State vs. State: Part 1

There are few things more boring then riding on a Southwest Airlines airplane. That is, unless you end up getting into a high stakes game of "Go Fish" with a good looking girl beside you, but that's another story for another day. Anyways, you can probably imagine how sapped of thought and energy I was the other day, while en route to Salt City (nice place by the way). Seeing as though I had already read through the Sky magazine, that catalog with cheap gizmos nobody ever needs, and all the Spanish warnings on my air sickness bag the week before en route to Chicago, I was pretty much bored off my ass. So, like I always do in such situations, I decided to rip out my trusty old friend Phil Steele and browse. (Note to readers: It's come to my attention that my taking to 'Ol Phil has some of you annoyed and angered, so I'll bar any further mention of him/his magazine for the remainder of this post.)

Dude, I swear it's the new Texas Hold'em

Going through team by team, I started to ask myself several questions, all related to where teams play and who they play. How many states were represented by Division I-A teams? Which state had the most Division I-A teams? Which state had the best overall record, and which state played the toughest schedule? And for goodness sakes, which political ideology has better teams! Considering that this particular blog isn't known for its statistical analysis (why lie, I abhor the mathematics community), I didn't exactly set out to answer all these questions. Yet, by some Act of God unbeknownst to me, I actually did. So without further adieu, let me present to you Mr. A's State vs. State analysis of the 2006 Football Season.

The Basics

• First of all, they're 41 states represented in Div I-A play. They are, in no particular order (like you're really gonna read all of these): Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, New York, Idaho, Massachusetts, California, Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Wyoming, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Washington, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Iowa, Nevada, Louisiana, Maryland, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, and Ed Oregon's own Mississippi.
• I should of just told you the states without teams. Those unfortunate wastelands are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota (really is a wasteland), Alaska, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine.
• The state with the most teams? Take a guess. No, seriously, take a guess...Alright, alright, it's Texas of course. With Ten teams, Texas counts for about 12% of Div IA Teams. Ohio was second with 8 teams, California and Florida each with 7, while Louisiana, Michigan, and North Carolina all came in with 5 teams each.
• Nine states came in registering only one Div I-A teams, those being Wyoming, Wisconsin, Hawaii, New Jersey, Nebraska, Montana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
  

Now let's break this down state by state, shall we? Bold will indicate combined state record, while italics will maintain BCS record. Bold and Italics will indicate the combined score and BCS record are the same.

• Alabama-With The University of Alabama going 10-2, Auburn going 9-3, and Troy going 4-7, the state went a combined 28-18 (.609). However, it's BCS teams (Alabama and Auburn) went a combined 19-5 (.792).
• Arizona-Arizona St. may have went 7-5, but Arizona struggled, going only 3-8. Combined (and BCS) record sits at 10-13 (.435).
• Arkansas- The Razorbacks went only 4-7, and didn't get much help from 6-6 Sunbelt Champion Arkansas St. The state sums up at 10-13 (.435).
• California-This state posted the best record overall, going 51-33 (.607). Cal went 8-4, Fresno St. went 8-5, Sand Diego St. went 5-7, San Jose St. only 3-8, Stanford 5-6, UNCLA 10-2, and of course USC chimed in at 12-1. BCS wise the state came in at 35-13 (729).
• Colorado- Air Force went 4-7, while Colorado (7-6) and Colorado St. (6-6) both limped away from Bowl games. The state went 17-19 (.472), while BCS wise (aka Colorado) finished at 7-6.
• Connecticut-UCONN went 5-6.
• Florida-FIU (5-6), Florida (9-3), FAU (2-9), Florida St. (8-5), Miami (9-3), UCF (8-5), and USF (6-6) combined for a total record of 47-28 (.627). BCS teams went 32-17 (.653) in the state.
• Georgia-Tech went 7-5 (CGE) while the University of Georgia went 10-3. 17-8 (.680) overall and BCS record.
• Hawaii-The Warriors went 5-7 (.417).
• Idaho-While Bopise St. went 9-4, the Vandels finished at 2-9 in their first yea rof WAC play. 10-13 (.435) combined.
• Illinois-While Northern Illinois and Northwestern both went 7-5, The Illini's 2-9 record dropped the state to 16-19 (.457) combined, and 9-14 (.391) BCS.
• Indiana-Ball State and Indiana both went 4-7, while Purdue finished with a disappointing 5-6 record. The Domers went 9-3 of course. 22-23 (.489) combined, 18-16 (.529) BCS.
• Iowa-Posted a 14-10 (.583) combined and BCS as Iowa and Iowa St. both went 7-5.
• Kansas- Kansas went 7-5, while Kansas St. finished at 5-6. A 12-11 (.522) combined and BCS record.
• Kentucky-Louisville went 9-3, but KU only finished 3-8, leaving a 12-11 (.522) combined and BCS record.
• Louisiana-LSU dominated at 11-2, but Tulane (2-9), ULM (5-6) and ULL (6-5) all struggled. Louisiana Tech was a surprising 704 in WAC play, as the state totals a 31-26 (.544) combined and 11-2 BCS record.
• Maryland-The Fridge lead the Terripans to a 5-6 record, while Coach PJ lead a resurgent Midshipmen team to an 8-4 record. 13-10 (.565) combined, 5-6 BCS.
• Massachusetts-Boston College went 9-3 (.750).
• Michigan- The records of C. Michigan (6-5), Eastern Michigan (4-7), Michigan (7-5), Michigan St. (5-6), and W. Michigan (7-4) ass up to a 29-27 combined and a 12-11 BCS record.
• Minnisota-The Golden Gophers went 7-5.
• Mississippi-Ol Miss finsihed out at 3-8, while Mississippi St. went 3-8. Southern Miss went 7-7 in CUSA. Combined they went 13-21, 6-16 BCS.
• Missouri- The Tigers went 7-5.
• Nebraska-The Cornhuckers went 8-4.
• Nevada-UNLV went 2-9 while the University of Nevada went 9-3. 11-12 combined.
• New Jersey-Rutgers went 7-5.
• New Mexico-The Lobos went 6-5 while the NMSU went a miserable 0-12. A 6-17 combined record.
• New York-This state was absolutly pathetic. Army was the best at 4-7, while Buffalo and Syracuse both went 1-10. That's a 6-27 combined record, and a 1-10 BCS record.
• North Carolina- Duke was 1-10, ECU went 5-6, NCSU went 7-5, the Tarheals went 5-6, and Wake Forest finsihed at 4-7. A 22-34 combined record pretty much matches the 17-28 BCS record.

Don't just blame Duke (although at 1-10 I wouldn't blame ya); with ECU, NC, Wake Forest and NCSU, the talent rich state of North Carolina defines mediocrity.

• Ohio- Akron was 7-6, Bowling Green went 6-5, Cincinnatii went 4-7, Kent St. was a miserable 1-10, Miami (Oh) was 7-4, Ohio went 4-7, tOSU was 10-2, and Toledo finished 9-3. Combined they went 48-42, and BCS wise came in at 14-9.
• Oklahoma- Tulsa went an unheralded 9-4, while Oklahoma went 8-4 and Oklahoma St. went 4-7. A 21-15 combined record, and a 12-11 BCS record.
• Oregon-The Beavers went 5-6 while the University of Oregon went 10-2. 15-8.
• Pennsylvania- Penn State went a great 11-1, but Pitt struggled (5-6) and Temple just flat out sucks (0-11). Combined 16-18 (.471), BCS 16-7 (696%).
• South Carolina-The Gamecocks went 7-5 while Clemson went 8-4. Combined and BCS record of 15-9.
• Tennessee-Fulmer's vols were a disgustingly pathetic 5-6, while Memphis was 7-4, MTSU was 4-7, and Vandy went 5-6. All told the great state went 21-23 (.477) combined and 10-12 BCS (.459).
• Texas-Baylor and Texas A&M, and SMU all went 5-6, while Houston went 6-6. North Texas went 2-9 and Rice went 1-10, while Texas Tech finished at 9-3 and UTEP at 8-4. TCU was 11-1, while National Champs Texas went a perfect 13-0. Combined the state was 67-60 (.523), while BCS teams went 32-15 (.681).
• Utah-BYU went 6-6, white the Utes of Utah were 7-5. Utah State (2-9) brings the pack down to a combined 16-19 (.457).
• Virginia-Virginia was 7-5, while Tech went 11-2, combining for an 18-7 (.720) record.
• Washington- Washington went 2-9 while Washington State finished at 4-7, giving this state a combined and BCS record of 6-16 (.273)
• West Virginia- The Mountaineers went 11-1 (.912), while Marshal only finished at 4-7. Combined they yield a 15-8 (.652) record.
• Wisconsin-The Badgers went an overated 10-3 (.769) last season.
• Wyoming- The Cowboys went 4-7 (.363)last season.

Fun Facts

Because we live in what has become a very political country, I also took the liberty of looking at the winning percentages of teams from Red States and Blue States. When I set out to do this, I told myself I wouldn't publish this if the Blue States beat the Red States in winning percentage, which should give you some indication about where I stand. It should also give you some indication about who won. Yessir, it was them damn Red States!

Teams from Red States logged up 980 games last season, of which they won 517, which puts their winning percentage right around .528. Meanwhile, teams from Blue States logged 388 games last season, of which they won 195, giving them a .503 winning percentage.

So, why did the Red States win? Well, it may be because of some sociological phenomenon between southern people, conservativism, and football, but then again Mississippi went an embarrassing 13-21. The Red States definitely have Bush to thank though (no dude, the Governor), whose state went 47-28. Most importantly however, I think I've finally proven, through statistics, that Hillary Clinton would be the worst President ever if elected with the following:

Hillary = Senator from New York = 6-27 overall state football record (2-20 without those great guys from West Point) = Total Crap = Total disinterest in football = The collapse of American civilization = Collapse of the Freaken World

Intends to Destory the World, One Div I-A program at a time

All righty, now that we've used logical reasoning to save America and our beloved sport, let's take a look at some real serious statistical junk.

• Of states with only one Div I-A team, Wisconsin posted the best winning percentage witha 10-3 record (.769). Wyoming, at 4-7 (.364) posted the worst.
• Of states with two Div I-A teams, Virginia posted the highest winning percentage (.720), while Arkansas and Arizona posted the worst at 10-13 (.435)
• Of states with three Div I-A teams, Colorado posted the best record at a mediocre 17-19 (.472), while lowly New York came it at 6-27 (.182)
• Of states with 4 Div I-A teams, Alabamy had the best record going 28-18 (.609), while Tennesee had the worst going 21-23 (.477).
• Of states with 5 Div I-A teams, Louisiana came in first with a .564 winning percentage, followed by Michigan at .518, and North Carolina at .393.
• Of states with more then 5 Div I-A temas, heres how it broke down: FLorida had the highest winning percentage at .626, with California is second with .607, Ohio in third at .533, and Texas last with .528 (blame Rice). California had the highest BCS team winning percentage at .729, followed by Texas (.681), Flordia (.653), and then Ohio (.609, counting only tOSU and Cincinatti.)

Even with several teams having down seasons, the state of Florida seems to be the best. But something tells me FIU and FAU are going to drop them down a few notches in the SoS department...

Now this is all fine and dandy, but can we actually draw something from all of this. Well, not really, but In Part Dos of our preview tomorrow I will take a look at the Average Strength of Schedule of these teams. With this in mind, I will be able to determine, statistically speaking, which state fields the best Div-IA football teams.

Tomorrow and Thursday will consist of coverage from Media Day.