Statistically Speaking - breaks down OSU's 2012 undefeated season
Statistically Speaking put out it's Standard Deviation Power Index rundown for the 2012 B1G season. This is a pretty good blog. Unfortunately it looks like Matt - the blogger pasted the 2011 chart into the 2012 discussion. No worries... still a good post...especially for his dig at the Buckeyes undefeated season that wasn't.
Here's his summary of SOS and margin of victory with the 20 modern teams that have finished a season undefeated. The parens show the national ranking. OSU was the worst of the bunch.
From the same post...
Any team that struggled to put away Cal and Purdue at home, and Indiana on the road was probably not worthy of gridiron immortality.
I like this guys blog... thought I'd share this link. Unfortunately another reminder of just how bad the B1G was last year.
Let's not forget that the Buckeyes were in a year with a new coaching staff and many changes along with all of the bad mojo from the tat five. As the season progressed, though, so did the Buckeyes. Being undefeated is never easy no matter what the circumstances so we will take it and celebrate it. 12 - 0! Thanks for your contribution.
BTW, Great season for your bb team. Your problem now is how many will be leaving as their stock will probably not go up next year. Why pass up those $millions? See you in November!
Yeah, the sad part, as you point out, is that as easy as OSU's schedule was last year (5 teams who couldn't even manage to get to .500 in the regular season and 2 teams who barely made it to .500), their 2013 slate is even easier.
Next season, OSU won't play MSU or Nebraska and their only BCS conference non-conference opponent is Cal. OSU only has 4 games next season that I wouldn't be absolutely shocked to see them lose: @Michigan, @Northwestern, @California (seriously) and @Purdue (again...seriously). Cal will only be difficult because it is on the West Coast and Purdue has some weird vodoo going on against OSU, particularly in West Lafayette.
I am surprised by ND's low ranking. Many thought they had the toughest schedule heading into the year. They ended up playing a lot of mediocre teams (besides Stanford).
I'm stunned i tell you,stunned!!
yeah but... still, they were undefeated, right? So this doesn't make me feel any better and feels very little brother-ish. Good details/stats, but I don't like the implications.
Also it makes me remember Vincent Smith running up the middle.
Please make it stop.
I don't know, if they were bowl eligible, wouldn't their bowl game been the National Championship against the only other undefeated team (i.e., Notre Dame)?
One, I don't think it's a given that OSU loses that match-up. Two, I don't like a situation in which OSU or ND are the two options for the title.
i'm not sure if they would have played for the NC. ND was ranked #1 but i'm not sure the voters put a undefeated ohio team with 2 wins against lower ranked teams over a 1 loss Bama team that everyone knew was the best team.
I seriously doubt an undefeated OSU would get passed over. An undefeated powerhouse program will always get in (unless there are three undefeated teams, of course), strength of schedule or no. I mean, they may have played bad teams and won close, but they still won all their games. Even against a weak schedule, going undefeated is tough.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^
After seeing Wisky do what they did to Nebraska in that game, I don't believe OSU would have won that game either. No way they get to the NC game with that loss.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
You don't think OSU would have beaten Nebraska, a team they scored 63 points against?
i know what you're saying but i dot agree. the national view on ohio is awful. everyone is sick of seeing them get their teeth kicked in,in every tough bowl game. no way tey leave a 1 loss SEC team out.
As much as I detest Ohio and ND, I would have been fine with them playing for the "national championship," if only for the reason that it would have taken away some of the SEC's leverage. I'm tired of seeing the SEC awarded a de facto autobid every year. It's part of the reason I want a true playoff to determine a true champion, with champions from every major conference invited.
Seems like it happens that way quite often. One or two teams have an in to the National Title, but blow it and we get an SEC team in there instead
Thanks for being the one in this thread that doesn't sound like a whiny little child.
No rational Ohio State team is going to call last year's team world-beaters by any means. We won some close games that we should have won comfortably. We also destroyed a ranked Nebraska team, and won at Wisconsin (which is never easy), which was a team that was better than their record indicated (ask Stanford), and same for Michigan State.
We would've lost to Bama. I can concede that. But for crying out loud, it was year 1 under a completely new coaching staff with a completely different offense in place. There are VERY few teams in the NCAA, if any, that could go unbeaten under that scenario. Perhaps you all should focus more on this year than crying like babies on a message board about a team that was still better than yours.
You take the time to register on a Michigan forum to defend your Buckeyes and we're the babies? Gotcha.
There's no logic to that line of thinking. It take maybe 30 seconds to register. I saw this link from another site and thought it was pathetic how you were all sitting here whining about how a better team wasn't good, despite not losing. As one of your fellow UM fans pointed out, it's very "little brother" of you... but then again, I don't know how else to better describe what you are to OSU nowadays.
Please, carry on.
"Fully half of their 12 wins came by a touchdown or less, including narrow escapes over luminaries like Cal, Indiana, and Purdue." - from "Statistically Speaking", regarding Ohio State
I enjoyed that sentence, because it also sums up the circumstances under which their 2012 season arose rather well. They gave up 512 yards of offense to Cal, 481 yards of offense to Indiana and 347 yards of offense to Purdue. In the case of Cal and Indiana, these are their two worst defensive performances of the year, as I recall, and yet they win (because it is Cal and Indiana and you can still win those game despite horrible play). Rarely do we see a more comparatively average undefeated team (many of their rankings on various D-I stats were fairly middle of the road, I believe).
whooped scUM's ass too...conviently forgot about that huh...delusional
scUM? I really hate rednecks.
So,if they were so bad,why didn`t Michigan beat Ohio State?
1997 Michigan isn't a "modern team"?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the 1997 season was the last before the start of the BCS era. So "modern era" tends to mean "BCS era" or "1998 forward."
tOSU also whooped a less then average scUM team too...shut you pie hole
Also, this is useless information trying to make non-OSU fans feel better about themselves. If the tables were turned, how would we react to something like this? With mockery and harsh humor.
The comparison shows how marginal OSU and the B1G were in 2012 when the presumed conference champion is so comparatively weak. I don't think this makes any non OSU feel better except to push for better standards of excellence in 2013.
Er, sorry. My mind just wrapped around the idea of a ND-Ohio State national championship game and temporarily resorted to primal instinct. I ate a car tire.
Play in traffic blindfolded than have ohio go into the national chamionship....
Just saying....
April 11th, 2013 at 10:41 AM ^
and yet they still beat Michigan. seriously. i'd rather have 12-0 than 8-5, no matter the schedule.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^
I don't know. It's a pretty empty 12 - 0, especially when you look at the Purdue and Indiana games. I would have loved to see them get in the ring with Alabama.
lets just look at the scUM game & then shut your pie hole
Martinis at lunch?
According to the Jeff Sagarin rankings, which I think are part of the BCS formula, OSU's final strength of schedule for 2012 was ranked 60th and they played no teams that fininished in the top 10. Michigan's schedule strength was ranked at 24. However they did beat us so I hope they are 11-0 again going into this year's final game so we can run Derrick Green and company right through them.
delusional
I don't see Michigan on the list. :(
OMG, tOSU is on the list 3 times! HAX!
Pretty sad your hate blinds you to the fact you can't even get to this so called "empty" undefeated season. 12-0 > 8-5 anyway you slice it.
And then it needed to make it again, in case it didn't make it the first two times around.
I guess my comouter really felt like it needed to make this point.
Why so defensive?
dont forget that tOSU put it on scUM too...you people are the most delusional ever.