Archives for November 2013

As always, presented without comment. (Now with 4th Down Conversions!)

Stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

If you haven’t seen this yet, then go ahead and join the rest of Buckeye Nation in shaking our collective head at its brazen absurdity:

That’s right, in a game that Baylor was losing for most of an eventful first quarter, the Bears “rolled.” Meanwhile, in a game in which Ohio State never trailed, the Buckeyes “survived.”

Who cares what some ESPN online headline writer says? Well, some people do. And beyond that, you’d be surprised how influential a little subtle rhetoric can be.

As you know, we’re still saddled with a ridiculous system that forces poll voters and computer algorithms to dissect and compare every butt-whooping handed out each weekend to decide which team’s humiliation reflects better on the team that kicked sand in their face for three and half hours. Some of those voters are active football coaches, who are easily the group of people with the least amount of time to devote to such a task.

So they don’t.

It’s no secret that most coaches don’t even fill out their own ballots. They shove that job off on the SID to shut him up about how they haven’t filled out their ballot yet. Maybe they give him some vague instruction like “vote us #2.” It’s crunch time, so the SID pulls up ESPN.com to see what everybody did this week and adjusts last week’s rankings accordingly. This is the point in time where “rolls” vs. “survives” can have an enormous impact. And it’s not even close to being correct.

Now, this may cease to be a problem next year when the playoff starts and the Coaches’ Poll no longer has a direct impact on the rankings, but still, it would be nice to have something to glance at that would tell the story of a game better than a simple final score or suspiciously worded caption can, wouldn’t it?

As it happens, I have just the thing for us. A very simple and basic tool that works surprisingly well: The Average Score. The Average Score is exactly what it says it is, the average of every score that occurs during a game. Essentially, we take each scoring change from a recap like this, and then, you know, average them out.

Using this approach, we get the “scores” of Ohio State 36, Illinois 17 and Baylor 29, Texas Tech 23. The difference in the two games is now readily apparent. Ohio State never relinquished the lead and was never fewer than 12 points ahead (besides the beginning of the game, obviously). Meanwhile, Baylor once trailed by 13 and was only up by 8 at the half. Despite ending with remarkably similar scores, Baylor clearly did not “roll,” nor did Ohio State merely “survive.” And with Average Scores, we would never have made those assumptions.

In case you’re wondering, other average scores from last week include Alabama 12, Mississippi State 4; Florida State 36, Syracuse 0; and Michigan 11, Northwestern 10.7.

1.) Ohio State (10-0)- Beat Illinois 60-35. A lot of people will complain about 35 points given up (7 of which were from a punt return TD.) The fact that OSU went on the road in a trophy game and scored 60 points and won by 25 should be celebrated and not have to be defended by OSU fans.

2.) Michigan State (9-1)- Beat Nebraska 41-28. A great road win in an intimidating atmosphere. The Spartans continue to improve and look like they are destined to face OSU in the B1G CCG in 3 weeks.

3.) Wisconsin (8-2)- Beat Indiana 51-3. Wisky had 3 RBs go for over 100 yards rushing each. The defense shutdown a potent Indiana offense for the entire game. This was their best and most complete game of the year.

4.) Minnesota (8-2)- Was on a BYE this week.

5.) Nebraska (7-3)- Lost to MSU 41-28. Nebraska did what few have done lately… They scored a lot of points and moved the ball well on the MSU defense. Unfortunately the defense regressed back to early season letdown form.

6.) Penn State (6-4)- Beat Purdue 45-21. Bill O’Brien added a victory to his resume although who hasn’t beaten Purdue?

7.) Iowa (6-4)- Was on a BYE this week.

8.) Michigan (7-3)- Beat Northwestern 27-19. Hey look you won. Then again you looked absolutely dreadful in doing so. The offense is anemic and the defense is worn out with very little depth. They head on the road to face a tough Iowa team before hosting THE GAME in 10 days.

9.) Indiana (4-6)- Lost to Wisconsin 51-3. The Hoosiers got blown out and there is nothing positive to take from this game. The worst part is they go on the road to face the Buckeyes next.

10.) Northwestern (4-6)- Lost to Michigan 27-19. The Wildcats lost another heartbreaker. This time in Triple OT to the much hated Wolverines. Eventually Coach Fitz needs to win some of these games or he will get fired.

11.) Illinois (3-7)- Lost to Ohio State 60-35. Got in the way of the OSU train this week and got run over. Their offense has grown in spades from last year. The defense has a lot of room to improve.

12.) Purdue (1-9)- Lost to Penn State 45-21. Purdue is still in need of a lucky break and something good to happen to turn things in a positive direction. Maybe playing Illinois this week will help?

A huge issue whirling around NCAA athletics is whether college athletes should get paid or not. Many argue that the pay they receive is a free education. I believe with the money colleges and broadcasting networks make, college athletes should be getting paid. It seems unfair how these colleges and networks make money off college athletes and don’t pay them a dime. College athletics are producing revenues that they have never received, it is time to start paying the people that earn them their revenue.

The problem is that many athletes do not have any “side” money. A lot of the athletes would not be attending the school they attend if it was not for their scholarship. Playing as a Division One athlete is basically a full time job. Between practice, games, working out, film and anything else a college athlete does on top of studying, there is no time for an athlete to get a part time job. So, what happens if an athlete wants to go out and grab pizza with a friend? He won’t, because he does not have any money to spend due to his time spend on athletics. I am not saying athletes should be getting paid hundreds of dollars each week. Just enough to have some “side” money and to spend on enjoyment.

To solve this issue, the NCAA should provide colleges money to pay their athletes. In 2011-2012 the NCAA had revenue of 871.6 million dollars (Terbush). College athletes’ revenue was a big 0. The NCAA can definitely afford to pay out a couple bucks to each college to pay athletes. Student- athletes should see a piece of the huge pile of money that the NCAA generates off of them.

Also, I believe that every athlete should get paid the same amount. Star running back or bench warmer, each athlete should receive the same pay. If a certain athlete received more money than another athlete than it would become a problem. Athletes would all demand more money especially if one of their teammates are making more than them. There would be no point of the NCAA if this happens, the NCAA would seem as if it was a “pre” NFL for the players. To sum my point up, every college receives equal pay to pay every single athlete equal salaries.

In conclusion, I believe that the NCAA is ripping off these student athletes. There is no reason why the NCAA shouldn’t put out a small amount of their large fortune. Due to the 700,000 dollar ad rate for thirty seconds commercial time during March Madness, the NCAA as a whole would make 6 billion annually. I am not saying hire and employ these athletes. Just justify them with a small salary from all the money they generate.

WORKS CITED: “Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?” US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. Terbush, Jon. “Is It Finally Time to Start Paying College Athletes? – The Week.” The Week. The Week, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

– I took a new approach to this weeks top 25 poll. I ranked the teams based on how they would be ranked if this was 1997 and not 2013. Bare with me you see with today’s atmosphere in CFB voting there is a perceived notion that voters can determine who the best teams are based solely on how their conference is perceived. There was a time and place when voters weren’t biased and didn’t openly share their biasness in an open forum at the minimum. In todays day and age the voters could care less about wins and losses. They care about spreading their agenda and forcing their views onto the rankings and convincing anyone who will listen that they are the end all and be all of great wisdom about CFB.

– It wasn’t that long ago that a teams performance was the judge for how they were ranked. Would Bama be considered the top team in the country beating a 4-6 (1-5) Miss State 20-7? Would Florida State jump OSU based on beating Clemson? Or how about the 2nd best team they beat this year was Bethune-Cookman?

– All you hear right now is Strength Of Schedule… Yes OSUs schedule is bad this year. Some of that has to do with OSU beating everyone they faced. What you don’t hear is Baylor’s is worse or FSUs and Bamas are barely better. Yes the great SEC is not giving Bama the bump in their SOS to even get their rating in the top 40 teams in the country.

– We live in a bizarre world where I feel the need to defend a team that has won 22 games in a row and scored 60 points and won by 25 on the road against a rival team. Truly Bizarre!!!

– So I went back to the last time I remember the BCS formula being non-existent and voters bias not being a badge of honor for them.

– In my opinion until the NCAA goes to a true playoff of 16 or more teams we will never be able to take the “human” aspect out of the decision making process and even then it may not work. What says you? How would you rank the teams this week?

OSU lowered the boom on Illinois 60-35 as Carlos Hyde beastballed his way for 246 yards and 4 TDs.

Miller added another 184 yards of his own on the ground, but struggled in the passing game in the gusty Champaign winds. Also struggling was the OSU defense, giving up almost 300 passing yards to Nate “Grandpa” Scheelhaase. (Is it just me, or hasn’t he been playing since about 1990?)

The Buckeyes started and finished at full throttle – a point that will likely go unnoticed by the talking heads. After going up by four touchdowns, the team lost focus and allowed the Illini to chip away at the lead. The game didn’t officially become in-hand until a 9-point swing in the 3rd quarter when OSU converted a safety and a subsequent TD back-to-back.

As much as fans may wish all OSU games could be as easy as the past few; a game like this is a good thing. The defense clearly was suffering from a bit of hubris after its domination of the B1G bottom feeders these past few weeks. Getting punched in the mouth, and being forced to respond, is good for this team as it continues to prepare to play real teams in the months ahead.

But the story of this game should be about Carlos “El Guapo” Hyde. Benched for the first part of the game (rumors indicated he missed a class this week), he still managed 246 yards in just over two-and-a-half quarters of football. He’s now about 50 yards shy of a 1000 for the season, a stat that of course should be considered in the context of him not playing the first three games against OSU’s weakest opponents. Had Guapo not been suspended earlier this season, there’s a very good chance he’d be at least a 1500 yard back this year.

Next week, Hyde should easily eclipse the 1000 mark, and perhaps exceed Keith Byars’ and Eddie George’s TD records. Most appropriately, he will likely do so during his last home game at the Shoe.

Stay tuned to MotSaG… Chip will have a more in-depth analysis of the game to be posted tomorrow.