Tale of Two Seasons
In the spirit of Mathew Berry on ESPN.com (who drives me nuts, but I continue to read everything he writes the minute I see it), I decided to put together a little “team A vs. team B” comparison. We have the following two seasons from Big Ten teams within the last decade.
Team A:
Record: 8-4 (6-2)
Wins:
Home MAC x2
Home Mid Range Big Ten x2
Home Low Range Big Tex x1
Road Mid Range Big Ten x2
Road Top Range Big Ten x2
Average Margin of Victory: 15.5
Losses:
Road Mid Range Pac 10 x1
Road Big Ten Rival x1
Home Big Ten Rival x1
Florida Bowl Top Range SEC x1
Average Margin of Defeat: 10.25
Team B:
Record: 9-4 (6-2)
Wins:
Home MAC x1
Home Low DIA x1
Home Non Conf Rival x1
Home Mid Range Big Ten x3
Road Mid Range Big Ten x1
Road Low Range Big Ten x1
Road Big Ten Rival x1
Average Margin of Victory: 14.22
Losses:
Road Mid Range Pac 10 x1
Home Top Range Big 10 x1
Road Top Range Big 10 x1
Florida Bows Top Range SEC x1
Average Margin of Defeat: 22.0
All in all, pretty comparable, no? Both teams lost to a Pac Ten team on the road, both got beat by a good SEC team in a Florida bowl. Maybe team B gets a slight edge for the wins in rivalry games, but that margin of defeat is pretty rough to look at. In the grand scheme of things, I’d say it’s close to a push.
Now, for the grand reveal…
Team A = Michigan 2001
Record: 8-4 (6-2)
Wins:
Home MAC x2 – MIAMI (OH), WMU
Home Mid Range Big Ten x2 – ILLINOIS, PURDUE
Home Low Range Big Tex x1 - MINNESOTA
Road Mid Range Big Ten x1 – IOWA
Road Top Range Big Ten x2 - PENN STATE, WISCONSIN
Average Margin of Victory: 15.5
Losses:
Road Mid Range Pac 10 x1 - WASHINGTON
Road Big Ten Rival x1 – MICHIGAN STATE
Home Big Ten Rival x1 – OHIO STATE
Florida Bowl Top Range SEC x1 - TENNESSEE
Average Margin of Defeat: 10.25
Team B = 2008 Michigan State
Team B:
Record: 9-4 (6-2)
Wins:
Home MAC x1 – EASTERN MICHIGAN
Home Low DIA x1 – FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Home Non Conf Rival x1 – NOTRE DAME
Home Mid Range Big Ten x3 – WISCONSIN, IOWA, PURDUE
Road Mid Range Big Ten x1 - NORTHWESTERN
Road Low Range Big Ten x1 - INDIANA
Road Big Ten Rival x1 - MICHIGAN
Average Margin of Victory: 14.22
Losses:
Road Mid Range Pac 10 x1 - CALIFORNIA
Home Top Range Big 10 x1 – OHIO STATE
Road Top Range Big 10 x1 – PENN STATE
Florida Bows Top Range SEC x1 - GEORGIA
Average Margin of Defeat: 22.0
I guess the point I was going for is that arguably the worst season in the last decade of Carr’s regime (2005 is in the discussion) was a rough equivalent to last season’s breakthrough for MSU. So, congratulations… I guess.
Disclaimer: I seriously debated not posting this because I hate the back and forth UM / MSU stuff that’s all over the place out there, but I thought this might be interesting to some people. I actually think Dantonio is doing well at MSU and he is probably smart on several fronts for being so confrontational with Michigan. And yes, I know there is no mention of UM’s 2008 disaster in here. I am working hard to pretend that never happened.
August 6th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^
August 6th, 2009 at 10:52 AM ^
August 6th, 2009 at 12:12 AM ^
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