It’s time to bring back the Under The Hood series, in which we take a closer look at the numbers behind some of the week’s biggest games. With only three weeks of football played, this data doesn’t tell us too much – the sample size is just so small. Still, it’s a nice snapshot of each team’s early season performance. These will provide more insight as the season goes on.
Our first guinea pigs for the ’07 season are Texas A&M and Miami, who meet tonight in the Orange Bowl. First, the charts, then a little commentary.
Texas A&M margin of victory: 24.3 points
Miami margin of victory: 1.3
Texas A&M's opponents have a combined record of: 2-5
Miami's opponets have a combined record of: 3-6
As another rough guide, Jeff Sagarin lists Texas A&M’s strength of schedule as 140th in the country and Miami’s as 104th. Sagarin rates 243 teams for his football ratings.
How are these two teams performing statistically? Below are tables of each team's season totals, with national rank in parentheses.
Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Offense | Scoring Offense |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
296.3 (5) | 6.35 (6) | 14 (2) | 148.3 (107) | 5.4 (107) | 3 (91) | 107.7 (96) | 444.7 (32) | 46.3 (12) |
Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Offense | Scoring Offense |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
172 (47) | 4.49 (43) | 4 (64) | 130.7 (113) | 6.1 (89) | 3 (92) | 104.4 (101) | 302.7 (99) | 22.3 (83) |
Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Defense | Scoring Defense |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
151.0 (57) | 3.51 (49) | 5 (83) | 232.3 (70) | 6.6 (59) | 4 (67) | 118.6 (53) | 383.3 (75) | 22.0 (53) |
Rush YPG | Rush YPC | Rush TD | Pass YPG | Pass YPA | Pass TD | QB Rating | Total Defense | Scoring Defense |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
108.7 (34) | 2.86 (34) | 0 (t1) | 194.3 (42) | 7.6 (89) | 7 (100) | 139.1 (87) | 303.0 (26) | 21.0 (47) |
All stats via CFB Stats
Charts? Charts!
So what can we draw from all this?
*It should be noted again that we can’t glean too much from this. A&M’s played two awful opponents, and one decent one. Miami’s wiped up two bad teams, and been hosed by a great one. Really, we find out about these teams tonight.
*Miami’s passing defense was positively shredded by Sam Bradford (22-28, 295 yards, 6 TDs), but the run defense performed pretty solidly against OU (2.85 YPA). This is a classic "something’s gotta give" matchup, as A&M brings their bulldozing rush attack against one of the better run-stopping units in the country. You think Randy Shannon will be trying to force Stephen McGee to win this game with his arm? I certainly do.
*On the flipside, Texas A&M would probably like Kyle Wright to have to beat A&M. The Aggies don’t have a tremendously athletic defense, and I’d expect them to spend as much capital as they dare trying to keep Miami from establishing a consistent running game. For both teams then, it’s a game of making the opposing quarterback try to play Division 1 football.
*Should we expect a low-scoring slugfest, then? I’d guess so. This looks like a made-to-order game of extreme rushing, ball control, and battle for field position. First to 13 wins! (Seriously, that might do it.)
*But hey – it’s football on a Thursday night. I can dig it.
--PB--