA Tech had games two and six against FCS schools. Does this make sense to anyone, really? Also, does it even make sense when you can only use one FCS game to count toward your bowl eligibility? I'm sure it looks great in Clemson's media guide that last year "the Tigers chalked up a winning season at 7-6...", but are they really going to put that two of those wins were against FCS opponents? How would they have looked had they played all FBS schools? 6-7? 5-8? Finally, consider this: ten of the 12 ACC schools went to a bowl last year. I'm not sure I'm okay with that.

It might be time to take a look at scheduling on a national level. If most teams want an FCS school to bang around, go for it. But when you look at how lopsided the ACC scheduling was compared to other conferences, it starts to look a bit fishy. So, could a possible solution be to make FBS/FCS games exhibition only and not count toward the regular season? Hmm, now there's a thought.

In the near future, we'll get into a heavier FCS debate and also detail which conference was the anti-cupcake. But now that you have a bit of knowledge on this, what's your impression of the ACC and it's cupcakery? How would you feel about scheduling FCS opponents only in an exhibition format? Comment away!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the ACC is landing 10 of 12 teams in Bowl games, then they should be applauded for smart scheduling, shouldn't they?

Bobo the Bee said...

How about this one, of the bowl games the ACC played in:

*Wake played in Washington DC (W, 29-19 Navy)
UNC played in Charlotte (L, 31-30 WVU)
FSU played in Orlando (W, 42-13 Wisconsin)
NC State played in Alabama (L, 29-23 Rutgurs)
*Miami played in San Fran (L, 24-17 California)
*Maryland played in Boise (W, 42-25 Nevada)
*Boston College played in Tennessee (L, 16-14 Vandy)
Georgia Tech played in Atlanta (L 38-3 LSU)
Clemson played in Jacksonville (L, 26-21 Kansas)
Virginia Tech played in Miami. (W, 20-7 Cincinatti)

That's .. not very impressive.

RV said...

Nice work, Alex. To take it a bit farther...

The ACC was 4-6 against teams that averaged 8.2 wins and 4.9 losses. The ACC should be applauded for proving that 'smart' scheduling did nothing but embarrass them on almost every stage. If you can get into a bowl with a weak schedule and prove you can actually play, that's one thing.

This isn't smart scheduling, it's cowardly scheduling.

Anonymous said...

The ACC went 6-3 over the sec during the regular season and had it not been for Florida and Bama beating 3 ACC opponents, the ACC would have swept the sec 6-0.Without Florida,Bama and LSU, the sec is VERY beatable.

RV said...

Mrs. Swofford,

Thank you for your contribution to the blog, I didn't think such a classy family would join the depths of a simple blog. FYI, I don't pull punches for women.

You're an idiot. Bowl games count as games, right? So why would you omit the ACC getting stomped against the SEC in their bowl game? At this site, if you're going to bring it with stats, it better be broughten.

Lets review the games played in the ACC-SEC battles.

W - Bama/Clemson 34-10
W - Florida/FSU 45-15
W - LSU/GT 35-3
W - SC/NC State 34-0
L - UGA/GT 42-45
L - Miss/Wake 28-30
L - MSU/GT 7-38
L - SC/Clemson 14-31
L - Vandy/Duke 7-10
L - Vandy/Wake 10-23

So, let me get this straight...you're flexing over the fallen bodies of Vanderbilt (7-6), South Carolina (7-6), Mississippi State (4-8), Mississippi (9-4) and Georgia (10-3) ? Of which Georgia and Ole Miss were extremely close wins, while Clemson (7-6), FSU (9-4), GT (9-4) and NC State (6-7) lost by a combined 37-7. For parity's sake, the ACC wins were 29.5-18. Which makes the total series 25.6 - 20.5 in favor of the SEC. I'm not even an SEC apologist, but you're so far off the reservation here I can't even begin to start. Although, I guess I'd probably avoid leaving off the the ACC killer getting waxed by LSU 35-3 if you want to start any sort of conversation. Please, explain to me how the SEC is so 'beatable' outside of the good teams?

Edge said...

RV, that burned hot. I know you're in Chicago, but I felt the heat all the way in Muncie. Let me know next time you pull a sick burn so I can get out of the "RV sick burn radius".

Texas Bluebonnet said...

Great read tthank you