Records of the ten oldest teams in CFB
This thread follows up on the earlier thread "Records of the ten youngest teams in CFB" to give some light on how teams with the most returning starters are doing. At the beginning of the season, I inquired about why we should care about what Phil Steele has to say and his reasoning for being low on Michigan is that we are THE youngest team in CFB with only 5! returning starters.
1. Syracuse, 20 Returning Starters (20), 4-4 Record
2. Florida Atlantic, 18 RS, 4-3
3. Texas, 17 RS, 3-4
4. Oregon, 17 RS, 4-4
5. NC State, 17 RS, 6-1
6. Georgia, 17 RS, 7-0
7. Kentucky, 17 RS, 5-2
8. TCU, 17 RS, 7-0
9. PSU, 16 RS, 7-0
10. Northwestern, 16 RS, 4-3
Michigan sits dead last with only 5 RS. I think that we are doing a great job to currenlty sit with a 5-2 record, with a close loss to MSU. We will be just fine.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:19 PM ^
You're saying there's a positive correlation between age and W's.... well, in that case... find me this guy and 21 of his friends.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^
So this kind of beatdown, but on a football field?
October 26th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 5:51 PM ^
Not sure why, but that meme cracks me up everytime. Thanks for the laugh.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
Funny, but occasionally when I pick up a loaf of bread I carry it like a football.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^
High and tight. And remember, switch hands opposite the trail side when pursuers are close.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^
Yeah, but that's clearly after he's neutralized his opponent and all that's left between him and the endzone is a bunch of green grass.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^
He was the #1 dad, but now he's unranked.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 2:43 PM ^
NTTAWWT
October 26th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^
Clearly, that play is going to be the main point of discussion when that kid gets to the LB or CB meeting next week, wherever he happened to be playing. Can't whiff on tackles in space like that and not expect to get your screen time severely curtailed.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^
Looks like 23. Is it Tyree Kinnel?
October 26th, 2017 at 5:03 PM ^
Except for the fact that his claim was about age and then he measured experience. Illinois starts a ton of freshmen, so they'll have a lot of returning starters next year but won't be one of the oldest teams.
OP should change the title to "experienced" or re-measure with the average age or average years played.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
So what you are saying is that next year we will be 7-0?
October 26th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^
That is exactly what he is saying. Raback it!
October 26th, 2017 at 2:11 PM ^
that beginning in 2018 we'll never lose another game.
Ever.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^
The only reason I'm not super duper discouraged from PSU is Trace played out of his mind for that entire game. I have faith that Trace playing his average game we do not get blown and the score is much more 27-16 or 31-20. He had a great game, and he was finding the right guy, and that's rare.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
PSU exploited our secondary and made it pay for big gains. DeSean Hamilton and Mike Gesicki were getting open far too often. Trace may have played a great game, but their gameplan also got their WRs/TEs open very effectively and played mismatches very well.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^
Immediate slants are one thing - anybody can be open if the ball comes out quick enough on a slant. But downfield, I don't think they were all that open. The safeties, for the most part, were step for step with them, to where only a really good throw was going to work. McSorley made that throw everytime. Every. Fucking. Time.
As much as I hate it, credit has to be doled out to a team that played very well against an otherwise fantastic defense.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^
was pretty. And so was the back shoulder fade to Gesicki. But on most of his other throws he had a huge margin for error.
The jump ball to Gesicki wasn't necessarily a good throw, per se (wasn't bad either). He tossed it up to his 6'7 pogo stick TE who just had to get under it and high point it. McSorley doesn't have to be that accurate there and it's not a 50/50 ball becase Gesicki is coming down with that far more often than guys nearly a foot shorter than him. Anyone thinking those "50/50" balls are lucky or unsustainable or that he played out of his mind to get it there, is mistaken and that's why they are able to keep doing it.
On both of Barkley's downfield shots, he was wiiiiiide open so didn't require perfect throws there, either.
The scary part is this offense didn't play perfectly by any means. McSorley played above average but he's a good QB and left some plays on the field, too. He missed a wiiiiide open Gesicki on the one RPO. That's a throw to a huge guy that is hard to miss and he did. There was the miscommunication gift INT....
October 26th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
Meh. McSorley has played that well before. His passing efficiency rating was 161.5. He has had a PER of 160 or better against Michigan, Akron, Georgia State, Temple, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and USC over the past 1.5 seasons. If he's played like that 9 times in the last 1.5 seasons, then I don't think he "was playing out of his mind." He's just flat-out good, at least in that offense.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^
to see moonshot fades being thrown perfectly to high point catches by tall guys downfield. Upon review, it appears timing and backshoulder location were merely a function of McSorely throwing to his guys hundreds of times on those routes and knowing exactly how to fit them in. Our guys weren't out of position on any of those throws other than McCray who was mismatched. They were mostly well-defended and in fact, Lavert Hill, made a pro pass break-up on Hamilton that was outstanding. Sometimes the other guys are just better.
The execution in all phases Saturday by Penn State was remarkably good, maybe the best performance of the year for them. And we succumbed to a better effort and made too many mistakes in defensive reaction to matchups and movement to challenge in the second half.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^
We'll have a crap ton of returning starters next year. Losing only Hurst and McCray on Defense. Cole and Kugler on Offense. Offense may have some new starters who outplay current players. Either way, there should be a ton of experience returning next year.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^
Gold Ton
Crap Ton
October 26th, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
And a rookie QB
October 26th, 2017 at 5:48 PM ^
A O-line that looks like a bunch blindfolded kids swinging at a pinata.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^
We've got a lot of good D-line prospects, but losing Hurst is going to hurt, no matter how good they are. Dude is blowing people up this year.
Losing Cole is going to hurt. He's been our only consistent O-lineman the last few years. Hopefully Filiaga, Ruiz, Newsome come in like gang busters.
If Speight really has fractured vertabrae, his mom should tell him not to come back. Football is awesome, but walking is pretty cool too.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^
No disagreement but our 5 star should be adequate.
October 26th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
QB on the roster.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:20 PM ^
depth should be outstanding, especially at safety and viper. Michigan is building its depth through special teams play and finding out which guys can compete. A lot of times we get upset about using the young guys more frequently, then complain if they blow a redshirt on a play or two of competition, but we can't have it both ways, and say on the one hand they are too young and need to get more exprerienced, and then say but don't use up their eligibility competing on a couple plays.
I mean Ambry Thomas had two pretty good runbacks Saturday. Brad Hawkins whose gone from receiver to viper is now in on several special teams along with some of the other underclassmen. That's how Michigan has traditionally raised its players to get snaps before becoming regulars on offense and defense.
Michigan is going through the growing pains of not having an experienced Oline with most of its components playing roles other than what they were projected to play when recruited. The qb siutation is in flux because of Oline and pass blocking mistakes that led to Speight's injury and O'Korn was always a stopgap measure before the younger qbs of Harbaugh's choosing were ready to play. He's treated this as a pro situation bringing in transfers to handle the job before his kids were ready, which is the issue that many NFL teams face when drafting potential franchise qbs.Next year Michigan will have at least 5 qbs on hand.
These are not excuses for Michigan's play, but there are realities which explain the state of their play.
October 26th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
You need to just stop with this stuff. It doesn't fit the feelingsball narrative that has been so popular the last few weeks. It also makes sense - and is stated more eloquently than I've been able to do.
October 26th, 2017 at 4:15 PM ^
We have a 5th year center, two 4th year tackles and two second year OGs. My guess is an average of 3.4 years of experience with no first year guys ranks towards the experienced side of average for an OL. It'll be much younger and less experienced next year, in fact.
And the only guy not playing his best-fitting position is Cole, who is still a good OT.
October 26th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
Next let's do teams with most 21 year olds vs teams with most fake IDs.
October 26th, 2017 at 2:48 PM ^
Fake IDs can be easily found in East Lansing and Columbus... although apparently ID is not required in East Lansing.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 6:02 PM ^
The teams that say wait till next year and are still counting, the teams with the best record on Oct. 21, teams with most wins/losses for night games, etc...
October 26th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 2:49 PM ^
So, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and who else?
October 26th, 2017 at 1:27 PM ^
The 10 youngest teams are 41-31 (winning percentage of 56.9%).
The 10 oldest teams are 51-21 (winning percentage of 70.8%).
October 26th, 2017 at 1:42 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^
With all things being equal, I'd find this stat interesting. But the parity in college - or lack thereof - just makes this hard for me to embrace.
Teams with talent and experience seem to win a lot. Teams without a lot of talent but with experience seem to win sometimes. Teams with a lot of talent and no experience are kind of in no man's land, it seems like.
I am personally ambivalent about the record this year. We are pretty much where I thought we'd be; and, I'm guessing we'll finish roughly about where I thought we would (7-5 or 8-4). The concerning thing to me is how we are playing - particularly on offense - which as we all know leaves something to be desired.
I'm guessing the teams that make leaps in record from year-to-year due to experience had something to build upon in prior years. Meaning, although they may have had tire fires here-and-there, they probably saw some optimistic and postive signs to give them confidence moving forward.
I gotta be honest, I do not see many positive things to look forward to regarding our offense next year. I'm not taking anything away from Higdon's growth - he's been great...But - if anything - ushering in an even younger OL with less experience and - possibly - a new QB makes me more anxious (especially when we open the season on the road at ND)...and will impact Higdon's growth as well.
Moreover, we can argue that we are getting more experience for next year but so is OSU, MSU, and PSU. Yes, they all lose some key players, but they are also getting lots of younger guys game-time experience (whether or not they start). So - yes - we are going to get better. Yes, most of our major competition is going to get better too (PSU should take a step back, but they have a lot of talent).
Basically, the thesis of this diatribe is the following: My liver is in trouble.