The 2004 Raggio Report Sunbelt football

[Turbine]

First thanks to gorcajun who sent me an in depth excel file that ranked the 9 Sunbelt teams by performance in 30 different categories.

Categories are
Scoring Offense, Scoring Defense, Pass Offense, Pass Defense, Kickoff Returns, Punting, Turnover Margin, Rushing Offense, Rushing Defense, Total Offense, Total Defense, Punt Returns, Pass Efficiency, Pass Def Efficiency, First Downs, Opponent 1st Downs, Sacks By, Penalties, Opponent Penalties, 4th Down Conversion, Opponent 4th Down Conversions, Red Zone Offense, Red Zone Defense, 3rd Down Conversions, Opponent 3rd Down Conversions, Sacks Against, Field Goals, PAT Kicking, Time of Possession, and Kick Off Coverage.

A 1st place finish in a category counted as 1 point and a 9th place finish as 9 points. With 30 categories the theoretical range was anywhere from 30 points up to 270. The actual best to worst scores ranged from 123-182

This of course can tell us how good a team is overall, but would a good finish in this tally translate into wins and losses?

The Total Categorical Points is the sum of all area tracked by the Sunbelt Conference via their website.

The smaller the number the better the performance.

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Overall Sunbelt Team Strength and Performance

Team	Report Rankings	Total Points	SunBelt Finish
MT	1	123	5
ULL	2	133	7(t)
TROY	3	134	2
NT	4	140	1
NMSU	5	143	3
ULM	6	154	3
USU	7	166	7(t)
ASU	8	175	6
UI	9	182	7(t)

Better Performance = Lower Scores

[Turbine]

Sunbelt Offensive Rankings

Category / Team ->	MT	UL	NT	NMSU	ASU	ULM	UI	TROY	USU
Scoring Offense	3	5	1	2	7	8	6	4	9
Pass Offense	1	3	8	2	7	5	6	9	4
Rushing Offense	8	3	1	7	4	5	6	2	9
Total Offense	2	1	5	3	4	6	7	9	8
Pass Efficiency	3	5	1	2	7	6	4	9	8
First Downs	3	1	8	4	6	5	2	9	7
Red Zone Offense	2	4	5	3	7	6	8	1	9
3rd Down Conversions	2	1	6	3	5	4	7	9	8
Sacks Against	6	4	2	5	3	1	9	7	8
Field Goals	1	7	2	5	6	8	9	3	4
PAT Kicking	1	3	4	9	2	6	5	7	8
Time of Possession	2	3	7	6	5	4	1	8	9
Total Off. Points	34	40	50	51	63	64	70	77	91

Better Performance = Lower Scores

[Turbine]

Sunbelt Defensive Rankings

Category / Team ->	TROY	UL	USU	MT	ULM	NT	NMSU	UI	ASU
Scoring Defense	1	2	6	3	4	5	7	9	8
Pass Defense	5	1	3	9	4	8	2	7	6
Rushing Defense	1	8	5	2	4	3	9	7	6
Total Defense	1	2	4	5	3	6	7	9	8
Pass Def Efficiency	1	2	6	9	3	4	7	5	8
Opponent 1st Downs	1	3	2	6	7	8	4	9	5
Sacks By	1	9	5	2	6	4	7	3	8
Red Zone Defense	3	4	2	6	8	5	1	7	9
Opp 3rd Down Conversions	1	4	3	2	5	6	9	8	7
Total Def. Points	15	35	36	44	44	49	53	64	65

Better Performance = Lower Scores

[Turbine]

Change of Possession Rankings

Category / Team ->	NMSU	USU	NT	TROY	MT	ULM	ASU	UI	UL
Kickoff Returns	6	2	4	1	9	7	8	5	3
Punting	5	4	7	2	6	3	1	9	8
Turnover Margin	3	7	1	2	8	4	9	5	6
Punt Returns	6	1	2	5	3	8	4	7	9
Penalties	8	3	7	2	6	9	5	4	1
Opponent Penalties	5	2	4	9	1	6	8	3	7
4th Down Conversion	1	7	4	9	3	2	6	5	8
Opp. 4th Down Conversion	1	5	9	6	8	2	4	3	7
Kick off Coverage	4	8	3	6	1	5	2	7	9
Total C.O.P. Points	39	39	41	42	45	46	47	48	58

Better Performance = Lower Scores

[texasboy40]

i can almost gaurantee that the guys will be better

[Turbine]

Originally posted by texasboy40
i can almost gaurantee that the guys will be better

If Louisiana can improve in the Change of Possession category. I agree.

After excelling on offense and defense. The C.O.P. category seems to have been the Achilles' heel.

[BabbForHeisman]

Originally posted by Turbine
The C.O.P. category seems to have been the Achilles' heel.

I definitely agree with that. Those COP plays are the crucial plays in the game that help to translate good offensive and defensive performances into W's. That's exactly what we had trouble doing, particularly late in the season against North Texas, Troy, and Monroe. All not bad performances, but just not the W.

I also think our red zone offense became more of a liability late in the season than the stats indicate. Take away the first five minutes against North Texas, and then punch one of the field goals in for a touchdown instead against Troy and Monroe, and all of a sudden we win four in a row to end the season and finish 7-4.

Nice job gorcajun for showing people that things weren't as bad as they seemed. 4-7, yes...but so much better than in the past.

Now if you could only come up with some statistics that would make me feel better about the fact that the basketball team has no point guard...

[pablolasala]

UL ranked #1 in total offense and #2 in total defense, we will only improve. With 14 starters returning next year we’re gonna bring it.

[CajunNation]

Originally posted by pablolasala
UL ranked #1 in total offense and #2 in total defense, we will only improve. With 14 starters returning next year we’re gonna bring it.

Well, in order to BRING it, we will have to BRING in some major DT recruits.

We were 8th in conference in run defense. Until that changes, we will never contend for a title.

[BabbForHeisman]

Originally posted by HOTBOUDIN
We were 8th in conference in run defense. Until that changes, we will never contend for a title.

Not that I want to sugar-coat this, because your statement about improving run defense is certainly very true, but keep in mind that our non-conference schedule included Ryan Moats and Darren Sproles, who were both putting up Heisman-caliber numbers when we played them. I'm sure those two games set us back statistically speaking.

That being said, run-defense is without a doubt one major area we need to improve before we improve significantly. Run-defense, deep passing, and punting are the three big ones I see.

[DaddyCajun]

Great work and I agree with the assessment!

[gridiron]

Move Field Goals, and PAT kicking to a Special Teams catagory and ULL goes from #2 offense to #1.

Thats what I'm talking about.