USA today ranks Tech’s losses

[SicemDawgz]

Dykes only played 4 teams ranked 90 or less?

[T1]

Yes. He beat #86 Idaho 48-35, #48 Nevada 24-20, #74 Rice 56-37, and #84 Virginia 44-38.

[SicemDawgz]

Miscommunication. I meant teams 90 or worse. Easier to understand

[T1]

Dykes beat 17 teams worse than 90 (91 to 200) and 4 teams better than 90 (89 to 1).
Holtz has beat 34 teams worse than 90 (91 to 200) and 11 teams better than 90 (89 to 1)

[TYLERTECHSAS]

So far, we’ve lost to #25, #23, and #10.

I went back to see how Dooley and Dykes compared to Holtz's wins.

Dooley won 17 games and only NIU (89) was ranked in the Top 90 per Sagarin. (6% of his wins were against the Top 90)
Dykes won 21 games and 4 were ranked in the Top 90: Idaho (86), Nevada (48), Rice (74), and Virginia (84). (19% of his wins were against the Top 90).
Holtz has won 45 games and 11 were ranked in the Top 90: ULL (83), WKU (78), UAB (80), Rice (70), Illinois (88), MTSU (81), Arkansas St (86), WKU (21), Navy (54), SMU (82), UNT (72). (24% of wins against Top 90).

So of Dooley's 17 wins, 94% were against teams ranked worse than 90.
Of Dyke's 21 wins, 81% were against teams ranked worse than 90.
Of Holtz's 45 wins, 76% were against teams ranked worse than 90.

Bottom line: only 19% of Tech's wins (16 out of 83) were against teams ranked better than 90. We pick up a ton of our wins against bad teams (81% of our total wins since 2007 were to very bad football teams).

Thanks for these two positive and factual posts guys!

[SicemDawgz]

I figured it up for Dykes since I was speaking Greek. Discarding the 4 wins of 1-90, he had an average victory of 42.5 to 24.2. I may try and calculate Holtz afterwhile. I was surprised Dykes margin was that great given the terrible 2012 defense. The one thing I did notice is we were in every game, no matter who we played. To be fair, it wasn’t all roses. There was the game we beat NMST 28-14 which was a head scratcher, and the 35-34 Houston loss which was still the greatest Tech meltdown of all times.

[Wade_Antley]

The name of the opponent outweighs the imaginary number in front of them by 100 fold. Nobody on this planet is bragging about beating #86 Idaho. Beating the big boys on your schedule is where it's at.

[T1]

I figured it up for Dykes since I was speaking Greek. Discarding the 4 wins of 1-90, he had an average victory of 42.5 to 24.2. I may try and calculate Holtz afterwhile. I was surprised Dykes margin was that great given the terrible 2012 defense. The one thing I did notice is we were in every game, no matter who we played. To be fair, it wasn’t all roses. There was the game we beat NMST 28-14 which was a head scratcher, and the 35-34 Houston loss which was still the greatest Tech meltdown of all times.

Dykes was interesting in that he really had 3 different teams in 3 years. His first year was not very good at anything. His second year was a strong defense and average offense. His third year was incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense. Looking at what he's done since Tech, I think he likes the incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense teams.

[SicemDawgz]

Dykes was interesting in that he really had 3 different teams in 3 years. His first year was not very good at anything. His second year was a strong defense and average offense. His third year was incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense. Looking at what he's done since Tech, I think he likes the incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense teams.

Yeah, I don’t know if he likes it, but that seems to be his MO for sure.

[Tech52]

The name of the opponent outweighs the imaginary number in front of them by 100 fold. Nobody on this planet is bragging about beating #86 Idaho. Beating the big boys on your schedule is where it's at.

Balogna. Thats not how you compare performance.

[inudesu]

Dykes was interesting in that he really had 3 different teams in 3 years. His first year was not very good at anything. His second year was a strong defense and average offense. His third year was incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense. Looking at what he's done since Tech, I think he likes the incredibly good offense and incredibly bad defense teams.

Well, that's certainly what we all expected with an Air Raid guy.

I don't think any coach would mind having a great defense and a great offense, but part of the Air Raid equation is that they feel they can provide one easier than the other (because the system helps make up for talent inadequacies). I would assume the long term plan would be to be great on offense = recruit better across the board = great balanced team. Or at least relatively great, grading on an up-tempo curve and understanding that traditional metrics (like yards or points allowed) have to be taken in context.

[SicemDawgz]

Balogna. Thats not how you compare performance.

To find out if that’s true, ask any random fan of college football which win is greater for LaTech. A win over Ole Miss or a win over Idaho or Nevada? 90% + would say Ole Miss. Perception is reality.

[T1]

To find out if that’s true, ask any random fan of college football which win is greater for LaTech. A win over Ole Miss or a win over Idaho or Nevada? 90% + would say Ole Miss. Perception is reality.

Agree, but the problem is getting an Ole Miss on the schedule in the exact year they suck and fire their coach. That can't be timed.

[SicemDawgz]

Agree, but the problem is getting an Ole Miss on the schedule in the exact year they suck and fire their coach. That can't be timed.

Absolutely. Ultimately you would hope that Tech can eventually build a program that has a stable rank in the 60’s with exceptional years of top 25 rankings. Then those wins wouldn’t be so dependent on the other team sucking as much. So far we haven’t been able to do that consistently.

[T1]

Absolutely. Ultimately you would hope that Tech can eventually build a program that has a stable rank in the 60’s with exceptional years of top 25 rankings. Then those wins wouldn’t be so dependent on the other team sucking as much. So far we haven’t been able to do that consistently.

Don't you think you get their easier by winning in your league and going to bowl games every year than by luckily beating teams who are going to beat you 9 out of 10 times?