Finding a champion – Part 4 (Putting it all together)

To recap, we’ve looked at offense, defense and turnovers and penalties.  Here’s the criteria thats came out of the data:

1. Top 10 in scoring defense
2. Top 15 in total defense
3. Top 20 in scoring offense
4. Top 30 in turnover margin

Applying this criteria to the 2008 season finds two teams that meet all four criteria.

Team	Total Defense	Scoring Defense	Scoring Offesnse	Turnover Margin
Florida	4	9	3	2
Penn State	8	8	19	25

One team went 13-1 and won the national title and the other started 9-0 before finishing 11-2.

It’s also not difficult to discern between the two when looking at the stats to determine who was the better team.

Obviously this criteria isn’t perfect or fool proof, but rather should be used as a guide in determining where your team ranks in the big picture.

I will keep track of the teams that meet, exceed and come close during the season.