Numbers Maze

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Hopefully everyone had a nice side chick valentines. Side chicks need their own day too. We have now gone through the entire non conference schedule, hopefully you came out the other side okay. We also have had a look at our first few rankings and there has been some movement for some, but the usual suspects are were they are expected to be with a few surprises. Some have come back down to earth after last season, yep I am looking at you Aggies. Too much hype around them.

Today we are going to go through what I think are some important stats thus far in the season. We already looked at some stats after week 3 but we only looked at the offensive side of the ball. Today we are going to do that again but also look at some defense. They say defense wins championships but in this game I think it might be offense but what do I know, I have never won a championship. We are going to start off by looking at the points per game top 20 list similar to the last time we did this.

The list should look kinda familiar to everyone. We have the same suspects at the top, I am looking at you Rutgers. Though you have been dethroned from the top step, you are still there. They came across 2 humans, elites non the less in their last 2 non conference games and right now they are sitting on a 4 - 1 record which is not bad at all though they are down in the rankings. I am sure they will move up the rankings as the season progresses if they continue to win. The current top scorer are Colorado and they have played 3 humans in their non conference games and they are sitting in second place in the rankings with their second year coach. We all know the current coach is no joke, he knows what he is doing so this should not be a surprise to anyone but it also spells doom to other coaches out there because he is coming for you. We have 5 elites in the top 20 again. I wonder if we will see a similar pattern as we did in our previous trip to this little corner of the Maze with graphs and stuff. There has been some reshuffling behind Rutgers which is to be expected I guess. To score points you have to move the ball, so take a look at the graph below.

Back at it again like they left something, Rutgers back at the summit. Points scoring might have slowed a smidge but moving the ball is still going full throttle but are they running out of fuel because look at Colorado. Man Colorado is coming for that number one spot, like Ludacris said, so beware. I wonder if the top 2 will just keep running away from everyone or will they be caught. I would expect schools in conferences that are not too filled will run up the score against the Sim AI teams. We should have different recognition for coaches who score the most points, put up yards separately in the air and on the ground and also total yards amongst other different categories, this is on top of the CoY award. Just an idea that hit me and I thought I share it, you see what happens in the Maze, things just run across and are spewed out immediately. 5 elites show up again, I think these lists might be the few lists were not all top 14 spots are occupied by elites, way to go everybody. I wonder if this will change as the season progresses. I think everyone should keep an eye out for Colorado because they keep showing up at the sharp end of these lists. I think they need to spill the secret and so does Rutgers because it can not just be throwing though it might have changed in the last 2 games since we kinda outed Rutgers in our last dive into the numbers. Now is Rutgers still topping the yards in the air list?

Yes of coz they are, what did you expect? They have found a formula that works and they are executing it to perfection because, well they are still at the top of the charts. I will not go into detail of who they are throwing to because I think they would not be too happy with me doing that, we can maybe look at that at the end of the season. Look at that, Colorado is up there again, I told you to keep an eye out for them they are coming for you. There is a big drop from the top 2 to the rest of the teams, which surprises me a bit because I would have expected coaches to have adopted similar strategies given we have all seen what works but then again there is limited talent that can execute the game plan to top the list. We have our usual 5 elites, these guys might have to talk to the others to let them now, hey we are elites we have to dominate. I hope that won't come back to bite me when I face elites. Do the teams that put up yards in the air do the same thing on the ground?

Nope, that is not the case. Rutgers is still in 20th and Virginia Tech is just chilling at the top and there is a drop to the first school that is not the best at running the ball. Virginia Tech are light years ahead and the Cornhuskers are the best of the rest, staying true to the philosophy of the actual Cornhuskers team. I wonder if their system is the same too, run left, run right and don't forget to run up the middle even if it is 3rd and long. I have never understood that, at least try to run a screen that is a change up that sometimes works. But what do I know, look at were the Aggies are, not in the top 5. Colorado seems to be doing better than Rutgers at this running game and trying to do the balanced offense thing. We again have the same 5 elites in the top 20. You see a similar pattern from week 3, then again it has not been too long for a change in the pattern. Virginia Tech knows what they are doing they are undefeated up to this point. You might say oh they are running against Sim AI teams, well nope they are not. VT has faced 4 human teams and are ranked 8th with a SOS of 48. I wonder if VT will be overtaken as the season progresses, I don't know if there will be too many changes in the lists because I think coaches are set in their grooves.

How about we take a look at the other side of the ball.

We need to know who has a defense built to dominate and be a ball hog. The defense has to be able to take the ball from the other side and give it to their own offense. With your defense being ball hogs it allows your team to put up points and also stops the other team from scoring so it's a win win if your defense are ball hogs. We are first going to look at who is pushing the opposition backwards with them sacks.

Seems like Rutgers depends on their offense to get the job done, at least sacks wise. They still make the list but they are not sitting at the top like we have seen before. We have 2 elites at the top, the Longhorns and the Hurricanes, Temple is right there with them, then there is a bit of a drop. We only have 5 elite teams again even on this side of the ball, which is strange to me, I expected more elites to show up at least here. The top teams have 20+ sacks in 5 games, think about that and let it sink in. They are pushing people backwards and winning games, both teams are ranked. Colorado is not only scoring points but they have a good defense as well. I think they might be the real deal. They have a good team and they might make waves this year, look out everyone, I know I have said this already but I am liking this Colorado team.

Let us take a look at who is picking the opposition off. Getting a pick always feels good but getting a pick 6 feels even better. I wonder how many pick sixes there are out there. For now let us just look at what we have.

The Cornhuskers are miles ahead of everyone, with Maryland following them. Picking the opposition off is fantastic as it gives your offense extra possessions to score more points. Getting those picks depends on the talent you have on your defense and also the QB you are facing. If you are facing a freshman QB I think you are going to have a field day when it comes to picks, but if you have studs on defense it might not matter what class the QB is as your studs will come through. On this list we have 5 elites again and I think it is the same elites every time. I think this list will change as the season progresses, maybe. Some teams will remain in the top 20 and some will fall out. I am curious to see who falls out and who stays on the list. Speaking of lists why don't we look at another list.

We are going to look at forced fumbles.

These are interesting because the question is, are they because the defense is that dope or is it because the RBs are just wack. I was very tempted to plug the butt fumble here but that would have been too easy, and we don't want to go for low hanging fruit and it was a QB fumbling and we are talking about RBs fumbling.

We have the Longhorns topping a list again. They know how to get the job down on the defensive side of things and are not too flashy on offense (I hope this wont bite me down the line, not that the result will be different). Texas is way ahead of everyone with those forced fumbles and Pittsburgh is in second place. There is a bit of a gap from 1st to 2nd and to 3rd, from there we have steady drops to the last team in the top 20. 8 forced fumbles in 5 games is not too shabby, that is just over 1 every game and I have a feeling they will continue to do this. Rutgers is on the list but they are not at the top, but I am sure they are happy just making the least even though I think given an option they would want to top every list we have looked at up to this point. We again have 5 elites on our list, does the game have something against having more than 5 elites in the top 20 of these lists because I think it is the same teams again.

Okay I think that might be a good spot to stop at. We have a lot of lists to look at and take in. I have not forgotten the special teams so be on the look out for graphs about them some time in the future. For an all round great team you have to be good in all phases of the game. I have lost games because of punts returned for TDs and also kick offs returned for TDs, so special teams are an important aspect of a good team. For now though we are going to step out of the Maze, it has been a long run and we might need to give our legs a break, you should never forget leg day because the Maze run will be back. Good luck in conference play except the guys I am playing this year