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.