Last Season's Final Statistics Show How the Nation's Top Five Teams Can Be Beat

It is not often when the coaches and the media agree on their opinion of who should be in the preseason Top 25 college football polls, but this year at least their Top 5 picks are mirror images-Florida (1), Texas (2), Oklahoma (3), Southern California (4) and Alabama (5).

Of a possible 60 first-place votes in the media's AP Top 25 Poll, Florida collected 58 votes and Texas 2, setting a record (96+%) for the most first-place votes since the poll was first started in 1950, long before there were ever Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games.

Florida is such an overwhelming favorite that one might think there is no need to play the games this year, since the Gators will probably run the table (go unbeaten). This, of course, is sheer nonsense.

Florida won the National Championship for the 2006 and 2008 seasons and, if it repeats during 2009, the Gators would become only the second team to do so since Nebraska won the National Championship 3 out of 4 years, winning the title outright in 1994 and 1995, and splitting the title in 1997.

However, going unbeaten to do so is entirely another matter. It is tough to go undefeated in a major conference, and then win the national title.

For openers, only one team (Utah at 13-0) went undefeated last season, and that happened because Utah does not play in a major conference. It the Utes played in the SEC, Pacific 10, Big 12 or Big Ten Conferences, there is no way they would be undefeated.

Florida, Southern Cal and Texas all lost a game last season. Oklahoma and Alabama were beaten twice.

You may be interested to know that the best team in the nation statistically last year was not Florida, which won the National Championship by beating Oklahoma 24-14, but rather Southern Cal. That's right, USC. Maybe that is why Florida won; they were playing Oklahoma and not Southern Cal for the title.

Oklahoma had a great offensive team-ranking 1st nationally in scoring (51+ points), 3rd in passing offense (349+ yards per game) and 3rd in total offense (547+), but the Sooner defense was nothing to get excited about. They were 99th in pass defense, 68th in total defense and 58th scoring defense. There are only 119 BCS (Division 1-A) teams.

Florida's pass defense was ranked 20th, and the Gators held Oklahoma to only 14 points, despite Oklahoma having the No. 1 scoring offense in the country. Shoot, the Sooners scored 51 points a game but gave up 24 a game, exactly what Florida scored to win the title. The Gators were ranked 4th in scoring defense, giving up only 13 (12.93) points a game. That shows you how accurate averaged statistics can be over the course of a season.

Texas was horrific in passing defense, ranking 104th of 119 teams. You may recall that Texas Tech beat Texas last year 39-33 on a pass play by NFL first-round pick Michael Crabtree. Texas A&M got swamped by Texas last year 49-9, in part because Texas A&M's passing defense was ranked 95th, only slightly better than Texas, which had the 7th best passing offense.

Alabama was 7th in scoring offense last year, but its passing offense was 97th (yikes) and its total offense was only 63rd. The Crimson Tide defense won most of their games, ranking 2nd in rushing defense, 3rd in total defense and 7th in scoring defense. Sounds a whole lot like their coach Nick Seban.

So what is the big deal with Southern Cal? Well, its offense was pretty balanced, ranking 22nd in rushing, passing and scoring. The defense was the best in the nation, ranking 1st in passing defense and 1st in scoring defense, 2nd in total defense, and 5th in rushing defense.

Think about it, leading the nation in 2 defensive categories and being among the top 5 in rushing and passing defense, total defense and scoring defense. USC's one loss came on the road at Oregon State, 27-21.

Was USC unfairly penalized by the pollsters when selecting the BCS title game participants? I think so. Heck, Alabama lost 31-20 to Florida on the road, so the Gators deserved a shot.

But Oklahoma? Get real. The Sooners lost to Texas at home, 45-35. Just the score of the game itself makes you shiver, 80 points between them, as opposed to 48 points between USC and Oregon State, and USC was on the road. If Oklahoma thinks Oregon State (9-4 last year) was a pushover, they should play the Beavers at home, where they were 5-1, losing only to Oregon.

So what does it all mean? Well, Oklahoma was the best offensive team in the country last year, and Southern Cal was the best defensive team; there is no argument when you look at the statistics.

Despite being the best offensive team in the country, Oklahoma could not beat Florida, losing 24-14. Southern Cal, which dispatched No. 6 Penn State 31-16, in the BCS Rose Bowl Game, might well have held Florida to fewer than 24 points. We will never know.

What we do know is that Southern Cal had a better passing offense, a more balanced offense, and a much better passing defense than Florida.

There is a reason why the Sagarin College Football Ratings show Southern Cal, not Florida, as the top team in its 2009 preseason poll. That reason is because the ratings are based on last year's actual statistics and results, not opinion.

As I see it, Florida was fortunate that it faced Oklahoma, which has lost 4 of its last 5 BCS games. In other words, lame like Ohio State, which has lost two straight BCS National Championship Games to Florida and LSU in 2006 and 2007, and then lost again to Texas in its BCS game last year.

Let's just say it-the East Coast bias among coaches and media is really bad. Two factors drive this inequity. One is population as 58% of the people (approximately 175 of 300 million) live on the East Coast. The second is the time difference as the West Coast is 3 hours behind the East Coast.

When media types get done watching football games Saturday around 10:30 p.m. EST, key games are just beginning on the West Coast and are never seen by poll voters. They are overwhelmed with watching East Coast football, and remain a servant slave to it.

If the powers to be had any size grapefruits at all, when Florida got rid of Oklahoma, their next assignment for the national title should have been Southern Cal, and then we would have seen the rubber hit the road.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Read more of my football coverage, including:

"Back-to-Back Winning Seasons and Bowl Appearances Say Michigan State Is Back"
"Look for Steve Sarkisian to Turn Around Washington's Woeful Football Program"
"Not Being Selected Among the Top 25 in the Preseason Coaches' Poll Is the Kiss of Death - You Have No BCS Title Shot"
Find Out Which Division 1 School Had the Worst Football Team in 2008.
Find Out Which Division 1 School Had the Worst Coaching Staff in 2008.
Individual Articles on All 34 of College Football's 2008 Bowl Games.
15 Weekly Wrap-Up Articles on College Football's 2008 Regular Season Games.
Articles on the Washington Huskies (0-12) 2008 Football Season.
Articles on the Michigan State Spartans (9-4) 2008 Football Season.
Articles on College Football's 2007 Regular Season and Bowl Games.

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USC Football Statistics

Are you one of those who love to watch almost every match in the college football? For sure you know that one of the most interesting numbers in the college football is the statistics of the USC Trojans. The Trojans have showed several winning streaks and improvements in their numbers during the past years. Almost every year the Trojans have managed to deliver satisfying numbers except in 2003. Since then the Trojans have managed to beat their own charts for the previous years. As seen in the USC football statistics they experienced a fall in 2003 from high ranking 2002 figures but they have managed to regain good numbers in the following year.

The developments and the changes in the USC football statistics have caught the attention of most of the football enthusiasts especially the sports bettors in every football game. They USC statistics reflect all the possibilities that might happen in every football game. The consistency of the individual statistics of the USC players shows a strong college football team. But their team statistics usually show results that differ according to their opponents and the venue of the games. Whether home or away it affects the performance of the team. Sports bettors rely on these numbers and conditions to determine the team where they can place their bets.

When we talk about USC football statistics in this article, we are referring to the figures of the USC Trojans. There are two teams in the college football in the NCAA Division I-A that uses the USC name, the South California Trojans playing in the Pacific Ten Conference and the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Southeastern Conference. To avoid confusion we pointed out the use of the USC Trojans' statistics.

The study of the football statistics particularly the USC football statistics is not only limited for the sports bettors. The other teams especially the teams that usually face the Trojans during the elimination or conference finals also study these figures and numbers. The Trojan players and their coach also devote more of their time to review their own statistics. Through their statistics they can identify their weaknesses and they can address the problems that they have committed in their previous game. In this way they will not commit the same mistake again on their next game. They can also assess the development of their team through their annual team statistics and standings. Like what happened in their 2006 statistics. Their statistics for 2006 fell down and was almost the same as their 2003 performance. In the 2006 downfall they identified the turnovers as the main cause of the fall. They forced a few turnovers on their opponents that led to lower runs and points for their team.

Candis Reade is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about USC Football Statistics [http://sportsstatisticssite.info/usc-football-statistics], please visit Sports Statistics Site [http://sportsstatisticssite.info] for current articles and discussions.

Football Goal Scorers and Football Team Statistics Live on Your Laptop

As a football fan it is very difficult to accept the fact that you have all the details that is the date and the time of your favorite football championship or foot ball league that is going to be telecast on the satellite channel on your Television. The waiting ends and you eagerly go in front of the television to watch live football or live soccer game. As soon as you reach there you find your family watching their favorite soap and are not ready to budge from their seats at any cost. They do not understand the excitement of watching live your favorite team and the players during the game.

There is no need to argue with your family members or feel deprived. Just go to your bedroom and pick up your laptop. Connect it to the internet and open the sites that provide the facility to watch the football games free from their sites. May be you may not get the chance to do that also due to some work or emergency. Then too there is no need to feel rejected as soon as you get the time connect your laptop to the internet and you will find sites which have updated the football goal scores and the football team statistics to present it live for people like you.

Just feed in the name of your favorite team and within no time you will get all the live details on your screen. You can update yourself about which players were the highest goal scorers in the team and what was the timing between scoring each goal? Not only that you can also get all the latest feedback about the team statistics, along with the football scores and football results.

http://www.football-live.net