OK, I can’t STAND the previews I’m reading for this weekends game.  It’s further proof that there is a template that reporters can’t get out of.  It goes like this:

1. Team A is good/bad and looking for (revenge/vindication/playoffs/whatever)
2. Here are a bunch of stats about team A to make the point
3. Here are a couple caveat stats about team A
4. But don’t forget team B, they’re good/bad and looking for (revenge/vindication/playoffs/whatever)
5. Here’s a couple stats about team B

And that’s it.  No head to head numbers.  No comparison of common opponents.  Just team A for 2/3rds about team A and then a 1/3rd about team B.  It’s absolutely pathetic.

At least this week the articles have been balanced in that 1/2 of them have the Bears as team A and half have the Ducks as team A, but considering the matchup, a much better preview is deserved, particularly in the area of statistics.  And generally what statistics are provided are done so to tell a story as opposed to just sharing truly meaning statistics and absolutely NO comparisons are done.

Yesterday after having enough of the previews I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I was going to compile the statistics I wanted.  But not only did I want team statistics (which are easily findable) I wanted to have a way to measure those statistics against what their opponents were doing.  That took a lot more work (I stayed up WAY too late last night doing this) but here is the fruit of that labor:

Â	Cal	Cal opp	Oregon	Ore opp
OFFENSE:	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Points per game:	38.4	23.2	40.3	27.8
Yards per game:	461.0	369.6	511.0	386.3
Passing Yards per game:	291.2	195.1	268.3	187.4
Rushing Yards per game:	160.6	160.6	239.8	188.2
Yards per play:	6.9	5.9	7.0	5.6
Passing Yards per play:	8.4	7.3	7.3	6.5
Rushing Yards per play:	5.3	4.9	6.6	5.0
Completion Percentage:	63.5%	61.2%	64.8%	61.5%
Sacked Per Game:	1.6	2.1	0.5	1.7
Interceptions Per Game:	1.0	1.2	0.5	0.8
Fumbles Per Game:	1.2	1.6	2.5	2.1
Fumbles Lost Per Game:	0.8	0.8	1.3	1.3
Turnovers per game:	2.3	2.1	2.3	2.2
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
DEFENSE:	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Points Allowed per game:	20.4	28.5	20.0	25.1
Yards Allowed per game:	376.2	396.3	327.3	367.1
Passing Yards Allowed per game:	222.6	226.5	143.0	199.8
Rushing Yards Allowed per game:	137.6	158.6	170.3	152.1
Yards Allowed per play:	5.6	6.0	4.8	5.5
Passing Yards Allowed per play:	7.0	7.6	4.7	6.5
Rushing Yards Allowed per play:	4.3	4.7	4.8	4.6
Completion Percentage:	59.5%	61.4%	50.0%	57.0%
Sacked Per Game:	2.4	1.7	2.8	2.4
Interceptions Per Game:	1.6	1.2	0.8	1.3
Fumbles Forced Per Game:	1.6	1.3	1.0	1.7
Fumbles Recovered Per Game:	0.8	0.8	0.8	1.3
Turnovers Forced per game:	3.0	2.1	2.0	2.7
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
MISC:	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Penalties per game:	6.0	Â	8.0	Â
Penalty Yards per game:	57.8	Â	76.3	Â

Now I’d better explain these numbers.  The opp. (opponent) number reflect the opposite of what you might think.  The goal is to compare how Cal (or Oregon) did against that team, not how that team did in it’s own right.  So the numbers are flipped.  Points per game in the opponent section reflects how may points per game the opponent gave up, not how many they scored.  Or said another way, the defensive numbers are in the offensive section and the offensive numbers are in the defensive category.

What this does is make it so that you can see how Cal (or Oregon) did in relation to what the team they were playing usually allowed.  So (and I’ll get to color coding next) you’ll see that I highlighted the Cal opp box for Points per game because Cal’s opponents were giving up less points per game than Oregons, which makes Cal’s ability to run up the score, although not as absolutely high as Oregon’s, a little more impressive.

Get it?  I sure hope so, I spent all last night working on it.

OK, onto color coding.  Basically, blue highlighting is for those areas that I think reflect well on Cal, Green is for those areas that reflect well for Oregon and yellow is for those opponent fields that illuminate something about the relative difficulty of Cal or Oregon’s opponents to date.

Get it?  Well, it doesn’t really matter.  The numbers are there so you can make your own conclusions.

What are my conclusions?  Good question.  And for that you’ll have to wait for my Cal vs. Oregon preview that I’ll post tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 5th, 2006 at 10:48 am and is filed under Sports, Sports - Cal Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.