Category Archives: Sports
NCAA Basketball Rankings – 1/9/2012
Rankings as of 12:02am on 1/9/2012. Sagarin Ratings for games though 1/8/2012. AP Poll as of 1/9/2012.
Previous rankings are here.
Three new teams enter the rankings: Virginia, Alabama, and Creighton. They replace New Mexico, Minnesota, and Marquette. The biggest movers up were Kansas and Kentucky who moved up 12 spots to 12 and up 9 spots to 10, respectively. UConn and Wisconsin both fall 12 spots to 19 and 25, respectively. UConn is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this year, and Wisconsin is in the midst of a three game losing streak.
Breakdown by conference: 3, 5, 8, 4, 0, 2, 2, 1
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC MWC Other
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | AP | Sagarin |
| Syracuse | 1 | – | 17-0 | 1 | 1 |
| Indiana | 2 | ↑1 | 14-1 | 7 | 4 |
| Baylor | 3 | ↓1 | 15-0 | 4 | 9 |
| Ohio St. | 4 | ↑2 | 15-2 | 5 | 3 |
| Michigan St. | 5 | ↓1 | 14-2 | 6 | 5 |
| Illinois | 6 | ↑4 | 14-3 | 33 | 35 |
| Duke | 7 | ↓2 | 13-2 | 8 | 7 |
| Michigan | 8 | – | 12-3 | 13 | 27 |
| Seton Hall | 9 | ↑6 | 14-2 | 24 | 25 |
| Kentucky | 10 | ↑9 | 15-1 | 2 | 2 |
| Missouri | 11 | ↓2 | 14-1 | 9 | 10 |
| Kansas | 12 | ↑12 | 12-3 | 10 | 6 |
| Georgetown | 13 | ↑1 | 13-2 | 11 | 11 |
| Purdue | 14 | ↑4 | 13-4 | NR | 30 |
| North Carolina | 15 | ↑5 | 14-2 | 3 | 8 |
| Virginia | 16 | NR | 14-1 | 16 | 26 |
| UNLV | 17 | ↓1 | 16-2 | 12 | 12 |
| Northwestern | 18 | ↓7 | 11-4 | NR | 50 |
| UConn | 19 | ↓12 | 12-3 | 17 | 40 |
| Kansas St. | 20 | ↓3 | 12-2 | 18 | 13 |
| Alabama | 21 | NR | 12-3 | 27 | 14 |
| Louisville | 22 | – | 13-3 | 14 | 22 |
| Creighton | 23 | NR | 13-2 | 23 | 20 |
| San Diego St. | 24 | ↓3 | 13-2 | 22 | 34 |
| Wisconsin | 25 | ↓12 | 12-4 | 26 | 18 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
Stats In the Wild Card Weekend – SITW’s picks
Games start in a few hours minutes, and I wanted to post my picks before the games started. So here they are.
Some Notes:
-My preseason pick for the Super Bowl base on numbers was New England over Atlanta. That’s not crazy at all right now. My Super Bowl pick based on my gut was Tampa Bay over Baltimore. Well, half of that makes sense.
-Last year there were 2 teams that averaged over 23 points on offense and under 18 points on defense. They were the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers who ultimately met in the Super Bowl. This year there are three teams that meet this criteria: San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, and Houston Texans. So, I guess I’m taking the 49ers over the Ravens in the Super Bowl.
Record: 2-2
✓=Correct Pick; ✗=Incorrect Pick
| Round | Teams | Predicted Winner | Outcome | |
| WC | Cin at Hou | Houston (51.3%) | ✓ |
|
| WC | Det at NO | New Orleans (57.9%) | ✓ | |
| WC | Atl at NYG | Atlanta (55.2%) | ✗ |
|
| WC | Pit at Den | Pittsburgh (65.6%) | ✗ |
Cheers.
NCAAB Rankings – 1/2/2012
Rankings as of 2:31pm on 1/2/2012. Sagarin ratings as of 1/1/2012. AP rankings as of 1/2/2012.
Previous rankings are here.
Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, and Miss St. fall out of the top 25 and New Mexico, North Carolina, and Purdue are in the top 25 this week. The Mountain West conference has 3 teams in my top 25. That is the same number as the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC COMBINED. I’ve even given the MWC there own color (purple). I considered giving them red since the Pac-12 wasn’t using it at all, but I think purple is a more fitting color for the MWC (think purple mountains majesty).
Breakdown by conference: 2, 6, 9, 4, 0, 1, 3
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC MWC Other
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | AP | Sagarin |
| Syracuse | 1 | ↑1 | 15-0 | 1 | 1 |
| Baylor | 2 | ↑2 | 13-0 | 4 | 6 |
| Indiana | 3 | ↓2 | 13-1 | 12 | 4 |
| Michigan St. | 4 | ↑5 | 13-2 | 10 | 8 |
| Duke | 5 | ↑7 | 12-1 | 5 | 5 |
| Ohio St. | 6 | ↓3 | 13-2 | 6 | 3 |
| UConn | 7 | ↑10 | 12-1 | 8 | 26 |
| Michigan | 8 | ↑8 | 12-2 | 16 | 41 |
| Missouri | 9 | ↑4 | 13-0 | 7 | 11 |
| Illinois | 10 | ↓3 | 12-3 | 11 | 47 |
| Northwestern | 11 | ↓3 | 11-3 | – | 51 |
| Marquette | 12 | ↓1 | 12-2 | 20 | 19 |
| Wisconsin | 13 | ↓3 | 12-3 | 18 | 15 |
| Georgetown | 14 | ↑11 | 12-1 | 9 | 10 |
| Seton Hall | 15 | ↓1 | 12-2 | 38 | 28 |
| UNLV | 16 | ↑3 | 15-2 | 17 | 12 |
| Kansas State | 17 | ↓2 | 11-1 | 23 | 18 |
| Purdue | 18 | NR | 12-3 | 33 | 27 |
| Kentucky | 19 | ↑4 | 13-1 | 2 | 2 |
| North Carolina | 20 | NR | 13-2 | 3 | 7 |
| Minnesota | 21 | ↓16 | 12-3 | – | 50 |
| Louisville | 22 | ↓16 | 12-2 | 11 | 13 |
| San Diego St. | 23 | ↓5 | 12-2 | 24 | 38 |
| Kansas | 24 | – | 10-3 | 14 | 9 |
| New Mexico | 25 | NR | 12-2 | 34 | 31 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NFL Rankings – After Week 17
Rankings updated as of 1/1/2012; Records updated as of 1/1/2012; CHFF rankings as of 12/28/2011
AFC NFC
Playoff team
Division Champ
Eliminated from Playoffs
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | CHFF Rank |
| New England | 1 | – | 13-3 | 3 |
| Pittsburgh | 2 | ↑ | 12-4 | 1 |
| Green Bay | 3 | ↓ | 15-1 | 6 |
| Baltimore | 4 | – | 12-4 | 5 |
| Atlanta | 5 | – | 10-6 | 11 |
| 6 | ↑ | 8-8 | 2 | |
| New Orleans | 7 | ↓ | 13-3 | 15 |
| 8 | – | 8-8 | 23 | |
| Detroit | 9 | ↑↑ | 10-6 | 10 |
| San Francisco | 10 | – | 13-3 | 4 |
| NY Giants | 11 | ↓↓ | 9-7 | 8 |
| 12 | – | 8-8 | 12 | |
| 13 | – | 8-8 | 18 | |
| 14 | ↑ | 4-12 | 14 | |
| 15 | ↑↑ | 7-9 | 30 | |
| 16 | ↑↑↑↑ | 7-9 | 9 | |
| 17 | ↓↓↓ | 8-8 | 26 | |
| Cincinnati | 18 | ↓↓ | 9-7 | 22 |
| 19 | ↑↑ | 8-8 | 7 | |
| 20 | ↑↑ | 9-7 | 19 | |
| 21 | ↓↓↓ | 6-10 | 13 | |
| Houston | 22 | ↓↓↓ | 10-6 | 20 |
| 23 | – | 6-10 | 24 | |
| 24 | ↑ | 2-14 | 16 | |
| Denver | 25 | ↓ | 8-8 | 30 |
| 26 | ↑↑↑↑ | 5-11 | 28 | |
| 27 | ↓ | 3-13 | 27 | |
| 28 | ↓ | 4-12 | 21 | |
| 29 | ↓ | 8-8 | 29 | |
| 30 | ↓ | 5-11 | 25 | |
| 31 | – | 6-10 | 17 | |
| 32 | – | 2-14 | 32 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NFL Rankings – After week 17 (using only games from 2011 season)
These are the NFL rankings using only data from the 2011 season. My NFL rankings all season have used games from 2010 in my rankings. I wanted to see how they would look if I dropped the 2010 data points.
Rankings updated as of 1/1/2012; Records updated as of 1/1/2012; CHFF rankings as of 12/28/2011.
AFC NFC
Playoff team
Division Champ
Eliminated from Playoffs
| Team | Rank | Seed | Record | CHFF Rank |
| Green Bay | 1 | 1 | 15-1 | 1 |
| San Francisco | 2 | 2 | 13-3 | 4 |
| Detroit | 3 | 6 | 10-6 | 8 |
| Pittsburgh | 4 | 5 | 12-4 | 6 |
| Baltimore | 5 | 2 | 12-4 | 5 |
| New England | 6 | 1 | 13-3 | 3 |
| New Orleans | 7 | 3 | 13-3 | 2 |
| 8 | – | 8-8 | 23 | |
| Houston | 9 | 3 | 10-6 | 7 |
| Atlanta | 10 | 5 | 10-6 | 11 |
| Cincinnati | 11 | 6 | 9-7 | 9 |
| 12 | – | 8-8 | 15 | |
| Denver | 13 | 4 | 8-8 | 16 |
| 14 | – | 8-8 | 13 | |
| 15 | – | 8-8 | 18 | |
| 16 | – | 8-8 | 14 | |
| 17 | – | 9-7 | 20 | |
| NY Giants | 18 | 4 | 9-7 | 10 |
| 19 | – | 7-9 | 19 | |
| 20 | – | 7-9 | 26 | |
| 21 | – | 6-10 | 24 | |
| 22 | – | 6-10 | 17 | |
| 23 | – | 8-8 | 12 | |
| 24 | – | 8-8 | 21 | |
| 25 | – | 4-12 | 31 | |
| 26 | – | 5-11 | 25 | |
| 27 | – | 6-10 | 22 | |
| 28 | – | 4-12 | 27 | |
| 29 | – | 3-13 | 28 | |
| 30 | – | 5-11 | 29 | |
| 31 | – | 2-14 | 30 | |
| 32 | – | 2-14 | 32 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NFL Rankings After week 16
Rankings updated as of 12/22/2011; Records updated as of 6:22pm 12/24/2011; CHFF rankings as of 12/28/2011
AFC NFC
Clinched Playoff Berth
Divison Leader Division Champ
Eliminated from Playoffs
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | CHFF Rank |
| New England | 1 | – | 12-3 | 3 |
| Green Bay | 2 | – | 14-1 | 1 |
| Pittsburgh | 3 | – | 11-4 | 6 |
| Baltimore | 4 | – | 11-4 | 5 |
| Atlanta | 5 | – | 9-6 | 11 |
| New Orleans | 6 | – | 12-3 | 2 |
| NY Jets | 7 | – | 8-7 | 15 |
| 8 | – | 7-8 | 23 | |
| NY Giants | 9 | ↑ | 8-7 | 10 |
| San Francisco | 10 | ↓ | 12-3 | 4 |
| Detroit | 11 | – | 10-5 | 8 |
| 12 | – | 7-8 | 12 | |
| 13 | – | 7-8 | 18 | |
| Oakland | 14 | ↑↑↑ | 8-7 | 14 |
| 15 | ↓ | 4-11 | 30 | |
| Cincinnati | 16 | ↑↑↑↑↑ | 9-6 | 9 |
| 17 | ↓↓ | 6-9 | 26 | |
| 18 | ↑ | 5-10 | 22 | |
| Houston | 19 | ↓↓↓ | 10-5 | 7 |
| 20 | ↓↓ | 7-8 | 19 | |
| Dallas | 21 | ↓ | 8-7 | 13 |
| Tennessee | 22 | – | 8-7 | 20 |
| 23 | ↑ | 6-9 | 24 | |
| Denver | 24 | ↓ | 8-7 | 16 |
| 25 | ↑↑↑ | 2-13 | 30 | |
| 26 | ↑↑↑↑ | 3-12 | 28 | |
| 27 | ↓ | 4-11 | 27 | |
| 28 | ↓↓↓ | 7-8 | 21 | |
| 29 | ↓↓ | 4-11 | 29 | |
| 30 | ↓ | 5-10 | 25 | |
| 31 | ↑ | 6-9 | 17 | |
| 32 | ↓ | 2-13 | 32 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NFL Chernoff faces
Here are some Chernoff faces through week 16 of the 2011 NFL season. From the graph there seems to be two classes of elite NFL teams: 1) tall skinny faces with brownish hair and 2) short, wider faces with green hair.
The first group represents teams with mainly passing offenses who score a lot of points, but also get a lot of points scored against them. These teams are Detroit, New England, New Orleans, and Green Bay.
The other group relies more heavily on running offenses and a stingy defense to earn their wins. These teams are Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco.
If you look at the 2010 Chernoff faces from last year at the end of the season, you’ll notice that Green Bay has moved from being a team that won with great defense to a team that is now winning with a highly productive offense. You should also notice that the two super bowl teams from last year, Pittsburgh and Green Bay, are located in the area of the graph that I defined as group 2.
Finally, one of the things I find most amazing about both of these graphs from 2010 and 2011 is that they demonstrate very clearly just how many penalties the Raiders are committing. You’d think they would try to improve upon this from one year to the next, but I guess it’s just part of their “style” where, here, “style” means being one of the worst franchises of the decade.
Cheers.
NCAA Basketball Rankings – 12/25/2011
Rankings as of 2:31pm on 12/25/2011. Sagarin ratings as of 12/26/2011. AP rankings as of 12/26/2011.
Previous rankings are here.
Kentucky and Georgetown are added to the top 25, while Northern Iowa and Purdue drop out. Also, I still have no Pac 12 teams in my top 25.
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC Other
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | AP | Sagarin |
| Indiana | 1 | – | 12-0 | 13 | 5 |
| Syracuse | 2 | ↑1 | 13-0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ohio St. | 3 | ↑4 | 12-1 | 2 | 3 |
| Baylor | 4 | ↑5 | 12-0 | 6 | 6 |
| Minnesota | 5 | ↓3 | 12-1 | – | 51 |
| Louisville | 6 | ↑5 | 12-0 | 4 | 11 |
| Illinois | 7 | ↓2 | 11-2 | 27 | 54 |
| Northwestern | 8 | ↓4 | 10-2 | – | 45 |
| Michigan St. | 9 | ↑4 | 11-2 | 16 | 13 |
| Wisconsin | 10 | ↓2 | 11-2 | 11 | 4 |
| Marquette | 11 | ↓5 | 11-1 | 14 | 8 |
| Duke | 12 | – | 10-1 | 7 | 9 |
| Missouri | 13 | ↓3 | 12-0 | 8 | 10 |
| Seton Hall | 14 | – | 11-1 | 11 | 39 |
| Kansas St. | 15 | ↑4 | 10-1 | 26 | 21 |
| Michigan | 16 | ↓1 | 10-2 | 18 | 49 |
| UConn | 17 | ↑6 | 10-1 | 8 | 23 |
| San Diego St. | 18 | ↑7 | 11-2 | 25 | 42 |
| UNLV | 19 | ↑5 | 13-2 | 19 | 12 |
| Oklahoma | 20 | ↓4 | 9-1 | – | 47 |
| Miss St. | 21 | – | 12-1 | 15 | 53 |
| Pittsburgh | 22 | ↓5 | 11-2 | 22 | 61 |
| Kentucky | 23 | NR | 11-1 | 3 | 2 |
| Kansas | 24 | ↓6 | 8-3 | 17 | 15 |
| Georgetown | 25 | NR | 10-1 | 12 | 16 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NFL Rankings Christmas Edition – 12/22/2011
Rankings updated as of 12/22/2011; Records updated as of 6:22pm 12/24/2011
AFC NFC
Clinched Playoff Berth
Divison Leader Division Champ
Eliminated from Playoffs
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | CHFF Rank |
| New England | 1 | ↑ | 12-3 | 3 |
| Green Bay | 2 | ↓ | 13-1 | 1 |
| Pittsburgh | 3 | – | 11-4 | 7 |
| Baltimore | 4 | – | 11-4 | 6 |
| Atlanta | 5 | – | 9-5 | 8 |
| New Orleans | 6 | ↑ | 11-3 | 2 |
| NY Jets | 7 | ↓ | 8-7 | 11 |
| Chicago | 8 | – | 7-7 | 23 |
| San Francisco | 9 | ↑↑ | 11-3 | 4 |
| NY Giants | 10 | ↓↓ | 8-7 | 14 |
| Detroit | 11 | ↓ | 9-5 | 9 |
| 12 | – | 6-8 | 17 | |
| San Diego | 13 | ↑↑ | 7-7 | 13 |
| 14 | ↓ | 4-11 | 29 | |
| 15 | ↑↑ | 6-9 | 25 | |
| Houston | 16 | ↓↓ | 10-5 | 5 |
| Oakland | 17 | ↓ | 8-7 | 16 |
| Seattle | 18 | ↑↑↑ | 7-7 | 18 |
| 19 | ↓ | 5-10 | 20 | |
| Dallas | 20 | ↑↑ | 8-6 | 10 |
| Cincinnati | 21 | ↓ | 9-6 | 12 |
| Tennessee | 22 | ↓↓↓ | 8-7 | 22 |
| Denver | 23 | – | 8-6 | 15 |
| 24 | – | 6-9 | 26 | |
| 25 | ↑↑↑↑ | 7-8 | 19 | |
| 26 | ↓ | 4-11 | 27 | |
| 27 | ↓ | 4-11 | 28 | |
| 28 | – | 2-13 | 32 | |
| 29 | ↑ | 5-10 | 24 | |
| 30 | ↓↓↓ | 3-12 | 30 | |
| 31 | – | 2-13 | 31 | |
| 32 | – | 6-9 | 21 |
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
NCAAB Rankings – 12/19/2011
Rankings as of 8:38am on 12/19/2011 .
Saint Louis, Ole Miss and Xavier fall out of my top 25, while they are replaced by Kansas St., Miss St. and UNLV.
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC Other
| Team | Rank | Change | Record | AP |
| Indiana | 1 | – | 10-0 | 17 |
| Minnesota | 2 | ↑2 | 11-1 | |
| Syracuse | 3 | – | 11-0 | 1 |
| Northwestern | 4 | ↑2 | 10-1 | 39 |
| Illinois | 5 | ↓3 | 10-1 | 25 |
| Marquette | 6 | ↓1 | 10-0 | 10 |
| Ohio St. | 7 | – | 10-1 | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 8 | ↑7 | 10-2 | 13 |
| Baylor | 9 | ↑2 | 9-0 | 6 |
| Missouri | 10 | ↓2 | 11-0 | 9 |
| Louisville | 11 | ↓1 | 10-0 | 4 |
| Duke | 12 | ↓3 | 9-1 | 7 |
| Michigan St. | 13 | ↑1 | 9-2 | 19 |
| Seton Hall | 14 | ↑3 | 9-1 | |
| Michigan | 15 | ↑9 | 9-2 | 20 |
| Oklahoma | 16 | ↑6 | 8-1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 17 | ↓1 | 10-1 | 15 |
| Kansas | 18 | – | 7-2 | 12 |
| Kansas St. | 19 | NR | 7-1 | 30 |
| Northern Iowa | 20 | ↓8 | 9-1 | 34 |
| Miss St. | 21 | NR | 11-1 | 18 |
| Purdue | 22 | ↓9 | 9-3 | |
| UConn | 23 | ↓2 | 9-1 | 8 |
| UNLV | 24 | NR | 11-2 | 21 |
| San Diego St. | 25 | ↓5 | 9-2 | 27 |
ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Pac 12 SEC Other
BCS: My offer still stands…….if you want to contact me you can send me a tweet @StatsInTheWild.
Cheers.
Stats in the Wild 