BulldogBear
02-22-2016, 05:55 PM
The 9-0 Bulldogs will make one more stop in Hammond, Louisiana before heading back home again, although they'll be back on the coast this upcoming weekend for a slate of four games in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Tournament at Gulfport.
So, the opponent tonight is SE Louisiana and is not particularly inspiring at first glance so I thought I'd look into it a little bit. The Lionesses are actually 9-1, the only loss being 9-1 affair against UT-Martin (8-2). Their schedule thus far:
Buffalo (1-4) - W8-4
Tennessee State (2-8) - W8-0
Southern Illinois (5-3) - W5-4
Tennessee-Martin (8-2) - L1-9
Tennessee State (2-8) - W5-2
Mississippi Valley State (1-9) - W6-3
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-7
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-1
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-5
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-1
SE Louisiana's opponents' total W-L record is 19-66. If you remove the loss, then their 9 victories are over opponents with a combined W-L record of just 11-64. If I take that further and remove SIU, then 8 of their 9 wins are over opponents with a combined W-L of a whopping 6-61. Suddenly, 9-1 is not too impressive, although someone has to lose each game and better to be on the upper end. I've not been one to always criticize the competition out of hand however, and I also believe that there is too much emphasis on SOS these days because there doesn't seem to be enough focus on the fact that those with high SOS should at least demonstrate some notion of success against it. A schedule loaded with a bunch of losses to top teams doesn't automatically mean you're any good! All that is to say, a team can only play its schedule and maybe some degree of scrutiny should eyeball how they do against their competition, even if not impressive. IOW, I'm not one who dismisses a 12-0 mid major football team averaging a 57-14 victory in their games and says that they suck because they haven't played anyone any good. Enough philosophy, what I'm really getting at is, let's take a look at whether or not SELa is dominating these opponents. They've outscored all opponents 71-35 (about a 7-4 per game average). In the 9 wins, they actually average an 8-3 victory...but of course that's against 11W-64L worth of opponents. So, how do we look in comparison?
6 wins is the best of any of our opponents. That's Houston (twice), South Alabama, and USM. The USA on the road is a pretty good win, but is made less so by their dropping a game to (4-5) Samford the same weekend. Our schedule:
Georgia Southern (5-5) - W6-0
Houston (6-4) - W9-1
Tennessee tech (3-6) - W7-4
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W2-1
Houston (6-4) - W7-1
South Alabama (6-3) - W4-2(8)
Southern Mississippi (6-5) - W6-0
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (3-6) - W7-4
Samford (4-5) - W5-2(8)
Does anyone else see the trend? USA accepted, we tend perform better against the better teams. Note that we beat AAMU 2-1, whilst tonight's opponent outscored them 38-14 (average 9-3 pg) thru four games. That doesn't mean much but it's interesting to note. The big difference is that our opponents' combined W-L record is 39-46 and our nine wins are by an average score of 6-2. This is a game we should win obviously and four our perception I'd a rather a team be 9-1 even if against some lesser competition early in the season. This seems to be one of those ones where the opponent doesn't seem to be a real threat as long as you take them seriously. I've no doubt our girls will, but it is the 5th game in another long weekend, so I'll be sweating it out a bit at first. Should have a lineup soon! Hail State!
So, the opponent tonight is SE Louisiana and is not particularly inspiring at first glance so I thought I'd look into it a little bit. The Lionesses are actually 9-1, the only loss being 9-1 affair against UT-Martin (8-2). Their schedule thus far:
Buffalo (1-4) - W8-4
Tennessee State (2-8) - W8-0
Southern Illinois (5-3) - W5-4
Tennessee-Martin (8-2) - L1-9
Tennessee State (2-8) - W5-2
Mississippi Valley State (1-9) - W6-3
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-7
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-1
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W10-5
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W9-1
SE Louisiana's opponents' total W-L record is 19-66. If you remove the loss, then their 9 victories are over opponents with a combined W-L record of just 11-64. If I take that further and remove SIU, then 8 of their 9 wins are over opponents with a combined W-L of a whopping 6-61. Suddenly, 9-1 is not too impressive, although someone has to lose each game and better to be on the upper end. I've not been one to always criticize the competition out of hand however, and I also believe that there is too much emphasis on SOS these days because there doesn't seem to be enough focus on the fact that those with high SOS should at least demonstrate some notion of success against it. A schedule loaded with a bunch of losses to top teams doesn't automatically mean you're any good! All that is to say, a team can only play its schedule and maybe some degree of scrutiny should eyeball how they do against their competition, even if not impressive. IOW, I'm not one who dismisses a 12-0 mid major football team averaging a 57-14 victory in their games and says that they suck because they haven't played anyone any good. Enough philosophy, what I'm really getting at is, let's take a look at whether or not SELa is dominating these opponents. They've outscored all opponents 71-35 (about a 7-4 per game average). In the 9 wins, they actually average an 8-3 victory...but of course that's against 11W-64L worth of opponents. So, how do we look in comparison?
6 wins is the best of any of our opponents. That's Houston (twice), South Alabama, and USM. The USA on the road is a pretty good win, but is made less so by their dropping a game to (4-5) Samford the same weekend. Our schedule:
Georgia Southern (5-5) - W6-0
Houston (6-4) - W9-1
Tennessee tech (3-6) - W7-4
Alabama A&M (0-8) - W2-1
Houston (6-4) - W7-1
South Alabama (6-3) - W4-2(8)
Southern Mississippi (6-5) - W6-0
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (3-6) - W7-4
Samford (4-5) - W5-2(8)
Does anyone else see the trend? USA accepted, we tend perform better against the better teams. Note that we beat AAMU 2-1, whilst tonight's opponent outscored them 38-14 (average 9-3 pg) thru four games. That doesn't mean much but it's interesting to note. The big difference is that our opponents' combined W-L record is 39-46 and our nine wins are by an average score of 6-2. This is a game we should win obviously and four our perception I'd a rather a team be 9-1 even if against some lesser competition early in the season. This seems to be one of those ones where the opponent doesn't seem to be a real threat as long as you take them seriously. I've no doubt our girls will, but it is the 5th game in another long weekend, so I'll be sweating it out a bit at first. Should have a lineup soon! Hail State!