Odds and Ends 10/28/2020

Welcome Back!

Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth.  In the past, I have usually listed all the teams that reach bowl eligibility, and those that have been eliminated, but since the NCAA has done away with any requirements, that feature will not appear this year.  

LIR

Let's start with the Last Interception Race (LIR).  In this space, I will be chronicling who has the most attempts without an interception.  This is a lot harder to keep up with with teams playing so sporadically!  After week 8, here are the top 5:

1. Sam Hartman, WF- 117

2. Tyrell Pigrome, WKU- 113

3. Carson Strong, Nev- 52

4. Spencer Perkins, Iowa- 39

5. Stone Norton, FIU- 32

Skylar Thompson (Kansas St) and Lowell Narcisse (UTSA) are both out for the season, so they have been dropped from the list.

I think this will be a fun race to watch!  I wonder how far we will get into the season until everyone has an interception?  This will also be an odd race to watch, as not everyone is starting the season at the same time, and not everyone is playing the same number of games.

Undefeated Teams 

Here is a list of all the undefeated teams:

Alabama 5-0

Boise State 1-0

BYU 6-0

Cincinnati 4-0

Clemson 6-0

Coastal Carolina 5-0

Hawai'i 1-0

Indiana 1-0

Liberty 6-0

Marshall 5-0

Michigan 1-0

Nevada 1-0

Northwestern 1-0

Notre Dame 5-0

Ohio State 1-0

Oklahoma State 4-0

Purdue 1-0

Rutgers 1-0

San Diego State 1-0

San Jose State 1-0

Wisconsin 1-0

Winless Teams

Here is a list of all the winless teams.  Hopefully, by the end of the season, there won't be any teams on this list!

FIU 0-3

Fresno State 0-1

Illinois 0-1

Iowa 0-1

Kansas 0-5

Maryland 0-1

Michigan State 0-1

Minnesota 0-1

Nebraska 0-1

Penn State 0-1

Rice 0-1

ULM 0-6

UMass 0-1

UNLV 0-1

Utah State 0-1

Vanderbilt 0-3

Wyoming 0-1

There are 21 undefeated teams (up from 12) and 17 winless teams (down from 4), showing, once again, that's it's much harder to go winless than to go undefeated! We have more because the Big Ten and Mountain West started play, and so half of the teams from each conference are either 1-0 or 0-1.  The same will happen in a couple of weeks when the MAC and Pac 12 begin to play.

3 teams are 6-0, 4 teams are 5-0, 2 are 4-0, and 12 are 1-0.  

1 team is 0-6, 1 team is 0-5, 2 are 0-3,  and 13 teams are 0-1.

USF is the lone team with a win, but none against an FBS team.

By conference, the breakdown is as follows (# of undefeated teams listed 1st, # of winless 2nd):

SEC 1-1

B10 7-7

ACC 2-0

B12 1-1

IND 2-1

AAC 1-0

MWC 5-4

CUSA 1-2

SBC 1-1

Conference Standings

I will revisit this at the end of the year, as there are so few OOC games.

Which Division is Best?

So far, this is how the divisions in the conferences that are using them have fared against each other:

SEC West leads the East 9-6

CUSA East leads the West 4-3

SBC East leads the West 5-3

Western division teams are 15-15 against eastern division teams.  

Update on Paul's Playoff Picks:

My initial 4 were Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and Oklahoma.  When the Big Ten dropped play, I replaced OSU with Georgia.  Now that they are back, I would reinsert OSU over UGA, but Oklahoma has not played up to expectations.  In this unusual year, I'm going to say I have 5 picks, and 4 will get in.  So... Clemson won easily, Alabama stomped Tennessee, Ohio State destroyed Nebraska, Oklahoma defeated TCU, and Georgia was off.  All of my teams are theoretically still in play for a playoff bid.

Conference Trends

As promised, I am going to go over how each team in the conference has done over the last 3, 5, and 10 year periods.  I will cover one conference each week, starting with the G5 conferences. These will cover only conference games, not overall records, and do not include conference championship game results, and include only current teams in that conference.  So far, I have done the Sun Belt, the MAC, CUSA, the MWC, the AAC, Independents, and PAC 12.

Big 12

Last 10 Years

1. Oklahoma 73-16 .820

2. Oklahoma State 58-31 .652

T3. Baylor 52-37 .584

T3. Kansas State 52-37 .584

5. TCU 39-33 .542 (8 years)

6. Texas 47-42 .528

7. West Virginia 36-36 .500 (8 years)

8. Iowa State 31-58 .348

9. Texas Tech 30-59 .337

10. Kansas 6-83 .067

Last 5 Years

1. Oklahoma 41-4 .911

2. Oklahoma State 28-17 .622

T3. TCU 25-20 .556

T3. West Virginia 25-20 .556

5. Texas 24-21 .533

T6. Baylor 22-23 .489

T6. Kansas State 22-23 .489

8. Iowa State 20-25 .444

9. Texas Tech 15-30 .333

10. Kansas 3-42 .067

Last 3 Years

1. Oklahoma 24-3 .889

2. Texas 17-10 .630

3. Iowa State 16-11 .593

T4. Oklahoma State 14-13 .519

T4. TCU 14-13 .519

T4. West Virginia 14-13 .519

T7. Baylor 13-14 .481

T7. Kansas State 13-14 .481

9. Texas Tech 8-19 .296

10. Kansas 2-25 .074

Oklahoma has clearly been the dominant force, and Kansas and Texas Tech have been the bottom feeders.  There's been quite a bit of movement in the 3 through 8 spots, especially over the last 3 years.  One oddity: Baylor and Kansas State are tied on all 3 lists, and have been steadily moving downward, and WVU and TCU are tied on 2 of the lists.

Games I'm excited about this weekend:

South Alabama @ Georgia Southern- Can the Jaguars stay undefeated in the SBC?  Can the Eagles turn their season around?

Hawai'i @ Wyoming- Can the Cowboys meet preseason expectations of a run at the MWC crown?  Are the Rainbow Warriors legit?

Boston College @ Clemson- Do the Eagles have a prayer of stopping Clemson?  Can anyone in the ACC challenge the Tigers?

Georgia @ Kentucky- Will the Dawgs make a switch at QB, or go with a QB rotation?  Can the Wildcats bounce back from their loss to Mizzou?

Memphis @ Cincinnati- Can the Bearcats stay undefeated? Can they slow down the high powered Tigers offense?

Kansas State @ West Virginia- Will the Wildcats be caught looking ahead to their big game against Okla St? Can the Mountaineers bounce back from their loss to Texas Tech? 

Coastal Carolina @ Georgia State- Are the Panthers doomed to another close loss or can they pull the upset?  Can the Chanticleers really run the table?

UTSA @ FAU- Are the Roadrunners for real?  Can they actually challenge and beat the Owls?

UCF @ Houston- Can the Cougars stay on top of the AAC? Could the Knights actually lose a 3rd game?

Indiana @ Rutgers- Are the Hoosiers and Scarlet Knights legitimate, or were their wins flukes? Which team will start the season 2-0?

LSU @ Auburn- Which team will be eliminated from even an outside chance at the SEC West title? Which one will claim the title of Top Tiger?

Northwestern @ Iowa- Are the Wildcats as good as they looked against Maryland, or are the Terrapins that bad?  Are the Hawkeyes mediocre, or is Purdue that good?

Texas @ Oklahoma State- Can the Cowboys stay undefeated?  Are the Longhorns ready to play with the top teams in the Big 12, or will this be yet another loss in a big game?

Ohio State @ Penn State- Were the Nittany Lions just looking ahead to this game when they lost to Indiana?  Will the Buckeyes cement their status atop the Big Ten?

Arkansas @ Texas A&M- Are the Aggies for real, and are they truly the 2nd best team in the SEC West?  Are the Razorbacks for real?

Missouri @ Florida- Have the Tigers solved their problems on defense? Have the Gators?

Oklahoma @ Texas Tech- Have the Sooners truly saved their season and perhaps a playoff berth?  Can the Red Raiders score enough to hang with OU like they did with Texas back in September?

That's all for now.  Tomorrow, I will have my picks for Week 2.  Feel free to leave a comment and to follow me on Twitter: @pbanderson. 

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!