Editor’s note: Special thanks to ESP and AVR co-creator Vincenzo Siciliano for his effort in the work outlined below. He did the analysis, I just made a few observations and wrote up this summary. Disclaimer #1: The following is not intended for betting purposes. Disclaimer #2: The following analysis does not include the Army—Navy game […]

Another number one bites the dust. Yesterday didn’t have the chaos of last week or the week before it, but Oklahoma’s loss to Missouri and Auburn’s besting of LSU leaves only seven unbeaten teams—Auburn, Boise State, Michigan State, Missouri, Oregon, TCU and Utah. Auburn’s win vaulted them to the top of both the ESP and […]

Another week, another series of undefeated and highly ranked teams falling victim to the upset bug. Ohio State, downed by the Badgers in Madison. Nebraska, done in by a swarming Longhorn defense that allowed a long gain of 14 yards on the ground. South Carolina, outscored 21-0 in the second half by Kentucky after going […]

Saturday marks the midpoint of head coach Brian Kelly’s inaugural season. To date the Irish have posted a 3-3 record against the 4th most difficult AVR strength of  schedule, with two of the losses coming by narrow margins to top 25 teams. Fortunately, the next three games feature three very winnable contests. The first is […]

It always starts the same way. Media pundits gushing over video-game offensive and defensive statistics, touting playmakers and storylines, and predicting the winner or the next “game of the year, decade or century.” It fires up the fans. This year will be no different: it may not be Oklahoma’s unthinkable, record setting offense or USC’s […]

Most pre-season prognosticators had the Georgia Bulldogs atop the polls to start the year. A strong finish to the 2007 season coupled with incumbent quarterback Matthew Stafford, star running back Knowshon Moreno, and freshman phenom A.J. Green led many to believe the Bulldogs had the inside track at the national championship. Obviously, the crystal football […]

Notre Dame has concluded their regular season, and a reflection on the Irish offense’s progress (or lack thereof) is warranted. The mid-year numbers are here, and this analysis was performed in similar fashion by benchmarking against the competition. Facing the 73rd toughest AV Ranking strength of schedule, the Irish only managed to go 6-6. But […]

Disclaimer: the following is not intended for betting purposes. As promised here and here, this week the AV ranking will be used to predict the Big 12, ACC, and SEC conference championship games. Forgetting for the moment that the AV Ranking would have put Texas in the Big 12 championship over Oklahoma, these conference championship […]

At first glance the Irish offense seems dramatically improved from a unit that spent last year near the bottom of the country in every meaningful statistical category. A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals a different story. For example, through six games the Irish stand at 4-2, a far cry from the 1-5 record […]