Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 12:00PM The regular season is in the books and the LSU Tigers are the No. 1 team in the country. But even the undisputed No. 1 team doesn't play like an elite team every weekend of the year. This week's FEI commentary at Football Outsiders focuses on the cloud of opponent-adjusted game data we have to sift through to rank teams in college football. Below is the accompanying graphic.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 08:00PM This week on ESPN Insider, I discussed the crucial special teams matchups that will decide the game of the weekend, No. 1 LSU hosting No. 3 Arkansas. LSU has an elite punter and punt coverage team, while Arkansas' Joe Adams leads the nation in punt return scores. At Football Outsiders, I discussed the fourth down matchup a little more and published the following graphic representation of every LSU punt and opponent punt against Arkansas (FBS games only) to visualize the head-to-head showdown.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 10:00PM The LSU Tigers (FEI No. 1) and Alabama Crimson Tide (FEI No. 2) play this weekend in what has the potential to be the game of the year. The winner will in all likelihood claim the SEC West Division title, go on to win the SEC Championship and play for the BCS championship. The loser may be relegated to spectator status in the national title race, or possibly be elevated by season's end to set the stage for a rematch in January.
At Football Outsiders this week, I broke down field position factors that will influence the game's outcome and published a graphic representation of every offensive and defensive drive played to date this year by each team.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 10:00PM In the 2007 through 2010 seasons, there were 27,965 punts in FBS vs. FBS games, an average of 9.8 punts per game. Of those, 241 were returned for a touchdown (0.9%) and 450 were fumbled back to the punting team (1.6%). The average offensive field position following all other punts was influenced by the drive-ending field position of the punting team.
In terms of average offensive field position value added per opponent punt, Maryland ranked first in the nation in 2010. The Terrapins generated an average of 0.39 points in field position value (or approximately 10 yards in field position) per punt over expected.
Monday, August 22, 2011 at 10:00PM There have been more than 9000 field goals attempted in FBS vs. FBS games in the last four seasons. 72.2 percent of those attempts were converted successfully. Of course, the average success rate of a field goal attempt increases as the field position moves closer to the goal line.
In the last four seasons, 551 field goals were attempted from at least 50 yards (33-yard line). 42.3 percent of these 50+ yard attempts were converted. 28 different programs converted more than half of their 50+ yard attempts, while 27 different FBS programs failed to convert a single 50+ yard field goal in the span. 10.7 percent of all successful 50+ yard kicks since 2007 were converted by three teams: UCLA (9), Florida State (8), and LSU (8).
:: Field Goal Success by Field Position