That was a long break

It's been over a year, but I think I'm finally ready to pick this thing up again and give it a second shot. Hopefully this time I'll actually be able to keep up with it. That said, I saw something on MGoBlog's Mailbag today that sparked my interest. Apparently, one of Brian's friends did a comparison of teams in the Big Ten where he looked at their net yards per play average (YPPA). I thought it would be interesting to do the same for the Big XII. Here is the basic premise from that e-mail:

Net YPPA [Yards Per Play Average] so far this year are remarkable. It is the only singular team quality measure that I have ever found. As I have mentioned, I think the number shows more about “how good a team is” than wins and losses. Plus 3 is a possible NC team. Plus 2 is a top 15 team. Minus 2 is a complete patsy.

I'm not quite sure how Craig adjusted for sacks. Actually, I'm not sure how Craig even did the calculation at all. After looking at Ohio State's statistics and running through all the formulas I could come up with, I couldn't replicate his numbers. So, I just faked it and got rough estimates by dividing the total offensive and defensive yards by the total number of offensive and defensive plays, respectively. If you have a suggestion about how to make this more accurate, I'm all ears. I took statistics twice and didn't learn a damn thing either time. So then, how does the Big XII look? Here's a breakdown by division. I've also included over-all conference rank and threw in the rest of the top 5 (Alabama and Florida) for argument's sake.

North Division
Team	Off. YPPA	Def. YPPA	Net YPPA	Conf. Rank
Missouri (8-2)	7.31	5.11	2.20	2
Kansas (6-4)	6.13	5.49	0.64	6
Nebraska (6-4)	6.47	5.99	0.48	8
Kansas St. (4-6)	5.84	5.92	-0.08	9
Colorado (5-5)	4.47	5.36	-0.89	10
Iowa St. (2-8)	5.27	6.63	-1.36	12
South Division
Team	Off. YPPA	Def. YPPA	Net YPPA	Conf. Rank
Texas Tech (10-0)	7.49	5.18	2.31	1
Oklahoma (9-1)	7.01	4.88	2.13	3
Oklahoma St. (8-2)	7.19	5.40	1.79	4
Texas (9-1)	6.57	5.41	1.16	5
Baylor (3-7)	5.79	5.29	0.50	7
Texas A&M (4-6)	5.29	6.21	-0.92	11
Other Top 5
Team	Off. YPPA	Def. YPPA	Net YPPA	Conf. Rank
Alabama (10-0)	5.69	4.23	1.46	--
Florida (8-1)	6.72	4.55	2.17	--

I know that comparing across conferences is difficult at best, but it is interesting to note that Alabama ranks below both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on this chart while Florida ranks just above Oklahoma and barely behind Missouri. It would be interesting to see what other things could be counted in to this to make it a more accurate representation of a team's quality. Right off the top of my head, I want to try an add special teams and turnover margin, but I'm not sure how you would do that. I'll ponder on it and hopefully have another post about this next week. Look for a preview of the Texas Tech game later next week and maybe reviews of the State vs. Tech and OU vs. A&M games this weekend.

Gundy spawns funny stuff

Well, it appears that Gundy's press conference has spawned some fun for the advertisers (and wannabes). Here we go with some goodies off of YouTube.

Dear Coach: Mike Gundy

Dear Coach, When you took over from Les "Don't let me speak to the media" Miles, I thought State had made a turn for the better. Over the last two seasons you have provided evidence that, while still building, the Pokes can be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12. You took a program that was succeeding on the field (but floundering off of it) and gave it new direction. You were not afraid to require that players respect the authority of the city of Stillwater and the rules of the campus administration. I gained great respect for you when you refused to tolerate any behavior that compromised the reputation of your school or your program. I don't need to tell you this, but it took guts to kick off the players you did. You realized that to build, you needed a solid foundation; to step out of the shadow cast by the other schools in your division, you will need to build very tall, indeed. That is why is was slightly disappointed and more than a little surprised by your press conference last week. I refuse to call it a "rant" or "tirade" like so many media outlets are, but it was very puzzling behavior coming from a man who had a reputation for being so level-headed. I understand that Jenni Carlson crossed a line by attacking the character of Reid, and I understand that you had just ridden the emotional roller-coaster of a late upset win. That does not excuse you, however, from taking responsibility for your actions. Just for a moment, let's trade places. For this brief time, let me be the coach and you the promising young man. Don't let your pride get in the way of realizing when you have made a mistake; don't try to shy away from the repercussions of your words. Instead, take this opportunity to prove that Oklahoma State made the right choice when they promoted you to head coach. Prove to the entire world that you are not only the leader of your team on the field, but also off of it. Show that you still have those guts and offer an apology to Jenni, her editor and The Daily Oklahoman. You have proven to your team and your fans that you will defend the student-athletes that have been placed in your care, now prove to the world that you have the moral character to shape them to be men as well.

News Update

• Jenni Carlson's article starts a firestorm – After Oklahoma State eked out a victory over Texas Tech on Saturday, you would expect Mike Gundy to be happy during his press conference. Normally, Gundy would extol the virtues of his assistant coaches, praise the poise and confidence of his quarterback and receivers, or at least address how his secondary could give up 646 yards of passing. Instead, he did this: Now, I've read the article that he's talking about, and I agree that it was unnecessarily harsh on poor Bobby Reid. That's not too surprising, though, as Jenni isn't known for liking State. She's also not known for being a good writer, or doing research, or in any way being a good journalist. If you analyze her evidence, it's all based on "the rumors and the rumblings" she has heard around campus. Of course, when you consider that she lives in Oklahoma City you kind of have to wonder when Jenni's even been on campus, let alone when she's had time to hear rumors there. Does that condone Gundy's reaction? Not really. Did Jenni deserve getting called out for writing a crappy piece? Yes, but not like that. Gundy should have had State's marketing department write him something and then make a formal press release. I'd also really like to know what, exactly, the inaccuracies that he mentioned are. Unfortunately, he's not talking about what they are. I imagine that more of the details will come out as the weeks pass. I just hope, for Gundy's sake, that none of those rumors were true.
• Other Big 12 Coaches Agree With Gundy – In an interesting move, ESPN not only decried Gundy's press conference, but also printed the supporting words of other coaches in the Big 12. Stoops, Mack Brown, Dan Hawkins, and Bill Callahan all agreed that sometimes the media is a little rough on student athletes. I was surprised to hear that none of those five coaches read newspaper articles about their teams. I guess that makes sense, as the coach would know a lot more about what is happening on his team than any reporter, but it still seems a bit odd.
• Men's Basketball Tickets On Sale Tuesday – It's almost that time again. Also, the women's team released their full schedule.

Sunday Roll-call

In this (hopefully) weekly column, I'm going to discuss the performance of a few of the major teams from around the NCAA. Most of the time, I've watched these games, though sometimes I've seen only a few minutes. So, here we go:

• Oklahoma State — While I never really bought the marketing hype about the Pokes having the best offense in the nation this year, I did feel that they could be very, very good. What I, and everyone else, apparently forgot to think about was the fact that defensive players need to be able to tackle...at least a little. I don't think that we can chalk this up to inexperience as much as it looked like a complete lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball. Add to that an enormous number of dropped passes by some usually very good receivers (*cough* Adarius Bowman *cough*) and you end up with a lop-sided loss to possibly the best team in the Sun Belt Conference this year.
• Notre Dame — What can I say here? They absolutely sucked. Clausen was horrible, so was the rest of the offense. Their defense looked hopeless and completely over-matched. If I was a domer, it would have been painful...
• Michigan — ...fortunately, I'm not. Michigan looked like they were back in force. Their performance was definitely enhanced by the fact that Notre Dame was horrible, but I still think they may have turned it around. I'm not going to pick them to win the Big 10, though, that's going to be Penn State, but they could end the season with only 4 losses. That should redeem Lloyd Carr's name enough that he can retire with grace, especially if they end up beating Ohio State this year.
• That other school that wears orange — I have to say that I'm not sure how Mack Brown pulled this one off. For the third straight week, they had a big scare against what should have been an inferior opponent. McCoy looks to be firmly in the grasp of the Law of Averages, which bodes very poorly for short-horn fans. Their running game leaves a lot to be desired as well, though Charles did look good late as did their third-down back Ogbonnaya.
• USC — I was as unimpressed this time as I was when they blundered past Idaho. Now, I'll admit that I did not watch the whole game. I actually only saw the first and fourth quarters (so when Nebraska was playing well) and nothing of the other two. I understand from reading that they have finally decided which of their four million running backs they are going to start. Really, I think this is mostly just reaction against the media (and especially Herbstreit) practically creaming themselves every time they mention the University of Spoiled Children. They're a good football team, but these folks are gushing so much you'd think that they could hold their own against an NFL team and that the rest of the NCAA should just go ahead and forfeit the entire season and let Carrol claim another national championship they didn't earn (no, I'm not bitter, I swear). Anyway, they won, but it wasn't as impressive as LSU dominating VT last week and if I had a vote they'd probably be #4 on my ballot.
• Oklahoma — I almost feel guilty writing about this game. I didn't go and I didn't want to pay more than the cost of a ticket to get the pay-per-view. I did, however, listen to it on the radio. We won, it was impressive, Utah State was not a test. Basically the same story as the last few weeks. The only constructive things I have to say are these: 1) Bradford looks like the best choice the coaches could have made, 2) I'm glad Nichol isn't the starter and 3) damn...our defense rocks! Also, Bob Barry and Marv are probably the funniest play-by-play/color combination in all of sports radio...too bad it's not on purpose.

Well, that's the column. Give me some criticism (constructive or otherwise).