Monday, January 9, 2012

Counting Down the Champions, #1: 2005 Texas Longhorns

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2005/09/03 108 / 104 LA-Lafayette 3 at   8 /  10 Texas 60 168  98.3% /  96.9%
2005/09/10   3 /   6 Texas 25 at  12 /  13 Ohio St. 22 157  52.5% /  33.1%
2005/09/17  96 / 107 Rice 10 at   2 /   7 Texas 51 157  98.0% /  97.1%
2005/10/01   4 /   7 Texas 51 at  43 /  44 Missouri 20 189  82.4% /  89.7%
2005/10/08   4 /   3 Texas 45 vs   7 /  24 Oklahoma 12 167  55.8% /  70.7%
2005/10/15  30 /  28 Colorado 17 at   4 /   2 Texas 42 173  87.4% /  73.9%
2005/10/22  14 /  14 Texas Tech 17 at   2 /   2 Texas 52 184  81.9% /  73.2%
2005/10/29   2 /   2 Texas 47 at  68 /  80 Oklahoma St. 28 186  91.0% /  94.6%
2005/11/05   3 /   2 Texas 62 at  87 /  84 Baylor 0 164  95.8% /  96.1%
2005/11/12  49 /  38 Kansas 14 at   1 /   2 Texas 66 175  93.6% /  86.0%
2005/11/25   1 /   2 Texas 40 at  44 /  48 Texas A&M 29 171  92.5% /  91.4%
2005/12/03   2 /   1 Texas 70 vs  36 /  29 Colorado 3 166  88.7% /  75.8%
2006/01/04   1 /   1 Texas 41 vs   3 /   2 USC 38 182  62.6% /  38.8%


Texas Longhorns
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2005 0.948 1 0.538 62 36.0 1 11.2 3 170.5 55
Justin
They were called the greatest college football team ever assembled. Eleven players went in the NFL draft: seven on the first day, four on the second. Their offense had two Heisman winners.

And the best BCS champion in our countdown defeated them, 41-38, in the 2006 BCS championship game. In retrospect, the blind "arrogance" of Will Ferrell versus the cool, justified confidence of Matthew McConaughey in this pregame clip sums up the pregame attitudes better than I can say here.

This Texas team was the clear TFG #1 heading into this game, listed at 62.6% likely to win. So why Texas and not USC? The Longhorns eeked by (12) Ohio State, but from there on out simply dominated their competition. They put up 26.9 PPH against (7) Oklahoma, 28.3 PPH against (14) Texas Tech, and averaged 33.0 PPH in their two meetings against (30) Colorado. On top of that, their defense was the #3 defense in FBS that year, only allowing 11.2 PPH. USC, by comparison, allowed 12.7 PPH in their season. So why all the USC hype? They were the defending national champions (possibly two-time national champions, depending on who you ask), played a tougher schedule than Texas, and defeated more top-30 teams than the Longhorns. But USC also had more close calls than Texas, which should have been cause for concern (who remembers the "Bush push" against then-TFG#27 Notre Dame?). In the end, the Longhorns proved that they and not the over-hyped Trojans were the team of the decade.

Texas Longhorns
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2005 1.000 1 0.500 65 29.5 2 8.4 7 169.8 67
Eddie
(1) Texas beat out one of the greatest teams of all time in the 2006 Rose Bowl in (2) Southern Cal, and that tells you something about Vince Young's Longhorns. After beating (15) Ohio State by a field goal in September, nobody came within 10 or held the Longhorns to fewer than 40 points until the Rose Bowl. Even then, the Trojans only came within a field goal of the Longhorns. Texas's offensive efficiency of 35.1 +/- 11.1 PPH is amazing. To put that in perspective, we'd expect Vince Young and company to hang 27.8 PPH against this year's LSU Tiger defense. That's roughly equal to 46 points. Think about that for a second. This year's top two teams played to a 9-6 final score in overtime, and RBA expects Texas to score over 40 points against them. Texas's defense is very good at 4.4 +/- 7.5 PPH. That's not quite as good as many of the teams on this list, but they didn't have to be due to their explosive offense, making them the top team in our countdown.

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Counting Down the Champions, #2: 2008 Florida

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2008/08/30  43 /  59 Hawaii 10 at   7 /   2 Florida 56 148  77.8% /  68.3%
2008/09/06  74 /  76 Miami-FL 3 at   4 /   1 Florida 26 148  95.3% /  85.3%
2008/09/20   3 /   2 Florida 30 at  19 /  36 Tennessee 6 135  66.7% /  72.5%
2008/09/27  56 /  59 Mississippi 31 at   2 /   1 Florida 30 162  93.8% /  89.4%
2008/10/04   4 /   2 Florida 38 at  54 /  66 Arkansas 7 157  82.0% /  90.6%
2008/10/11   6 /  11 LSU 21 at   3 /   3 Florida 51 155  66.0% /  55.6%
2008/10/25  34 /  40 Kentucky 5 at   3 /   2 Florida 63 153  88.4% /  72.7%
2008/11/01   9 /  12 Georgia 10 vs   2 /   1 Florida 49 148  68.5% /  55.9%
2008/11/08   2 /   1 Florida 42 at  50 /  50 Vanderbilt 14 144  90.6% /  85.4%
2008/11/15  24 /  26 South Carolina 6 at   2 /   1 Florida 56 159  87.0% /  76.7%
2008/11/29   2 /   1 Florida 45 at  23 /  25 Florida St. 15 160  87.3% /  84.5%
2008/12/06   2 /   1 Florida 31 vs   8 /   5 Alabama 20 145  69.8% /  60.7%
2009/01/08   4 /   3 Oklahoma 14 vs   2 /   1 Florida 24 165  67.2% /  55.2%


Florida Gators
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2008 0.947 2 0.640 5 38.5 1 12.2 6 159.0 111
Justin
Let's just get this out of the way: From the Tebow-Tebow Tebow Tebow the Tebow-Tebow Tebow, the Tebow Tebow Tebow is Tebow PPH. The Tebow 10 Tebow Tebow a Tebow Tebow than Tebow PPH. Tebow one Tebow Tebow Tebow had an Tebow Tebow than Tebow PPH: the Tebow-Tebow Tebow Gators Tebow by Tim Tebow. In all seriousness, what this team did to even quality opposition was scary. They hung 21.4 PPH on an Alabama squad whose previous worst was 20.4 PPH on the road against (5) Georgia. They put up
  • 22.2 PPH against (19) Tennessee;
  • 28.1 PPH against (23) Florida State;
  • 32.9 PPH against (6) LSU;
  • 33.1 PPH against (9) Georgia; and
  • 35.2 PPH against (24) South Carolina.
And keep in mind that these are raw efficiencies, not adjusted for strength of opponent. I'm not a Tebow fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, and you can argue that it was because of the receivers or the offensive scheme or that Urban Meyer ran up the score (Eddie will address that) but our numbers predict that the 2008 Gators would put up 39 points on this year's LSU squad. The only reason they didn't finish the year at the top of the TFG rankings was because their defensive efficiency wasn't quite up to par -- USC had an other-worldly 7.2 PPH -- but when you've got the top-rated offense over the last 10 years ... well, maybe you don't need to worry as much about your defense.

Florida Gators
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2008 1.000 1 0.559 7 26.4 3 9.1 8 163.4 102
Eddie
Say what you will about Tim Tebow in the NFL, but he really was an astounding collegiate quarterback. (1) Florida was challenged exactly one time during the regular season: a 31-30 loss to (60) Ole Miss where Tebow was stopped at the one yard line on the go ahead score. In contrast, Florida beat (37) Tennessee by 24, (11) LSU by 30, (13) Georgia by 39, (27) South Carolina by 50, (27) Florida State by 30, and a very good (5) Alabama by 11. They even beat (3) Oklahoma by 10 in the national championship game. Much like this year's Southern Miss, the Gators played up to their competition offensively, sporting a ridiculous 21.7 -/+ 8.7 PPH efficiency (note the sign change). The Gators didn't play exceptional defense at 7.3 +/- 3.5 PPH, but they didn't have to with an offense like that. One can only wonder how they could have performed if they hadn't put the scrubs in so early in the ball game after building huge leads.

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Counting Down the Champions, #3: 2004 USC Trojans

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2004/08/28  20 /  26 Virginia Tech 13 vs   4 /   2 USC 24 147  74.5% /  73.6%
2004/09/11  45 /  58 Colorado St. 0 at   6 /   1 USC 49 164  92.2% /  84.8%
2004/09/18   2 /   1 USC 42 at  82 /  95 BYU 10 174  96.0% /  93.2%
2004/09/25   3 /   1 USC 31 at  55 /  47 Stanford 28 153  89.4% /  94.8%
2004/10/09   9 /   4 California 17 at   4 /   2 USC 23 147  77.2% /  78.0%
2004/10/16  20 /  23 Arizona St. 7 at   3 /   1 USC 45 162  84.2% /  76.4%
2004/10/23  72 /  78 Washington 0 at   2 /   1 USC 38 175  97.1% /  94.3%
2004/10/30   2 /   2 USC 42 at  44 /  41 Washington St. 12 183  87.0% /  82.0%
2004/11/06   1 /   2 USC 28 at  36 /  31 Oregon St. 20 183  87.5% /  81.4%
2004/11/13  93 /  71 Arizona 9 at   1 /   2 USC 49 161  98.1% /  96.4%
2004/11/27  34 /  33 Notre Dame 10 at   2 /   2 USC 41 155  87.5% /  83.6%
2004/12/04   2 /   2 USC 29 at  37 /  30 UCLA 24 160  89.8% /  89.0%
2005/01/04   2 /   1 USC 55 vs   1 /   6 Oklahoma 19 166  40.6% /  45.0%


USC Trojans
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2004 0.928 2 0.607 24 30.4 1 10.9 2 167.2 83
Justin
After the 2003 season USC set out to prove that they were the team to beat. With the exception of the week of November 13th, though, it was the Oklahoma Sooners who were the wire-to-wire TFG #1. USC, Auburn, and Miami jostled around for the #2 spot most of the season, but by the time of the BCS title game it was clear that Oklahoma and USC were the top two teams in college football. Once again, the BCS and TFG agree on this fact. Oklahoma had the #2 offense at 29.7 PPH and the #1 defense at 9.2 PPH, while the Trojans had the top-rated offense and the second-rated defense. Even against top-rated teams such as (9) Cal and (20) Virginia Tech -- who would finish the season at #5 and #9, respectively -- the Trojans put up solid performances. The title game wasn't even close, as the final score of 55-19 doesn't even start to describe the degree to which USC dominated Oklahoma. Auburn went 13-0, but thanks to the BCS format didn't get a shot at USC. TFG says they only would have had a 39.8% chance against the Trojans, but those are roughly the odds that USC had against the Sooners. Chalk up another argument for a plus-one or even an eight-team playoff.

USC Trojans
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2004 1.000 1 0.552 19 23.7 5 7.0 4 170.4 63
Eddie
Looking back on history, the 2004 season could be remembered as the year where blind conference loyalty and homerism leaped to the forefront of college broadcasting. (1) Southern Cal was an unquestioned champion according to RBA but faced weak opposition in the championship because the BCS cast aside (3) Auburn instead of (6) Oklahoma, leading SEC fans into a non-stop redneck publicity campaign that continues to this day. Between Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Matt Leinart, Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and an embarrassment of riches on the lines and two-deep, the Trojans sported the most consistent offense on this list at 24.7 +/- 1.9 PPH. Their defense had moments of weakness, surrendering 28 to Stanford and 20 to Oregon State, but were otherwise dominating at 1.9 +/- 10.4 PPH. The Trojans left little doubt that they were a legitimate national champion. Oh, the #2 team that should have been playing in the national championship game against USC was... (2) Boise State.

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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Counting Down the Champions, #4: 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2009/09/05  19 /  25 Virginia Tech 24 vs   9 /   7 Alabama 34 165  68.9% /  78.7%
2009/09/12 109 / 105 FIU 14 at   8 /   7 Alabama 40 160  98.0% /  96.4%
2009/09/19 115 / 115 North Texas 7 at   9 /   8 Alabama 53 146  98.6% /  97.0%
2009/09/26  53 /  56 Arkansas 7 at   9 /   7 Alabama 35 165  89.2% /  83.1%
2009/10/03   7 /   7 Alabama 38 at  49 /  42 Kentucky 20 164  80.8% /  79.9%
2009/10/10   7 /   5 Alabama 22 at  14 /  21 Mississippi 3 159  58.9% /  64.5%
2009/10/17  35 /  28 South Carolina 6 at   6 /   3 Alabama 20 158  89.3% /  75.0%
2009/10/24  21 /  20 Tennessee 10 at   4 /   6 Alabama 12 155  86.0% /  78.9%
2009/11/07  12 /  17 LSU 15 at   5 /   4 Alabama 24 155  70.9% /  75.1%
2009/11/14   5 /   4 Alabama 31 at  51 /  53 Mississippi St. 3 136  86.5% /  91.4%
2009/11/27   4 /   4 Alabama 26 at  36 /  28 Auburn 21 156  85.1% /  81.0%
2009/12/05   1 /   4 Florida 13 vs   4 /   1 Alabama 32 139  33.7% /  36.4%
2010/01/07   4 /   3 Texas 21 vs   3 /   1 Alabama 37 167  52.6% /  52.8%


Alabama Crimson Tide
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2009 0.914 3 0.619 13 27.3 4 10.6 3 157.7 114
Justin
This is the second consecutive appearance in our countdown by Nick Saban. It's also the second appearance of a team that played during the life of this blog, and the second that we had to explain away as being not the best team in college football that year. The Tebow Gators with their 32.7 PPH offense and 11.5 PPH defense finished the year 0.018 ahead of the Crimson Tide in our rankings despite having lost to them in the title game. (Once again, we refer you to Ken Massey's comment about the best team not always winning.) Don't get me wrong; Alabama had a bruisingly efficient offense that ranked 4th in the nation once adjusted for strength of schedule and pace -- something that not all critics take into account -- and a solid defense. That's not to say that this team didn't have their close calls. They needed a blocked FG just to get past Tennessee, as well as fourth quarter comebacks against Virginia Tech, LSU, and Auburn. This team was excellent, but not truly dominating to the same degree as the remaining teams in our countdown.

Alabama Crimson Tide
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2009 1.000 1 0.548 18 21.8 11 7.4 3 158.2 119
Eddie
2009 Alabama marks the first true RBA #1 in our countdown. Their offense wasn't flashy but managed to put points on the board at a 29.9 +/- 16.5 PPH efficiency. Like virtually every other team on this list, Alabama dominated thanks to its defense. "Mount" Terrance Cody, Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, and Javier Arenas crushed opposing offenses, resulting in a 4.0 +/- 6.7 PPH efficiency. As good as this team was, they were barely the best team of 2009. RBA thinks that the (1a) Crimson Tide stomped all over (1b) Texas in the BCS national championship primarily because Colt McCoy was injured on the first drive of the game because both teams were very evenly matched otherwise.

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Counting Down the Champions, #5: 2003 LSU Tigers

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2003/08/30 112 / 113 LA-Monroe 7 at  20 /  20 LSU 49 171  96.8% /  98.6%
2003/09/06  17 /  16 LSU 59 at  69 /  74 Arizona 13 173  72.6% /  87.6%
2003/09/20   5 /   3 Georgia 10 at  14 /  11 LSU 17 181  40.2% /  30.0%
2003/09/27  13 /   9 LSU 41 at  74 /  83 Mississippi St. 6 158  85.0% /  90.4%
2003/10/11  16 /  16 Florida 19 at   7 /  11 LSU 7 157  67.2% /  51.6%
2003/10/18  12 /   9 LSU 33 at  39 /  45 South Carolina 7 156  63.6% /  80.1%
2003/10/25  19 /  21 Auburn 7 at   6 /   5 LSU 31 148  75.8% /  69.0%
2003/11/01  71 /  83 LA Tech 10 at   6 /   3 LSU 49 168  94.0% /  95.8%
2003/11/15   4 /   5 LSU 27 at  13 /  21 Alabama 3 162  60.7% /  82.8%
2003/11/22   3 /   5 LSU 17 at  28 /  24 Mississippi 14 164  79.8% /  84.5%
2003/11/28  13 /  21 Arkansas 24 at   5 /   5 LSU 55 150  68.2% /  83.0%
2003/12/06   3 /   4 LSU 34 vs   5 /   6 Georgia 13 161  53.1% /  33.9%
2004/01/04   1 /   2 Oklahoma 14 vs   3 /   3 LSU 21 166  39.7% /  43.8%


LSU Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2003 0.917 3 0.595 20 27.9 5 10.7 3 163.0 110
Justin
Ah, the 2003-2004 season. The first of USC's AP national titles, but the one that the BCS doesn't recognize. TFG, though, actually agrees with the BCS on this one; USC had an excellent offense at 31.1 PPH, but their 13.6 PPH defense didn't do them any favors. LSU, however, is a different story. In fact the main contrast between the 2003 squad and the 2007 team is that this year's team relied more on defense. Look at their last entry, and then look at this one. Only once did a team crack the 20-point barrier against the 2003 Tiger squad, whereas it happened seven times in 2007. Even adjusting for strength of opponent and pace -- two of the 2007 games went into 3OT -- this squad flat-out played defense at a higher level than in later years, and it paid off for them in the form of a national championship.

LSU Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2003 0.991 3 0.558 18 23.7 4 7.0 4 164.7 107
Eddie
For the second time in this list, (1) Southern Cal has reason to be upset because they had to sit at home and watch (2) Oklahoma play (3) LSU in the national championship game. This defense was every bit as nasty as 2011's defense. The 2003 team was led by DL Chad Lavalais and CB Corey Webster to a 3.8 +/- 6.3 PPH efficiency. The offense was surprisingly effective at 34.4 +/- 21.3 PPH, even if they were occasionally flaky and completely unmemorable. In the end, they were able to upset (yes, upset) Oklahoma in the national championship game, earning perpetual trolling rights over USC fans.

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Counting Down the Champions, #6: 2007 LSU Tigers

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2007/08/30   2 /   6 LSU 45 at  87 /  77 Mississippi St. 0 159  95.7% /  94.3%
2007/09/08   3 /  30 Virginia Tech 7 at   1 /   1 LSU 48 158  70.6% /  55.2%
2007/09/15  85 /  96 Middle Tenn. 0 at   1 /   1 LSU 44 145  98.9% /  99.0%
2007/09/22  29 /  24 South Carolina 16 at   1 /   3 LSU 28 164  94.4% /  91.4%
2007/09/29   1 /   1 LSU 34 at 115 / 117 Tulane 9 169  99.2% /  99.6%
2007/10/06   4 /   4 Florida 24 at   1 /   2 LSU 28 158  81.7% /  81.8%
2007/10/13   1 /   2 LSU 37 at  41 /  34 Kentucky 43 200  89.4% /  90.9%
2007/10/20  11 /  16 Auburn 24 at   2 /   3 LSU 30 157  84.5% /  82.1%
2007/11/03   2 /   4 LSU 41 at  26 /  30 Alabama 34 191  80.7% /  86.1%
2007/11/10 101 / 101 LA Tech 10 at   2 /   4 LSU 58 175  98.0% /  97.4%
2007/11/17   2 /   3 LSU 41 at  77 /  84 Mississippi 24 161  94.7% /  94.4%
2007/11/23  25 /  25 Arkansas 50 at   2 /   5 LSU 48 210  76.6% /  75.9%
2007/12/01  28 /  24 Tennessee 14 vs   2 /   5 LSU 21 170  76.8% /  71.1%
2008/01/07   1 /   4 Ohio St. 24 vs   2 /   3 LSU 38 156  36.4% /  68.2%


LSU Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2007 0.881 2 0.581 33 29.7 3 13.3 9 165.4 86
Justin
It's interesting to note that this is one time where the TFG and BCS rankings agreed on the top two teams. LSU had stumbled twice during the season, losing to (41) Kentucky and (25) Arkansas in a pair of triple-overtime contests. This team is also where we see a trend in BCS champions emerge: from here on out, all teams that win a BCS championship have a top-3 offense or defense, and a top-10 squad on the other side of the ball. In this case the Tigers had one of the most efficient offenses in FBS, and a respectable defense that only allowed 13.3 PPH. This was the year that Les Miles really earned the "Mad Hatter" nickname, with several unorthodox play calls. LSU often went for it on 4th down, succeeding over 80% of the time.

This was also the second year that Ohio State would face -- and lose against -- the SEC champion. As with most of their games, LSU succeeded thanks to their efficient offense and great defense.

LSU Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2007 0.991 3 0.548 21 23.8 4 10.1 7 162.1 112
Eddie
The "Year of the Upset" finished with two-loss (3) LSU knocking off one-loss (4) Ohio State in one of the best seasons I can personally remember. RBA considered (1) Southern Cal and (2) West Virginia to be better teams, but LSU was certainly a good team powered by a good, but not otherworldly 3.6 +/- 12.9 PPH defense and a consistent but not great 29.7 +/- 11.8 PPH offense. They lost close games and benefited greatly from 2006 Florida's dismantling of Ohio State and timely flops by (6) Missouri and (2) West Virginia in the final week of the regular season. Before leaving 2007, where were Georgia and their upset fans in all this? Lounging at RBA #8, so quit your whining Bulldog fans.

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Counting Down the Champions, #7: 2006 Florida Gators

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2006/09/02  57 /  69 Southern Miss. 7 at  19 /  16 Florida 34 144  82.5% /  78.6%
2006/09/09  86 /  87 UCF 0 at  16 /  10 Florida 42 161  94.2% /  85.8%
2006/09/16   8 /  12 Florida 21 at  26 /  33 Tennessee 20 147  58.7% /  68.3%
2006/09/23  66 /  73 Kentucky 7 at  10 /  12 Florida 26 154  91.5% /  96.6%
2006/09/30  18 /  26 Alabama 13 at  10 /  10 Florida 28 148  73.1% /  63.2%
2006/10/07   5 /  13 LSU 10 at   7 /   5 Florida 23 151  53.8% /  72.6%
2006/10/14   4 /   8 Florida 17 at   9 /  11 Auburn 27 134  48.8% /  60.7%
2006/10/28  18 /  21 Georgia 14 vs   6 /   9 Florida 21 152  67.1% /  71.5%
2006/11/04   6 /  10 Florida 25 at  67 /  56 Vanderbilt 19 155  89.8% /  89.1%
2006/11/11  35 /  30 South Carolina 16 at   9 /  11 Florida 17 145  79.0% /  74.2%
2006/11/25   9 /  10 Florida 21 at  33 /  37 Florida St. 14 156  73.7% /  75.8%
2006/12/02   8 /  11 Florida 38 vs  15 /  21 Arkansas 28 153  56.3% /  60.1%
2007/01/08   1 /   1 Ohio St. 14 vs   8 /   4 Florida 41 143  24.0% /  20.0%


Florida Gators
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2006 0.847 8 0.661 2 23.4 18 11.8 9 165.1 81

Justin
The 2006-2007 season is particularly relevant given that there were many calls for a rematch between BCS#1 Ohio State and BCS#3 Michigan. Florida, though, snuck into the title game thanks to a 13-9 upset victory by UCLA over USC. This Gator team was good but not particularly dominating, with several close calls against second-tier opponents (see: (26) Tennessee, (67) Vandy, and (35) South Carolina). Like most SEC teams, this Florida squad played a slow, considered game that only once broke the 160-plays-per-game mark. Their offense wasn't really considered "dominating" by any measure, which made their 41-14 victory in the title game all that much more surprising. Their offense would flourish in later years, though, as the 2008-2009 Gator squad will demonstrate.

Florida Gators
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2006 0.983 4 0.551 18 19.1 25 8.9 11 165.1 90

Eddie
I know what you're thinking. The 2006 Florida Gators blasted the crap out of the undefeated (1) Ohio State Buckeyes. How could they possibly be the 7th best champion? For starters, somebody has to be near the bottom. Second, Florida didn't win games big like their 2008 championship team. 2008 Florida even had a loss, but it was a respectable loss to (11) Auburn. In fact, it wasn't until the SEC championship game against (22) Arkansas where (11) Florida really became (4) Florida and punched their ticket to the BCS championship game where they would crucify the Buckeyes as 20.0% underdogs. Not bad for a team that only beat (31) Tennessee and (29) South Carolina by one point a piece.

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Counting Down the Champions, #8: 2010 Auburn Tigers

[ Sorry for the delay. A combination of holiday travel and a stomach bug held this up, but here we go. ]

Date TFG RBA Away Team       TFG RBA Home Team Plays Odds
TFG / RBA
2010/09/04 103 / 104 Arkansas St. 26 at  33 /  33 Auburn 52 181  91.9% /  86.8%
2010/09/09  31 /  32 Auburn 17 at  39 /  35 Mississippi St. 14 157  40.1% /  63.8%
2010/09/18  21 /  22 Clemson 24 at  31 /  26 Auburn 27 174  52.7% /  55.0%
2010/09/25  22 /  19 South Carolina 27 at  28 /  22 Auburn 35 158  55.9% /  40.0%
2010/10/02 105 / 109 LA-Monroe 3 at  23 /  24 Auburn 52 151  94.1% /  90.5%
2010/10/09  19 /  20 Auburn 37 at  54 /  44 Kentucky 34 157  64.6% /  61.5%
2010/10/16  18 /  22 Arkansas 43 at  17 /  17 Auburn 65 172  61.6% /  54.8%
2010/10/23   9 /  12 LSU 17 at  16 /  14 Auburn 24 159  47.6% /  57.2%
2010/10/30  15 /  13 Auburn 51 at  47 /  48 Mississippi 31 159  61.8% /  70.2%
2010/11/13  18 /  21 Georgia 31 at  13 /  11 Auburn 49 151  61.2% /  51.4%
2010/11/26  13 /  12 Auburn 28 at   3 /   4 Alabama 27 158  25.5% /  23.5%
2010/12/04  14 /  18 South Carolina 17 vs  13 /   8 Auburn 56 158  50.7% /  56.1%
2011/01/10   5 /   4 Oregon 19 vs  10 /   7 Auburn 22 182  42.9% /  65.2%


Auburn Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2010 0.833 10 0.662 3 30.4 2 16.0 28 166.8 55

Justin
We've discussed this team a few times before. Their whole season was highly improbable, they often won by the skin of their teeth, and they had an absolutely atrocious defense. But just to recap some of the "highlights" of the Auburn season:
What got them through this season was a combination of an efficient offense and a series of freakishly lucky plays. This team wasn't dominating in the way that many of the later teams on our countdown were, and they deservedly end up at the bottom of this list.

Auburn Tigers
Year WinPct SoS Off. Def. Pace
2010 0.957 7 0.545 25 26.1 1 13.0 36 158.9 117

Eddie
Our freshest national title memories come first in this countdown. There's little question that Auburn is the worst national champion of the last decade. Sure, they went undefeated, and that counts for something. However, that understates the way that they managed to go undefeated -- winning close games. The Tigers beat (35) Mississippi State by three, (22) Clemson by three, (45) Kentucky by three, (4) Alabama by one, and (4) Oregon by three. Some of those teams were pretty good, so why the disrespect? First, Auburn didn't play a lick of defense in 2010, and RBA favors teams that play good defense. Second, great teams whip opponents. Auburn simply didn't do that. They were marginally favored in several games and scraped by -- just as expected -- suggesting to the computer that they were properly ranked.

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Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 - 2012 Bowl Previews: Part VII


Today is Part VII of our 2011 - 2012 bowl preview series. Today we'll examine the
  • Allstate Sugar Bowl
    Michigan Wolverines vs Virginia Tech Hokies
  • Outback Bowl
    Georgia Bulldogs vs Michigan State Spartans
  • Allstate BCS National Championship Game
    Alabama Crimson Tide vs LSU Tigers
  • Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
    Oklahoma State Cowboys vs Stanford Cardinal
  • Rose Bowl Game presented by Visio
    Oregon Ducks vs Wisconsin Badgers
Full previews after the jump ....

Counting Down the Champions: Introduction

Continuing with the trivia of this season, we've decided to take a shot at ranking the eight most recent BCS champions according to their final TFG and RBA standings for their respective years. Because TFG and RBA use different methodologies than the BCS it's often the case that the top two teams in our rankings are very different than those in the BCS. While the BCS focuses extensively on win-loss record -- making it effectively impossible for a two-loss team to get into the championship game -- TFG and RBA ignore these in favor of their own formulas, making it possible for a team not even in the title game to finish the season on top. For each of the last eight BCS champions we'll look at their season and how they got into the title game. Just as a reminder, those teams are:

2010: Auburn Tigers
2009: Alabama Crimson Tide
2008: Florida Gators
2007: LSU Tigers
2006: Florida Gators
2005: Texas Longhorns
2004: USC Trojans
2003: LSU Tigers

Our countdown will start tomorrow and culminate on the 9th, just before this year's title game.