We're Number Seventy

Today’s Sports Illustrated contained power rankings for all 119 football teams in Division 1-A, and remarkably, Cuse was ranked 70 out of 119. I say remarkably because, for the season, we were 110th in total offense, and 107th in total defense. In fact, the highest statistical ranking we had in eight team categories: scoring, rushing, passing and total offense and defense, was 77th out of 119. Of the eight categories, we scored in the triple figures five times. And just so we’re clear about this, it’s not like the LSATs where the higher the number the better. This is a statistical measure where the lower the score the better.

And it’s also not a case where our numbers were real bad because we played most of our games against ranked teams. Yes, the Big East did have three ranked teams this year, all of whom beat us soundly (although we did keep up with Louisville for the first half), but we also lost to powerhouses like Cincinnati and South Florida. Back in the day, those teams would have been dispatched by half-time, with the second and third teams playing the last thirty minutes, and still we would have won by 40 points. Now it takes double overtime to beat Wyoming, who incidentally rolled up over 500 yards against us.

On the bright side, we had four times as many wins this year as last, and we won our first conference game in two years. So four wins, and a top seventy ranking: who could ask for more?