Trivia Tuesday – Wins and Losses

Here it is, already Tuesday again. Let’s try some more college trivia … are you ready?

QUESTION #1. Let’s start it off a little bit easy: Name the top 5 FBS winningest schools, all time in terms of number of wins.

QUESTION #2. Now, list the top 5 schools in terms of winning percentage. It changes a little bit and includes one relative newcomer to the FBS ranks.

QUESTION #3. Name the school that has the most all-time wins, without winning a National Championship.

QUESTION #4. List the 5 FBS schools with the most all-time losses.

QUESTION #5. List the 5 FBS schools with the poorest winning percent.

QUESTION# 6. Name the school with the most wins for a team that has a sub-500 winning percent.

QUESTION #7. Name the school with the most losses for a team that has a > .500 winning percent.

BUFFER ZONE

Some Other Dude in the off-season.

ANSWER #1. The top 5 Winningest programs are: Michigan (915 wins); Notre Dame (882); Texas (881); Nebraska (874); Ohio State (863).

ANSWER #2. The top 5 Winning Percentages are: Notre Dame (.732); Michigan (.729); Boise State (.724); Old Dominion (.722); Ohio State (.720).

ANSWER #3. The team with the most wins, but without a National Championship is West Virginia (719 wins).

ANSWER #4. The 5 FBS teams with the most all-time losses are: Indiana (651); Northwestern (649); Wake Forest (633); Kansas State (623); Iowa State (621).

ANSWER #5. The 5 poorest Winning Percentages are: Georgia State (.193); Florida International (.305); Kent State (.392); UNLV (.405); Wake Forest (.408).

ANSWER #6. The team with the most wins with a < .500 winning percentage is Kentucky with 587 wins and a .495 winning percentage.

ANSWER #7. The team with the most losses with a > .500 winning percentage is Rutgers with 620 losses and a .507 winning percentage.

The College Football Crisis Management Award

The “Some Other Dude’s College Football Blog” spawned from a weekly college football promotion I was writing for Safe Harbor Consulting (SHC), a Management Consulting Firm specializing in crisis management.  SHC ran a two-year promotion recognizing the FBS Team that overcame the largest deficit to win its football game each week.  They call this the “College Football Crisis Management Award”.  SHC will still sponsor this award in 2015, but the weekly articles will be posted on SOD’s College Football Blog.  This is a fun promotion to write about.

In 2013, many of the weekly winners came from games played outside of the Power 5 conferences.  Most of the weekly, largest comebacks came from obscure, low profile games.  Still fun to write about, but not as big of a draw.  2014 saw a little bit of a change in that trend.

The 2014 weekly winners of the SHC College Football Crisis Management Award are shown in the Table below.

In 2014, 8 games, recognized in the 15 full weeks of FBS play, included teams from one of the Power 5 Conferences.  Some of these games were very notable and you probably remember watching a few of them.  With so many games being played at the FBS level, you can usually count on at least one game with a notable comeback, although you do get a few dud weeks along the way.

The largest comeback on the year occurred in Week 6 when Miami (OH) overcame a 27 point deficit to beat Massachusetts, 42 – 41.  Both teams came into the game 0 – 5, looking for their first win of the season.  The Minutemen seemed to have the game won, but, apparently, they weren’t 60-minute men.  This is what makes the promotion so much fun – every game has a chance to be recognized.

There were a few weeks where the largest comeback was from only 14 points down (Week 16 doesn’t count – there was only one game, Army/Navy).  And, in Week 13 a full 5 games tied for the weekly honor at that 14 point mark.  Interestingly enough, Florida State, one of the teams that made the 4-team playoff at the end of the year, was in contention for the honor, on what seemed to be every week, and won the award with their 21 point, come-from-behind victory over Louisville in Week 10.

SOD is honored to be able to carry this promotion in our blog next year.  If you want to check out last years’ articles you can find them by clicking on the links included below.

Week 1.  Week 2.  Week 3.  Week 4.  Week 5.  Week 6.  Week 7.  Week 8.  Week 9.  Week 10.  Week 11.  Week 12.  Week 13.  Week 14.  Week 15we.

Pipelines to the NFL

I realize that with the start of the Free Agency period yesterday this is a fluid situation, but SOD took a look at every NFL Team’s active roster to see if there was any evidence of a “pipeline” of sorts from one college team to one NFL Team. What we found is not too surprising.

Most NFL teams, of course, have a pretty diverse mixture of players from all over the place. Atlanta, Baltimore, and Cleveland, in fact, had no more than 2 players from the same school listed on their active roster on 3/10/2015. Fourteen other teams had no more than three players from the same school listed as part of their player profile. But, 1 team had 7 players who played on the same college team in their collegiate career; can you guess which NFL Team and which college has this connection?

Think of a NFL Team with a head coach who recently came over from a successful college program. That’s right – the Philadelphia Eagles have 7 players on their active roster who played college ball at Oregon. Like I said, not surprising.

No other team has any more than 5 players from the same school. Cincinnati has 5 players each from Alabama and Georgia – could make for a fun locker room following a certain SEC football game. Dallas lists 5 players from Oklahoma State on its roster; Arizona has 5 former Clemson players on its roster; and, with Russell Wilson listing the Badgers as his collegiate tie, Seattle has 5 from Wisconsin.

Colleges that have placed 4 players on the same NFL team include: Utah with 4 players at Miami; Illinois and Rutgers each have 4 players on New England’s roster; Stanford has 4 Cardinal currently listed on Indianapolis’ roster; there are 4 players from Miami-FL playing for Jacksonville – makes sense; there are currently 4 players from Tennessee playing for Kansas City; 4 Orange from Syracuse are listed as New York Giants; Notre Dame has 4 each with Minnesota and Detroit; USC also has 4 players with the Vikings; the Crimson Tide has 4 ex-Alabama players listed on Green Bay’s active roster; and, 4 players from Auburn are currently getting paid to play for St. Louis.

Based on the high numbers of players some of the big-time schools have playing in the NFL, you would expect to see some clumping on NFL Teams just through the law of averages, but, for the most part, they are pretty evenly spread throughout the league. The further Chip Kelly gets removed from his personal ties with the players from Oregon, you might expect to see that one existing, prominent “pipeline” start to dwindle.

So, no real surprises, but it was fun looking into it.

College Football Meets Rhyme and Prose

I know it may seem like an odd combination but, Some Other Dude, the guy who writes this college football blog, is also an Average Joe posting to a poetry blog.  Weird, I know.

While we enjoy a little break from college football and just before the madness of the college basketball tournament, here is a sample of when my worlds collide – poetry about college football.

Trivia Tuesday – Power 5 Conferences

In recent years, there has been a lot of shuffling of College Football Conferences. And, if you believe Some Other Dude, there is more yet to come as we advance upon the age of the Mega-Conferences. But, SOD wonders, how well do you know the history of the current Power 5 Conferences?

THE TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Name the original teams in each of the current Power 5 Conferences.

THE BUFFER ZONE

THE ANSWERS

The Atlantic Coast Conference.  Even though we appear to be headed to 16 team Mega-Conferences, back in history there was an even mega-er conference; the Southern Conference.  The Southern Conference, at one time, consisted of 23 teams and eventually splintered into other, smaller conferences.  One of those splinter conferences was the ACC which officially formed as a conference in 1953.  The 7 charter members of the ACC were: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.  Only South Carolina no longer calls the ACC home as they eventually joined the other splinter conference with former Southern Conference brethren.  Link to information source.

The Big 12.  The history of the Big 12 is a little more convoluted than that of the other conferences.  The Big 12 itself wasn’t formed until 1994 when teams from the Big 8 merged with teams from the Southwest Conference.  The Big 8 Conference was originally chartered in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and eventually became known as the Big 6 and then grew up to become the Big 8.  The original members of this conference were: Iowa (two-timing with the Big Ten), Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington University in St. Louis.  Only Kansas remains as a current member of The Big 12.  Link to information source.  The Southwest Conference was first formed in 1912, consisting of: Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, Texas and Texas A&M.  Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas remain as current members of the Big 12.  Link to information source.

The Big Ten.  The name “The Big Ten” was actually not officially incorporated until 1987, but the conference referred to as the Big Ten has been around since 1905.  The original conference was made up of 7 teams in what was known as the “Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association”.  In 1917, when the conference had expanded to 10 teams, it was labeled the “Big Ten” by members of the media.  The original members of this so-called Big Ten Conference were: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, University of Chicago and Wisconsin.  Only the University of Chicago is not a member of that conference today.  Link to information source.

The Pac 12.  The Pac 12 Conference started off as a little seedling conference that eventually grew up into the Pac 12.  Forming in 1916 as the Pacific Coast Conference, its original members stood at only 4 schools: California, Oregon, Oregon Agricultural College (later known as Oregon State) and Washington.  All four schools still remain in the conference today.  Interestingly, Idaho and Montana were one time members of this conference and the conference was disbanded and re-assembled in 1959 due to a pay-for-play scandal.  The re-formed conference was called the Athletic Association of Western Universities, commonly known as the Big 5. After growing once again, the conference started being referred to as the Pacific 8 in 1964 and officially became the Pacific 8 in 1968, the Pac 10 in 1978 and the Pac 12 in 2011.  Link to information source.

The SEC.  The SEC preceded the ACC in splintering away from the huge Southern Conference when 13 schools left in 1932 to form their own conference.  The 13 schools that made up the first version of the Southeastern Conference were: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Sewanee (University of the South), Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.  Georgia Tech now resides in the ACC; Tulane, although still an FBS school is no longer a member of a Power 5 Conference; and, Sewanee, after having decided to de-emphasize sports in 1940, currently competes in Division III athletics.  Link to information source.

The Eric LeGrand Story – Still BELieving

Although I currently reside in the Pacific Northwest, Some Other Dude lived in New Jersey from 1990 – 2008.  Upon first moving to the Garden State, I became vaguely familiar with the Division I college football team playing out of New Brunswick/Piscataway claiming to be the birthplace of college football.  Because, at that time, it felt like that program hadn’t had any success since winning that first game in 1869, they didn’t demand much of my attention (in all fairness, there were some periods of success in the 60’s and 70’s – long before SOD arrived).  Then, eight years later, my oldest son enrolled as a freshman at Rutgers and we became season ticket holders for Rutgers football (and men’s basketball).

For the first 6 years or so, we and the five other people in the stands cheering on the Scarlet Knights suffered through some pretty awful football, including more than one loss to Div IA schools and yearly battles for last place in the Big East with Temple.  Then, Greg Schiano happened.  It was a slow, brick by brick process, but the team started getting a little bit better; excitement started to build; and, the wins started to come.

I did not storm the field on that Thursday night, Pandemonium in Piscataway game on November 9, 2006, but I stood at my seat for an hour watching the players, students and fans celebrate the upset win over #3 Louisville that seemed to announce Rutgers Football had arrived, and it felt good.

Two years later, my wife and I decided it was time to move on and we packed up our bags and moved out west, but, we brought along with us our allegiance to the Scarlet Knights.  Although Rutgers was no longer an annual bottom ten team, had actually been to a couple bowl games and was no longer a stranger to the Top 25 polls, the Scarlett Knights had not yet reached such heights as to appear on west coast broadcasted football games; so, beginning in 2008, I had to watch Rutgers games streaming on my laptop PC.

Such was the case on October 16, 2010 when the Scarlet Knights were battling the Black Knights of Army at the Meadowlands in Giants Stadium.  I’m not sure why, but I happened to see right away that the young man who made the hit on an Army kick return was seriously injured – way before the broadcasters even recognized that there was a man down.  At that time, I did not know who it was, but I knew it was not good.  That sickness I felt in the pit of my stomach watching the medical staff prepare to carry Eric LeGrand off of the field, still sits there today.

It is now 4+ years later and Eric is still not able to walk following that fateful day.

Eric’s daily struggles and his amazingly positive attitude with carrying on with life is well documented.  There have been books written and news stories and documentaries detailing Eric’s journey.  Eric’s smile lights up the screen through social media and on his tours to speak at many events and special occasions.

Within hours of watching Eric drop to the field at the Meadowlands, I was moved to write the following poem as a way to express what I felt at that time (I put it into picture format a few months later using a picture from Eric’s Facebook page):

I know that Eric’s is not the only story of a young man who had his life drastically changed due to injuries on the football field.  The names of Adam Taliaferro, Kevin Everett and Devon Walker immediately come to mind.  I am not comparing stories or suggesting that the Eric LeGrand story is somehow more special – I just have a more personal connection to Eric’s journey.

Yes, it’s going on five years later and I know that Eric still bELlieves; I know that I still bELieve; and, somehow, I feel like it would help if you, too, still bELieved that, one day, Eric can return to the Meadowlands and finally walk off of that field.

Sometimes, the game transcends the game and leaks into our everyday lives.  I watch Eric’s progress from afar and am proud and humbled by his attitude and his perseverance.  One thing that I know beyond belief, Some Other Dude has learned an awful lot about how to handle adversity from this young man.  Thank you, Eric, and keep the faith.

Conference Changes 2015 – The Eye of the Storm

Over the past few years the landscape of college football, with regards to conference membership, has been in flux. You practically needed a Playbill in recent years as a reminder of changes in the cast.

SOD is still trying to get used to Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and, as of this past year, Louisville playing in the ACC (somehow, Miami seems a natural fit). Missouri still seems odd showing up so many times on SEC football fields – and who suspected the Tigers to be winning the SEC East every year? And, although they had way better than expected seasons in their first year in the B1G Ten, Maryland and Rutgers seems out of place amongst the Ohio States, Michigans and Wisconsins of the football world. Heck, SOD is still trying to get used to Big Red in the B1G Ten.

What with the Big 12 being left out of the playoff party in 2014, with some pointing to their lack of a conference championship, at least somewhat, contributing to that decision and the visions SOD has of a future world of Mega Conferences (see yesterday’s blog article), it would not be surprising to see more flux down the road. As such, the 2015 football season appears to be the eye of the storm. Just a few minor adjustments to two mid-major conferences are in store for this coming year, nothing too confusing and nothing to get too excited about.

As of 2015, the Midshipmen from Navy leave the ranks of Independent football teams and will be participating in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). This looked like a more promising move a few years back when it was still the Big East, but, SOD believes, a good move for Navy nonetheless. Navy should be competitive in this league and, being a conference member should ease scheduling concerns that mid-major Independents have to deal with. With 8 conference games on the schedule each year, and the other two military academies, Navy only needs to secure 2 other games each season – much easier than finding 10 schools to compete against each year (the 2 academies are a given).

The only other conference changes occur in Conference USA which loses one team and gains another. SOD is sorry to see the University of Alabama–Birmingham fold the football tents. Although the past few years have not been kind to the Blazers, UAB does have a history of successful football campaigns to look back upon. Besides that, losing UAB loses one of the best football logos for FBS. Although the move of adding UNC-Charlotte to the league was not intended to be a replacement for anybody, that is, in effect, what happens. As the league bids good-bye to the Blazers, the 49ers move up from the FCS to start a new chapter in their football lore in C-USA. This could be a rather difficult challenge for the 49ers to start off. Charlotte had a tough enough time with a very manageable FCS schedule in 2014, finishing 5 – 6. Things will only get tougher in the C-USA. But, brick by brick, as they say. We will see if the 49ers can start to compete in years to come.

So, that’s it. Minor adjustments. Which is fine for now, as far as SOD is concerned. Another year to get used to Rutgers and Maryland in the B1G Ten. Another year for the Big 12 to plan their next move – they just have to grow large enough to host a Conference Championship Game, don’t you think? And, another year for SOD’s crystal ball vision to start to clear up. BYU and Notre Dame need to find a conference to call home and Boise State needs a big boy conference to play in.

Just the eye of the storm, my friends; the winds of change are just on the other side.

Colleges Represented on NFL Rosters

Today’s blog is almost an extension of yesterday’s article on “The Rich Getting Richer”.

Yesterday, we made the observation that the FBS schools on top of the Recruiting Class list are the same teams on the top of the Team Rankings at the end of the year, and, these teams seem to be pretty much the same year in and year out with little variation. Seems rather obvious, wouldn’t you say?

So, with it being a Friday and all, and, with Some Other Dude’s brain already in weekend mode, let’s make another obvious connection: One would expect that these same schools would lead the list of colleges with the most ex-players (I almost typed “graduates” – what was I thinking!?) on NFL rosters. And, you would be right. Let’s take a look.

The following table tallies the top schools in terms of players on NFL rosters; shows their current ranking in 2015 recruiting classes (according to ESPN); their ranking in most appearances in the Final AP Poll; and their final ranking in the 2014 AP poll.

Just the vicious cycle one might expect to see: do well in recruiting, and you will do well in the polls, and you will put lots of players in the NFL. And, the reverse is also true – put lots of players in the NFL and do well in the polls and it will help you with recruiting.

A few anomalies do stick out, however. Like … what is California doing so high up on the list of players on NFL rosters!? The Golden Bears do not have highly rated recruiting classes; they don’t finish in the AP Final Poll too often, and yet, they have the 11th most number of former players in the NFL. That was a little surprising.

Clemson and Texas A&M have highly rated recruiting classes for 2015 (3 & 8 respectively) but only rank 23 and 25 in number of players in the NFL.  You would expect them to start moving up that chart with the recent recruiting success they have achieved.

This chart also supports the observation made in yesterday’s blog that Oregon is a relative newcomer to the elite football programs club with a low ranking in the number of appearances in the final AP poll but high rankings in all the other categories.

This chart also seems to suggest that Miami-FL and Florida are programs that are slipping a bit of late.  Also missing from the table are Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State – all programs that rank in the top 10 for number of appearances in the final AP Poll but not in the top 15 for current NFL players. This may suggest that their fall from the top has gone on a little bit longer.

With the Super Bowl just two days away, this chart has been making its rounds through social media.

A neat little chart, but with only a two team sample it can skew the real results. A school like Rutgers can wave this banner at potential recruits as evidence that they put good players in the NFL. Even schools like Utah State and Kent State can be proud of this chart. But, when you look at the whole picture, Rutgers ranks tied for 34th with 18 players on NFL rosters; Utah State falls in at tied for 60 with 11; and, Kent State ranks tied for 70th with 9.

All of this is just fun facts to throw around while we await the Super Bowl on Sunday and Signing Day on Wednesday. The fun just never stops.

The Rich Getting Richer

National Signing Day, the first day High School seniors can officially commit to the college they will attend, is just around the corner, Wednesday, February 4.  If you have found yourself to this blog that is probably something you already know and are looking forward to.

No real surprises are expected, as regards to the top classes; there may be a few individual commit surprises, but not enough to drastically change the class rankings.  In some people’s minds it’s just more of, “the rich getting richer”.  Some Other Dude thinks of it more as, “the rich staying rich”.  One of the downfalls of signing such elite classes year after year is the resulting high number, relatively speaking, of early declarers into the NFL Draft each year – so, SOD thinks of it more as replacing your riches as opposed to adding to them.

If you look at the Class Rankings from any number of Recruiting Web Sites, you see the same, usual suspects at the top of the list.  The ESPN Top 10, for example, lists, in order from 1 – 10: Alabama, Florida State, Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee, USC, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Texas, and Notre Dame.  All elite programs, maintaining their elite status.  To no one’s surprise, 6 out of those 10 teams finished 2014 in the AP Top 25 rankings.  Just the rich staying rich.

So, it seems to SOD that this pattern of Top Classes stays pretty consistent from year to year.  This would support the feeling that the elite schools in college football stay pretty constant from year to year.  I wonder, thinks SOD, am I influenced by recent events, or does history bear this out?  If we grouped college football programs into classifications, such as: Elite Programs; Near Elite Programs; Middle of the Road Programs; Below Average Programs; and Bottom Dwellers, how hard is it for one program to move from one grouping to another, and, how often does that occur?

Just relying on SOD’s instinct, it seems there are not that many programs that have moved into Elite or Near Elite status in recent history.  Just go down this years’ Final AP Poll and put a label on each program and how long they’ve been in that classification.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

SOD, using only his instinct and, rather challenged, memory, labeled the Top 10 this way:

• Ohio State – Elite for a long time
• Oregon – Relatively new Elite
• TCU –Near Elite, moving upwards
• Alabama – Elite for a long time
• Michigan State – Moves between Elite and Near Elite
• Florida State – Moves between Elite and Near Elite – Mostly Elite
• Baylor – Newly Near Elite, moving upwards
• Georgia Tech – Fluctuates through all categories
• UCLA – Moves between Elite and Near Elite

Interested to see if facts support perception, SOD found this web page that lists the total number of appearances each school has in the final AP Poll throughout the years.

At the top of the list is Michigan, with 57 appearances.  The Wolverines have fallen on hard times of late but have had a long enough history of being an elite program that it is going to take more than a few years of mediocrity to knock them from this group.  And, Jim Harbaugh might have some magic to help get them back into the club.

Tied for 2^nd with 54 appearances are Oklahoma and Ohio State.  Elite and elite, although Oklahoma is at risk of slipping a bit if they don’t get back into Top 10 levels soon.

And, as you continue down the list there are no real surprises – one elite program after another.  Those with a deep history of being top programs are the same ones that are tops today – for the most part.  Certainly you have programs that have periods of mediocrity sprinkled in, but, you wouldn’t be surprised to see them bounce back to the top soon.  For instance, programs like Tennessee, which hasn’t had a Top 10 team for some time, weighs in at #9 all time.  The Volunteers haven’t finished in the final AP Poll since 2007, when they were ranked #12, and haven’t been in the Top 10 since 2001 (#4).  Tennessee is slipping down the list, but, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them back in the polls in the near future, especially given their Top 10 ranking in this year’s recruiting class.

This list does suggest that some of today’s better programs are new members to the Elite and Near Elite category, as SOD suspected.  TCU, a team that probably deserved a spot in this years’ playoff, ranks 29 on the all-time list.  Oregon, an elite program today, ranks only 39 on the list.  The Ducks have only 15 appearances in the Final AP Poll, 14 of them since 1994 and 11 appearances since 2000.  So, the Ducks are proof that a program can move up through the classifications – but, they are that rare breed.

And, there are programs, like Georgia Tech, that seem to enjoy a roller-coaster ride through the classifications.  The Yellow Jackets have 25 appearances in the final rankings scattered throughout the decades, never staying too long and never being absent for too long.

So, let’s do one final comparison; let’s compare the Top 25 in the Final AP Poll for the decade years against 2014.

• The 2010 Final AP Poll included 11 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 2000 Final AP Poll included 10 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 1990 Final AP Poll included 6 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 1980 Final AP Poll included 7 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 1970 Final AP Poll included 6 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll
• The 1960 Final AP Poll included 7 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 1950 Final AP Poll included 4 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.
• The 1940 Final AP Poll included 3 of the same teams as in the Final 2014 Poll.

NOTE:  The 1940 – 1980 Polls only ranked the Top 20 teams.

So, if you go back far enough, the list of elite teams changes a bit more drastically, but, over the past 50 years or so, it appears that it is rather difficult for teams to move up on the elite program scale.  But, programs like Oregon and Baylor show that it can be done.  And, there are other programs, like Rutgers for instance, that have slowly moved up from Bottom Dwellers to Middle of the Road that could be on the precipice of Near Elite or higher, especially given the recent change in conference affiliation.

It is a slowly changing landscape, but, if you root for one of those teams on the journey, it can be a fun ride.