In the latest 20 for 20, three box scores all deserve “box score of the week honors.”
Traditional football box scores haven’t generally included the number of scrimmage plays each team runs, but if you incorporated that statistic into a modernized box score, Colorado-UCLA deserves to be on the short list. Colorado ran 114 plays to just 59 for UCLA. Both teams scored defensive touchdowns, meaning that the offenses played a 28-24 game with those play totals. We’ll mention more about the Buffs-Bruins box below.
The Miami-Duke game featured a remarkable (and incorrectly officiated, but still remarkable) final play. The box score demanded attention, too. Oregon-Arizona State, however, possessed the craziest top-to-bottom box score of them all.
How great a week was it for amazing box scores? The 70-53 game between Oklahoma State and Texas Tech didn’t even make the cut.
What else did we find from week nine? Let’s take a look:
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The 20 games surveyed in week nine:
Oregon-Arizona State
West Virginia-TCU
North Carolina-Pittsburgh
Notre Dame-Temple
San Diego State-Colorado State
Clemson-N.C. State
Louisville-Wake Forest
Maryland-Iowa
Syracuse-Florida State
Stanford-Washington State
Ole Miss-Auburn
Vanderbilt-Houston
Miami-Duke
Nebraska-Purdue
South Florida-Navy
Michigan-Minnesota
Tulane-Memphis
Oklahoma State-Texas Tech
Georgia-Florida
Colorado-UCLA
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Here are 20 statistics we gleaned from week nine:
20) Teams with more first downs went 11-8 in these 20 games. There was one statistical tie.
19) Two teams gained 18 more first downs than the opposition and lost: Arizona State (Oregon) and Colorado (UCLA). An added note about the Arizona State stat: Oregon was just 3 of 14 on third downs and won on the road, scoring 61 points. Sure.
18) Duke gained 13 more first downs than Miami… and lost.*
Yes, you know what the asterisk is for. Yet, the game was that close even with the large disparity in first downs. That’s still noteworthy.
17) Washington State gained 11 more first downs than Stanford… and lost at home.
16) Two other teams gained eight more first downs than the opposition and were rather comfortably beaten: Pittsburgh (North Carolina) and Nebraska (Purdue).
15) Teams with more yards went 14-6 in these 20 games.
14) Arizona State gained 241 more yards than Oregon… and lost.
13) Colorado gained 154 more yards than UCLA… and lost.
12) Minnesota gained 165 more yards than Michigan… and lost.
11) Teams with more passing yards went 11-9 in these games.
10) Teams with more rushing yards went 15-5 in these games.
9) Arizona State gained 344 rushing yards… and lost at home.
8) Teams with more penalties went 9-7 in these games, with four statistical ties. Penalties continue to remain the “negative” statistic with comparatively little impact on winners and losers in college football. This is much more a part of football in which ill-timed penalties affect outcomes; overall totals, within reasonable limits, don’t carry that much influence in a larger context.
7) Miami committed 18 (!) more penalties than Duke. Asterisk or not, the Hurricanes led until the final 10 seconds… before retaking the lead they lost on the last play.
6) Teams with more turnovers went 4-11 in these games, with five statistical ties. The four teams that won: Notre Dame, Miami, Michigan, and Ole Miss.
5) Teams with more time of possession went 13-7 in these games.
4) Colorado held the ball over 41 minutes, for an advantage of just over 22 minutes against UCLA. The Buffaloes still lost.
3) Two other teams held the ball at least 10:30 more than the opposition and lost at home: Pittsburgh (UNC) and Arizona State (Oregon).
2) Nebraska-Purdue produced a time-of-possession differential of just 50 seconds, even though one team (Purdue) ended plus-5 in turnover differential.
1) Four quarters, multiplied by two teams, create eight box score slots in the quarterly scoreline. In the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game, seven of those eight slots were filled with a number no lower than 14. That’s right — at least 14 points were scored in every quarter by each team in OSU-TTU, except for one of those eight box score slots. Texas Tech got shut out in the third quarter.
The line:
OSU 14 14 14 28 = 70
TTU 24 14 0 15 = 53
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Mikhail Palekar provided research which contributed to this report.
