Marc Lawrence Sports Handicapping News

Stat Capping For The Bowls...

With the college bowl games now at hand, here's a look at how various teams are entering the games from an ITS (In The Stats) perspective.

Listed below are noteworthy results of how various teams have fared ITS this season…

Alabama – held 8 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yardage
Boise State – won the stats in 11 of its 12 games
Boston College – 3-4 ITS in its final 7 games
Central Michigan – 1-3 ITS in its final 4 games
Connecticut – held final 3 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yardage
Florida - held 3 of final 4 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yardage
Houston – won the stats in each of its final 10 games
Iowa – 1-4 ITS in its final 5 games
Kansas – 1-5 ITS in its final 6 games
Kentucky – 0-5 ITS in its final 5 games
LSU – 0-3 ITS in its final 3 games
La Tech – 0-3 ITS in its final 3 games
Maryland – 4-7 ITS vs lined foes
Memphis – 4-0 ITS in its final 4 games
Miami Fla – 0-3 ITS in its final 3 games
Minnesota - 0-3 ITS in its final 3 games
Mississippi – held final 3 foes to season low yardage
Nebraska – 6-1 ITS in its final 7 games
Nevada – 5-1 ITS in its final 6 games
No Illinois - 1-3 ITS in its final 4 games
No Carolina - 5-7 ITS this season
Northwestern – 1-5 ITS in its final 6 games
Notre Dame – 8-1 ITS in its final 9 games
Oklahoma – held 3 of final 5 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yards
Oklahoma St – 3-5 ITS in its final 8 games
Penn State - held 6 of its 12 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yards
Rice – 5-1 ITS in its final 6 games
So Florida – 1-3 ITS in its final 4 games
So California – held 8 foes to season low yardage
TCU – held 9 foes to season low yardage
Texas - held 5 of its 12 foes to season low – or 2nd low – yards
Troy – 8-0 ITS in its final 8 games
Utah – 3-4 ITS in its final 7 games
Vanderbilt – 3-9 ITS this season
Wake Forest – 5-7 ITS this season
Wisconsin – 6-0 ITS in its final 6 games

Given the fact that teams who outgain their opponent win the game better than 80% of the time, it’s crucial to your success when evaluating a team’s chance of winning the yardage wars.

Just another slant on handicapping the Bowl contests.  Add it to your arsenal and enjoy the games!

PUTTIN' ON THE STATS...

As we head into the College Bowl games, here is the final set of our ‘Puttin’ On The Stats’ teams for this 2008 College Football season. 
Remember, these are teams that have either won all – or all but one – of the stat yards  in games to date.  Remember, we are looking to do is to ‘Play On’ any team as a dog from the ‘Play On’ list in the Bowl games. Here is the list of this year’s best and worst ITS (In The Stats) teams:

Teams who won all – or all but one – of their games ITS this season:
Ball State, Boise State, Houston, Penn State, Southern Cal, TCU, Texas, Troy State and Tulsa.

FYI: No team has won the stats in every game, while Washington the only team that was outstatted in every game this season.

Puttin' On The Stats...

Listed below is an updated version of our ‘Puttin’ On The Stats’ teams on this the final week of the 2008 College Football season.  These are teams that have either won all – or all but one – of the stat yards and conversely teams who have lost all – or all but one – of the stat yards in games to date.  Remember, we are looking to do is to ‘Play On’ any team as a dog from the ‘Play On’ list and to ‘Play Against’ any favorite from the ‘Play Against’ list. Here we go:

(10) Play On dogs: Ball State, Boise State, Houston, Missouri, Penn State, Southern Cal, TCU, Texas, Troy State and Tulsa.

(3) Play Against favorites: Marshall, SMU, and Washington.

Note: there is one ‘Play On’ dog this week: Missouri.

FYI: No team has won the stats in every game, while Washington is the only team that was outstatted in every game this season.