0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/9/2014
How can the story of a season — and the teams within it — be told? Part of the beauty of college football, with a vastness that stretches beyond 120 teams, is that there are so many ways in which to engage in storytelling. Today, the Statistical Summer continues by looking at 10 teams that […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/8/2014
On Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in O’Bannon v. NCAA, the trial that captured the attention of the college sports community. In a narrow and very immediate sense, the NCAA lost. Yet, the nature of “losing” is much more clear-cut on a court where basketballs are dunked, […]
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It’s always a blessing to find new voices in the college football blogosphere (and Twittersphere). One such voice is
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Yesterday, we looked at 10 teams that needed statistical advantages in order to win games in 2013. Today, we’ll look at the teams whose seasons (and trends) cut in the opposite direction. These teams won in spite of the stats, not because of them: * 10 – TROY Last season, the Trojans were 2-4 in […]
Launch date for the SEC Network is this Thursday, August 14. Richard Deitsch’s panel tackles that subject and much more in a far-ranging media roundtable. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth processing what various Sports Illustrated writers have to say about the college football media landscape in a not-that-ordinary year for the sport and its identity on television.
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/7/2014
This tweet, originally reported by
0 comments by Matt Zemek
Thursday night, Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves suffered a knee injury. The severity of that injury isn’t yet known. While we wait for more details, the news immediately calls to mind the injury-ravaged 2013 season which has Will Muschamp on the hot seat this season in Gainesville: Anyone who loves sports wants to see the best […]
When Frank Beamer’s teams average at least four yards per carry, they very rarely lose. Hitting the four-yard barrier carries a profound degree of significance at Virginia Tech, compared to other power-conference programs across the country. The inability to establish the running game in recent years is precisely why the program has struggled.
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To raise awareness and join in the fight against ALS, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer quite literally did something cool… or perhaps, cold. You can watch the fun here. Video courtesy of HokieSports.com.
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In a development that does not rate as a surprise, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted on Thursday to grant autonomy to the “power 5” conferences. The 16-2 vote, while undeniably a seminal moment in the history of intercollegiate athletics, is just the start of a long process that will continue to reshape […]
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On Wednesday, The Student Section produced a compilation of win-loss records over the past 11 seasons in terms of statistical advantages and deficiencies. These records since 2003 — for teams with more in-game first downs, yards, penalties, turnovers, and more — were tabulated in bulk, not in terms of the specific teams. In this latest installment […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/6/2014
Reddit has been formulating and posting sports “hate maps” for various leagues over the past few weeks. It’s a fun concept, and though it’s not meant to be taken too seriously, the “hate map” does raise all sorts of fascinating questions about sports fandom as an extension of both demographics and the current condition of […]
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Want to learn more about college football’s early history? Dave Revsine, who moved from ESPN to become the lead studio anchor at Big Ten Network, has written a book chronicling the early years of college football, The Opening Kickoff. Last night, he appeared on Keith Olbermann’s show. Part one: Part two: Yes, yes, yes, a great […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek
It’s not exactly a mind-blowing revelation that turnovers matter more than most other comparative statistics in college football. This is not news. What might be newsworthy to you as a consumer of college football content is the ability to see the value of turnovers over the past 11 college football seasons. With help from freelance […]
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/5/2014
College football is a religion for some. If you worship in the church of college pigskin, you know that God created August so that you could prepare for the regular season. One part of the larger process of preparation is to become reacquainted with fundamental tensions in the chess matches you see on Saturday afternoons […]
0 comments by The Editors on 8/4/2014
College sports discipline is the topic that just won’t leave the headlines. While Air Force tries to confront the enormity of its failures and Nick Marshall’s playing status against Arkansas continues to be the source of speculation, the Dorial Green-Beckham situation at the University of Oklahoma is being closely watched by anyone who cares about […]
The 2013 college football season was a near-total disaster for Air Force and head coach Troy Calhoun… and that didn’t even include the recent revelations about the off-field scandals that have tarnished his program.
0 comments by Matt Zemek on 8/3/2014
In light of Sunday morning’s report by Tom Roeder of the Colorado Springs Gazette on the mess at the Air Force Academy’s athletic department, let’s start with a brief aside on comparisons and boundaries in the realm of public discussion. (You can read a Student Section news summary of the piece here.) * When a […]
