Thursday random bits

Oh, the things you’ll see when you wander around the internets:

• Spurrier wants all of his quarterbacks to come off the bench.  And he sounds thrilled with Garcia’s work ethic this week:  “He acted like he didn’t want to play today, so we held him out…”
• Tony Franklin thinks something reeks at Auburn.  And it’s not the men’s bathrooms at Jordan-Hare.
• Virginia’s Al Groh thinks that Georgia Tech is the hottest team in the ACC right now.  Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson thinks Groh’s team is the hottest in the ACC right now.  Sadly, they could both be right.
• You’ve gotta love Blair Walsh’s mindset.  Unless you write for College Football News.
• It looks like Oklahoma State’s gonna need some more old people to insure.
• Potentially, this is a pretty cool scenario.
• I’ve found my Halloween costume.

Advertisement

Fun with numbers

I’ve got a  couple of statistical stories worth sharing with you this morning.

First, from Mike Hugenin at Rivals.com:

On its Internet site, the NCAA has a weekly update on the nation’s toughest schedule. One part deals with upcoming opponents, and the NCAA says Texas Tech has the toughest remaining schedule in the nation. The Red Raiders’ remaining opponents are a combined 24-7 (77.4 winning percentage). Kansas is second, at 23-8 (74.2 percent). The Jayhawks play host to the Red Raiders on Saturday. The rest of the top 10: Georgia is third, West Virginia is fourth, Auburn is fifth, Florida and Oklahoma State are tied for sixth, Michigan is eighth, Baylor is ninth and Illinois is 10th.

I guess if the Red Raiders survive that stretch, we’ll be able to say the same thing about Leach’s crew that we’d say about Georgia if the Dawgs win out.

Next, cfbstats.com has been coming up lately with some intriguing statistical stories.  The latest thing over there is a look at which schools are best at “stuffing the run”.  Here’s how that’s defined:

A stuff is defined as a tackle for no gain or behind the line of scrimmage on a rushing attempt. Since I want to only consider true rushing plays, I’ve removed sacks and team rushing attempts, such as kneel-downs at the end of the half and snaps over the quarterback’s or punter’s head.

He lists the top 22 schools and I’m genuinely surprised to see Georgia missing from that list.  The good news to take from that, I guess, is that the Dawg defense must be doing a good job of limiting long runs by its opponents.

For some people, winning isn’t enough.

The Augusta Chronicle’s Scott Michaux argues that Georgia won’t sufficiently impress the voters who make up the human component of the BCS tally unless it starts kicking some righteous ass.

The Bulldogs have not built up any “style points” this season, and winning with style is an undeniable factor in the subjective polling that comprises college football’s idiotic postseason reward system. Margin of victory might have been eliminated from the computer mechanisms in place in the BCS, but it still holds at least subconscious sway with the human voters who make up two-thirds of the equation.

And the AJ-C’s Jeff Schultz tries to put a more nuanced spin on the same argument…

Mark Richt reminded everybody Tuesday that he is not into style points because, in his words: “Winning to me is pretty stylish.”

It was a fine, catchy phrase to help keep players focused. It will be even better as an opening shot if Georgia wins out and Richt is trying to lobby pollsters to help push his one-loss team into the BCS title game.

… by saying that the Dawgs’ lack of style points in its wins to date is itself an indication that they aren’t playing well enough to beat LSU or Florida.

As much as I’m tempted to do my fair share of hand-wringing at this point – and Schultz’ argument certainly has some merit to it, as Stafford concedes in the article – I’m also heartened by something he alludes to later in his piece.

… The Dogs were a preseason No. 1. The drive to that spot actually started in game eight a year ago. They were 5-2 after a loss to Tennessee and a narrow escape at Vanderbilt. Then they rolled up 42 points on Florida, 45 on Auburn and 41 on Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.

Does anyone deny that Georgia, last season’s #2 or #3 in the final polls, is in a better place right now than it was at the same point in ’07?  That’s not to guarantee that everything is going to wind up the same way, but it seems silly to offer advice as if this team doesn’t know how to go about accomplishing its goals for this season.

When you look at the path for Georgia that Barnhart described yesterday,

The Bulldogs’ schedule is as tough as it gets starting with Saturday’s trip to LSU (5-1). Even if it wins in Baton Rouge, Georgia will be beat up when it goes to Jacksonville to play Florida (5-1). Then there are consecutive roads trips to Kentucky (5-2) and Auburn (4-3) before hosting an improving team from Georgia Tech (6-1). Survive all that and Georgia could meet No. 2 Alabama (7-0) in the SEC championship game. Wow.

… it’s both a blessing and a curse.  It’s certainly a tough row to hoe, but there’s not a team there that can’t be beaten.  And if Georgia does run that table, it’s going to be tough to keep it out of the BCS title game.  No matter how much style is lacking from those wins.

*******************************************************************

UPDATE: On a lighter, NCSFW, note, Pulpwood thinks the Dawgs need to step it up a notch, too.