G’s Exploration or How About That Crazy Week?

Greetings oh great and loyal college football fans,

If you can make it through week 2 and all of it’s unmatched games, you can make it through anything. No less than 30 games between FBS and FCS opponents (see my mid-week blog all about definitions for all of these terms coming soon) and 24 games between FCS and either Div II or NAIA teams. Add another 23 games between Power 5 and Group of 5 games and that only leaves 48 “on-level” games. It will get better as we are approaching conference schedules more en masse. Here are some quick numbers on those 54 “cross-level” games. The Power 5 was 19-4 against the Group of 5 (winners include Coastal Carolina over Kansas, San Diego State over UCLA, Hawaii over Oregon State, and BYU over Tennessee in OT – more on OT in a moment). The Big 10 was 7-0 moving their mark against the smaller cousins to 16-1 this year while the Pac-12 was just 2-2 moving them to 7-4. The SEC’s 3-1 mark led them to an 8-4 record (8-2 without Tennessee – sorry Vols fans) while the ACC (8-1) and Big 12 (5-1) have shown well. All of the Power 5 conferences have lost at least one of these matchups although their combined winning percentage is .800 (44-11). note: Notre Dame (wisely taking week 2 off) has only played Louisville. These same Power 5 schools played 15 FCS schools and were undefeated keeping them perfect for the year at 27-0.

The Group of 5 teams played 15 FCS schools as well but did suffer 1 loss (Massachusetts killed by Southern Illinois 20-45). They are 39-2 which means the FBS schools are a cool 46-2 against the FCS. For those who don’t follow closely year over year, there are usually a few more upsets than this. I mentioned in this week’s blog that I wasn’t certain these games helped anything. Certainly there’s a chance for redemption and letting the younger kids play, but the upside is nil while the downside is ridiculous. I suppose if you win 96% of the time, it doesn’t really matter. Playing FCS schools (with few exceptions) doesn’t really hurt a team (assuming they win). Most FBS schools play one during the year (and rarely, two). FCS schools playing down is a little more important. While the FBS has a 4-team playoff (for now) and a bunch of bowl games for everyone else to fight for, the FCS has a more robust 24-team set-up. Here’s the odd part: games played against non-Division 1 opponent’s don’t count for earning a spot in the postseason. Last week, 2018 semi-finalist Kennesaw State beat Joe Bob’s High School (really Point University, but no one else sees a difference either, right?) 59-0 – and it doesn’t “count”. They expect to (and probably will) win the Big South and get an automatic berth. They play another patsy later this year as well. So, first these games don’t count (24 of these played this week), but to make it even more fun, the FCS was only 18-6 in these games. Robert Morris lost to Kentucky State 7-13, Wagner to East Stroudsburg 14-24, Hampton to Virginia Union 17-36, Drake to Truman State 7-10, Northwestern State to Midwestern State (seriously), 7-33, and Stephen F Austin to Tarleton State 26-37. Not only do these games not help them in any scenario, they lost.

Switching topics, I mentioned overtime games before: there were 9 of them this weekend. The Big 10 had 3 (Michigan beat Army, Nebraska lost to Colorado, and Minnesota edged Fresno State). If you haven’t heard, you’ve got to feel bad for the ULM kicker – missing an extra point in OT against Florida State had to hurt. Army’s sack/fumble loss has to come in second. Kennesaw State (mentioned above) lost to Kent State in OT and then you have to scratch your head and say “why 2 lower level games?” As I’ve been told many times in my life: “you just don’t understand.”

We are still 2 weeks away from the first ranking and the Ivy league’s first games (no, they don’t play until Sept. 21). But, to keep us focused on what may be coming, there are only 4 conferences (and 1-0 Notre Dame) with a .500 or better record against the Power 5. The 2 that are .500 (and conference games are excluded in these numbers) are the Big 10 and the Pac 12 both at 2-2. The SEC is 5-3 in these matchups so far and have the highest winning percentage at .625. Note: the ACC is 2-4 and the Big 12 is 1-2. The conference with the most wins against Power 5 schools (not counting conference games) is the Mountain West who are now 6-5 in that department. Interestingly, they are a mere 2-2 against other Group of 5 schools.

Moving into week 3, there are 36 undefeated Power 5 teams against just 6 winless. The Group of 5 is 14-11 in that stat, and the FCS is 18-43 – 43 winless teams not including the 8 Ivy Leaguers. I love this particular stat and will make it a routine part of the analysis at least until the numbers are 0.

That’s it for this weekend – next week should be a lot of fun. The schedule this week is Tuesday-ish I post a definition page. Thursday I’ll post a what to look forward to blog. Please provide comments/questions/suggestions. If you like this page and haven’t already, subscribe and you’ll get the posts quickest. If you really like it and/or know college football crazy fans, invite them to join as well.