Monday, October 29, 2007

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Just for fun, I figured I’d see how the teams in conference stacked up against each based on several statistics I pulled from the SEC’s official site. For this comparison, I chose:

* Points per game (Offense and Defense)
* Yards per game (Offense and Defense)
* Yards per carry (Offense and Defense)
* Pass Efficiency (Offense and Defense)
* 3rd Down Conversions (Offense and Defense)
* Turnover Margin

While it’s certainly an inexact science, the numbers did rank LSU first and Ole Miss last. What’s interesting is that Arkansas – despite all their early season troubles this year – actually ranks second behind LSU. A lot of that stems from their patsy non-conference schedule, but they also endured some gut-wrenching conference losses too. Their next 3 games are against good – but flawed – conference teams, including home games against South Carolina and Mississippi State. The Hogs may make a run heading into their annual showdown with LSU.

See the chart below for all the rankings…

Aside from Arkansas and South Carolina, the chart falls pretty much in line with how the AP voters see the conference as well. Of the 8 SEC teams receiving votes in the AP Poll, only South Carolina's ranking is really skewed from the chart's ranking.

(Note: The AP numbers below are not the team's ranking in the national scene, merely their conference rank.)

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