Why we need a college football playoff, reason #437.

What’s more meaningless than a bowl game?

Why, a college football spring game, of course.

That’s why Notre Dame only drew 51,852 to its Blue and Gold Game today.

That’s why Alabama drew a mere 92,000+ to the A-Day game today.

Can you only imagine the excitement that a playoff would bring to D-1 football? Instead of going to a spring game, fans could fill out a playoff bracket!

April Madness (photo courtesy AP)

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UPDATE:  More on the Alabama spring game attendance story.

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Boredom + Blog = more stats

Yesterday, I compared the averaged D-1 offensive scoring standings for the BCS conferences from the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Just for yuks, I thought I’d do the same thing on the defensive side of the ball. Courtesy of Yahoo Sports, here’s what I’ve come up with:

Conference 2004 Avg. 2005 Avg. 2006 Avg.

ACC………………..31.58…………36.83…………39.08

Big 10……………..43.27…………61.55…………56.73

SEC…………………39.58………..33.92…………39.67

Big East…………..57.75…………41.13…………45.75

PAC 10……………49.70………..75.00…………58.20

Big XII……………50.58………..52.08…………57.92

Now, let’s match up average rankings for offense and defense for that period:

Conf. 2004 Off. 2004 Def. 2005 Off. 2005 Def. 2006 Off. 2006 Def.

ACC………66.92………31.58…………71.00………36.83………72.42………..39.08

Big 10……62.09……..43.27………….37.64………61.55………52.45………..56.73

SEC……….56.58……..39.58………….71.58………33.92………53.33………..39.67

Big East…43.50……..57.75………….64.88………41.13………50.00……….45.75

PAC 10….50.50……..49.70…………37.20………75.00………55.20……….58.20

Big XII…..51.17………50.58…………54.50……..52.08………39.50………..57.92

Again, let me say this is an admittedly crude survey. It doesn’t take into account the strength of OOC scheduling, for example, and how that might play into the numbers. Nevertheless, I think there are a few conclusions that are fairly safe to draw here.

First, and most obvious, while it’s not a zero sum game because of non-conference matches, generally there’s no such thing as a free lunch – if a conference’s offensive standings improve, it’s at the expense of the defensive standings, and vice versa. There is one big exception to this rule: the ACC, which has seen its standings in both categories steadily decline (most likely reflecting the decline of the Miami and FSU programs over that same period).

Second, is there any question where the best defense gets played? In the South, brother.

Third, the PAC 10’s reputation for offensive prowess may be a little misplaced, at least over the last three years. Two of the survey years indicate the conference to be middle of the pack and it’s hard to know from the 2005 numbers if the PAC 10 was very good on offense, or very bad on defense.

Fourth, given how strong the conference numbers are on defense, don’t the average standings for SEC offenses look credible here?