BlitzIndex Defense Rankings for Week Ten

Sharing Fantasy College Blitz exclusive defense rankings for college football here. Originally designed for the fantasy player to better identify solid matchups, I have received notes from many other types of users:

• analysts and bloggers for a handy reference.
• “sports investors”
• average college football fans

Posted here are links to the Google Doc and an attempt to embed the spreadsheet into the page..

Podcast: Guest on Brady Ackerman Show

Vince Mullins discusses the top performers of Week Eight on the Brady Ackerman Show on ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando, FL.

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Week Nine Top Performers

PASSING

1. Willie Tuitama, Arizona vs. Washington – 51att, 510 yards, T5
2. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech vs. Colorado – 62-431T3
3. Colt Brennan, Hawaii vs. NM State – 46-425T6
4. Aaron Opelt, Toledo vs. N. Illinois – 28-387T4
5. Dan LeFevour, C. Michigan vs. Kent St – 43-359T3
6. Martin Hankins, Memphis vs. Tulane – 38-355T2
7. Daniel Evans, NC State vs. Virginia – 46-347T3
8. Drew Weatherford, Florida State vs. Duke – 47-339T1
9. Jake Locker, Washington vs. Arizona – 30-336T2
10. Paul Smith, Tulsa vs. SMU – 45-336T3
11. Giorgio Moran, Kent St vs. C. Michigan – 28-247T3

RUSHING

1. Jamaal Charles, Texas vs. Nebraska – 33att, 290 yds, T3
2. Matt Forte, Tulane vs. Memphis – 44-278T2
3. Dwight Tardy, Wash. State vs. UCLA – 37-214T2
4. Anthony Alridge, Houston vs. UTEP – 27-204T0
5. Kalvin McRae, Ohio vs. Bowling Green – 42-200T3
6. Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois vs. Ball State – 28-189T2
7. Knowshon Moreno, Georgia vs. Florida – 33-188T3
8. Brandon McAnderson, Kansas vs. Texas A&M – 21-183T2
9.Kevin Smith, UCF at S. Miss – 42-175T2
9a. Albert Young, Iowa vs. Michigan State – 34-179T2
10. Marcus Thomas, UTEP vs. Houston – 28-178T0
11. Jeremy Avery, Boise State vs. Fresno – 18-124T3

RECEIVING

1. Ryan Grice-Mullen, Hawaii vs. NM State – 13 rec,195 yds, 3TD
2. Nick Moore, Toledo vs. N Illinois – 7-145T3
3. Mike Thomas, Arizona vs. Washington – 10-165T3
4. Davone Bess, Hawaii vs. NM State – 7-112T2
5. Donald Bowens, NC State vs. Virginia – 11-202T2
6. Steve Johnson, Kentucky vs. Miss. State – 3-69T2
7. Jeff Moturi, UTEP vs. Houston – 4-94T2
8. Nate Swift, Nebraska vs. Texas – 6-112T 2
9. Thomas White, Baylor vs. Kansas State 4-118T2
10. Bryan Anderson, C. Michigan vs. Kent St – 10-142T1
11. Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech vs. Colorado – 12-131T1
12. Kenny McKinley, S. Carolina vs. Tennessee – 14-151T1

Trinity vs. Cal for best college football finish

When I first heard and saw the tape of the famed Trinity College Tigers 15-lateral buzzer-beater over Milsap Majors I was struck not only by the sheer fun of it all, but also by the announcers call at the end saying it was the “most miraculous plays in all of college football”.

One hears the ultimate praise heaped upon so many events that one could be desensitized to the gravitas of the phrase itself – “best of all time”. I have chalked it up to the hosts getting way too involved in the moment, or trying too hard to make even the most mundane game relevant for the viewers – at least keep them glued to their seats long enough to watch the next commercial block.

But in this case the announcers were right – this was in fact the most amazing and miraculous play in the history of college football. The Play is now just a play.

If you haven’t seen the tape (second one is a rare endzone angle)…

15 laterals, no flags and no band in the way – pure football goodness. All natural, safe and effective!

Let us compare this to the mantle-holder for the last twenty years, the end of the Cal-Stanford game in 1982 (digitally-enhanced for your pleasure)…

Let us go point for point.

National Title relevance - PUSH. Neither had any relevance whatsoever to the national title with Miami winning their first under Howard Schnellenberger in early 1983. Trinity supposedly has the edge now in the Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Ballhandling – EDGE: TRINITY. Tigers lateraled the ball 15 times and had no issues with any one even being close to tackled. Bonus points to the lineman at the 1:38 mark for indiscriminately flipping the ball over his head to no one in particular AND the proper one-hop final pitch to Riley Curry.

Blocking – EDGE TRINITY. After Curry picks up the last pitch, a Trinity lineman drops an absolute 300 Spartan like block upon a Major, sending him lifeless to the turf with the helmet going in a different direction.

Star Power – PUSH. Sure the Cal-Stanford game had John Elway and a number of future Silicon Valley wizards, but Elway was on the losing side and not in the game at the ultimate moment.

ODDITIES – EDGE: CAL. Did you know that Cal only had ten men on the field? The Stanford Band rushing the field prematurely only made The Play more surreal. Besides the edge in ballhandling, nothing terribly odd about the Trinity play except for its impromptu-jazz-like in-the-moment excellence.

FINAL EDGE: TRINITY

Perhaps I am guilty of the “recency effect” and I am sure Cal supporters (a very intelligent lot) will have a differing opinion.

Let the reign of the Bear King end, and a Tiger will take over the throne to rule over college football for the next 20 years!

Les Miles continues his risky behavior, Pt. 3

Today Les Miles replied to an email announcing he won a lottery in Nigeria.

Just to show you he isn’t afraid to do it.

And without recognizing the identity theft disaster that awaits.

Les Miles continues his risky behavior, Pt. 2

Today Les Miles drank milk after the expiration date.

Just to show you he isn’t afraid to do it.

And without recognizing the gastrointestinal disaster that awaits.

Les Miles continues his risky behavior

It all started with LSU head coach Les Miles went for it on fourth down FIVE times against Florida and converted all five, leading to a win.

The next week against Kentucky his hubris failed him in the third overtime – the average-at-best Wildcats defense stuffed four straight rushing plays to seal the win.

And here he goes again in the final moment of the Auburn game – please notice how I did not use the plural. Here is how it all went down….

There are only two undefeated teams…

against the spread, that is.

I like to use Vegas odds and results to illustrate “market expectations” for college football teams. Similar to a stock technical analyst, the performance of a team ATS and even over/unders tells me what people are doing with their money rather than what pundits are saying. Thanks to theSpread.com for the data.

So, the only two undefeated teams ATS are 6-0 Kansas and Missouri, and I interpret that to mean they have surprised those who earn their livings analyzing college football. Think about it, if it were a perfectly efficient market, everyone would be 3-3 ATS.

Oregon and UConn are the only teams with one loss ATS. Kansas and Connecticut have shocked everyone with their success both coming out of nowhere to be atop their respective conferences, but I think most of us saw the opportunities for the Tigers and the Ducks to perform well.

You may ask who the most disappointing teams are to the market? Here are all the 6-loss teams:

Team G W/L % ATS %

SYRACUSE 8 2-6 25.0% 2-6-0 25.00%

SMU 7 1-6 14.3% 1-6-0 14.29%

W MICHIGAN 8 3-5 37.5% 1-6-0 14.29%

NEBRASKA 8 4-4 50.0% 1-7-0 12.50%

I believe in an axiom that sounds like one of Newton’s Laws of Physics – these teams will likely continue in the same direction until some force acts upon it. I watched both Missouri and Kansas play yesterday, and neither should lose a game (straight up) nor ATS until they meet on November 24. Likewise, with horrible defenses and poor QB play (except for Justin Willis at SMU) of “Poor Four” listed above should continue.

Make use of that info however you see fit, as long as you realize I typed it for entertainment purposes only.

;-)