So Friday night I was watching college football highlights with my buddies when this question popped into my head: which team actually has better stats, Colorado State Rams or Texas Longhorns? Decided to dive into it this weekend, just messing around with data before playoff season kicks off.
Getting My Hands Dirty
First thing Saturday morning, I grabbed my coffee and fired up the laptop. Went straight to official NCAA stats websites – man those things are clunky. Took forever to find the team stats sections for both schools. Annoying how they split everything into separate pages for offense, defense, special teams… had to open like ten tabs.
Started copying-pasting numbers into my spreadsheet like:
- Scoring averages (points per game)
- Turnovers (those fumbles and interceptions kill ya)
- Passing yards from their main QBs
- Red zone efficiency percentages
About an hour in, my spreadsheet looked like alphabet soup. Seriously, why do these stats sites use different column names for the SAME DAMN THING? “Passing Efficiency” here, “QB Rating” there – all talking about quarterbacks throwing the ball!
Seeing Patterns
Once I finally lined up all the numbers side-by-side, some wild differences jumped out. Turns out Texas puts up way more rushing yards per game – like a whole extra 40 yards on average. But then Colorado State actually had fewer turnovers last season, which shocked me since they lost way more games.
Kept flipping between the sheets noticing weird stuff. Texas dominates in scoring… but Colorado State converts more third downs? That just doesn’t make sense! Went back to double-check my data entry – sure enough, I’d typed “37%” instead of “73%” for one stat. Dumb mistake. Fixed it and suddenly the numbers played nicer.
Why This Matters Anyway
Honestly this whole comparison is kinda messy because these teams play in completely different conferences with totally different opponents. How do you even compare stats when Texas is smashing weak teams while Colorado State battles tough conference rivals? Felt like comparing oranges to frozen pizzas.
Wasted six hours on this. At least now I know Colorado State’s defense gives up fewer big plays and Texas commits more penalties – two things that’ll bite ’em come postseason. Funny how stats never tell the full story though. Like Texas having higher QB ratings… yeah but their quarterback got injured last month! New guy’s stats aren’t even in here yet.
Anyway my kitchen table’s covered in coffee rings and scribbled notes now. Stats are fun until you realize you just spent your whole Saturday tracking down decimal points. Might delete this spreadsheet tomorrow and just watch the damn games like a normal person.
