International Centre for Special Teams Research: Horror

Another summer has passed.  The photo at right captures the monks of the International Centre for Special Teams research on their way into their secret chambers where they will spend the year discerning the performance of the BG special teams.

In case you are new, the deal here is that I came up with a system to evaluate special teams that is zero-based.  The idea is that you don't really care if you get the ball after a kickoff on the 24 or 27...you want to know about plays with significant field position, possession, or scoring impact.  Positive impact plays get positive points and negative plays get negative points.  They don't necessarily balance out... 50 yard fair caught punt is +1 for the punting team and 0 for the receiving team.

You can go back and read here to see the scoring system I use.

The meditative wisdom of the monks was tested with our performance on special teams Saturday. And even then, the system probably gave BG a break, since those big punt returns are still only -1 based on how it is set up.  Even so, it was BG's worst since Kent in 2011, which was also -6.  Before that, it is 2010 and Temple at -7, which is the worst ever recorded.

On the opposite side, UT's huge score was the same as Wisconsin last year at +13 and makes it tied for the worst game since this system was "invented" in 2009.

BG Overall (-6)

BG Positive (+7)
BG 40 FG (+1)
BG KO TB (+1)
BG KO TB (+1)
BG KO TB (+1)
BG PR 20, to make less than 45 (+1)
BG KO TB (+1)
BG 51 yard punt (+1)

BG Negative (-13)
BG KOR to 13 with penalty (-1)
BG 12 yard net punt (-1)
KOR to 10 with penalty (-1)
BG 13 yard net punt (-1)
BG 25 yard net punt (-1)
UT KOR to BG 18 (-2)
BG KOR inside 20 (-1)
BG blocked FG (-3)
BG KO OB (-1)
BG KOR to 4 (-1)


UT overall (+13)

UT Positive (+15)
UT KO TB (+1)
UT 47 yd punt return (+1)
BG KOR Return inside 20 (+1)
UT 34 yard punt return (+1)
UT KO TB (+1)
UT KO TB (+1)
UT punt 21 yards (+1)
UT KO TB (+1)
UT KOR to BG 33 (+2)
BG Kor to 18 (+1)
UT Blocked FG (+3)
UT KO TB (+1)

UT Negative (-2)
UT missed 29 FG (-1)
UT KO OB (-1)