College Coaches vs. Top-25

The WSJ just ran an article about major college coaches vs. top-25 opponents.  Kind of fun to look at.

With current teams: Saban 70%, Stoops 68%, Les 66%.  Meyer 67% overall.  Talent does tell.  Les was 3-12 at OSU.  Patterson going 14-14 at TCU actually impressive.  Richt at 34-31 with his talent, not impressive.  Spurrier has played 10 seasons' worth of games vs. top 25!  Easy to see why everyone loves David Shaw.

S

Peterson Respect

Looking at a few football stats this week, getting ready for the new season.  Landed on one of my favorites, Adrian Peterson, someone for whom I've always detected a slight lack of respect on your part, I guess because he only plays at 215-220 pounds rather than a Jackson or Walker-esque 235, or maybe because he's from TX?  Anyway, I'd like to point out that Peterson currently stands as only the 3rd member of the 10,000 yard club who carries a career 5.0 average yards per attempt.  The club:

Jim Brown - 5.2
Barry Sanders - 5.0
Adrian Peterson - 5.0

That's it.  7 years into a career as an old-school workhorse back, he still has that 5.0 average, placing him in the room with the immortals.  It will likely slip a bit as he ages, but will certainly far outstrip any other modern back, most of whom never sniffed 5.0 (except Jamaal Charles).  While you have pointed out that he lacks Jackson's size or speed, he combines elite explosion and breakaway speed with a vicious nature we have seldom seen.  Some respect for Adrian Peterson please.

On a side note, while looking through the list, special mention for pre-modern hall of famer Joe Perry.  With a prime that stretched from the late 40's into the mid-50's, Perry played old-style fullback for the Niners and pounded out a 5.0 average with 9,723 career yards.  He must have been a load to deal with.  Check out some of his years; amazing and now totally under-appreciated.

*Sayers had a 5.0, but only 4,956 career yards

S

Golf - Switching Era's

So after this summer the sports industry is in full discussion about whether we've reached the Rory era in golf.  We probably have, but it's usually hard to tell when you're firmly in a new era or if it's just a trend.  It's so great for any sport to have one person or team where you know they will win if they play well.  It feels like that now.  And, Rory is so likable and easy to pull for.

But, all the talk has me thinking what is Rory signing up for?  Is he ready to be the face of golf for 10 years?  Is he capable of winning at the level Tiger Woods did?  One of my favorite things is to constantly revisit great players in all sports to remind myself of how great they were.  We live in a culture where we like to move on as soon as something worthy comes along.  So, here is what Rory will find himself compared to in the coming years.

You know I like to identify a player's "prime" for comparison purposes, in all sports.  Some primes are shorter than others, but it's how you really identify the top-end greatness of someone.  Like, Koufax from 1961-1966.  So where do we nail down Tiger's prime?  I think it's clearly 1999-2008.  This stretches from when he emerged from his first big swing change under Harmon and won his 2nd major, until he dropped out of the tour after winning the U.S. Open to have a 2nd knee surgery in '08.  So, a neat 10 years.

In those 10 years, Tiger started 173 official PGA tournaments and was hardly ever "off", making 170 cuts.  He won 58 times, nearly 6 per year, and at a 33% clip.  He finished in the top 3 in 53% of his starts.  His scoring average was 1st on tour 8 of the 10 years, finishing 3rd during a swing change year, and not having enough qualifying tournaments in the other.  In the "World Golf Championship" events, with full fields, he won an absurd 15 of 27 starts in those 10 years.

We also know that Tiger made his career all about majors.  During a six-start stretch from end of 1999 to early 2001, he finished 1-5-1-1-1-1.  Overall for 10 years, he had the same 33% win clip in majors that he did in regular tournaments (13 out of 38).  He also had 5 2nds during that time.

I also found it very interesting to look at the Harmon and Haney years, with the controversial swing change in 2004.  It is considered a big mistake, however if you look at 1999-2003 with Harmon, he won 32 of 96 starts, 33%, and 7 of 20 majors, 35%.  If you exclude 2004 when he went through the swing change, from 2005-2008 when he had the major knee injury, he won 25 of 58 starts, 43%, and 6 of 14 majors, 43%.  In those 14 major starts, he went 1-2-1-4-3-C-1-1-2-2-12-1-2-1.  I'm not sure what the controversy was.  His adjusted scoring avg from 1999-2003 was 68.4 and from 2005-2008 was 68.1.

So, like Kobe and Lebron faced following Jordan, this is what Rory faces following Tiger.  That 10-year stretch was truly amazing.  For me, this won't be about talent as much as it will be about focus.  Can he keep total focus on winning golf for the next several years and make that kind of run?  I'm ready to find out.

S

More Murray

I'm sure you're weary of me posting about Kyler Murray, but wanted to let you know that he will be in Chicago this weekend to take part in the Under Armour High School All-America baseball game at Wrigley.  He is the first high-schooler to be invited to participate in both the Under Armour football and baseball games.  The game is supposed to be televised by the MLB Network on Sunday night.  The hype continues!

S

Max Preps #1

Oh my, the last time this happened, the Eagles were bounced in the 2nd round.  Crazy since we lost 10 starters from last year's defense.  But, it is good publicity and will keep those top players moving into the district!  Ha.

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/kXMnsbN2TUWkjB6-V7dPJA/maxpreps-2014-preseason-top-25-composite-high-school-football-rankings.htm

S

Kershaw and the Greats

OK, hold onto your hat for some of these amazing stats featuring Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw.

1. With a decent next start Kershaw will complete a streak of 100 starts with a total ERA of less than 2 (it is currently 1.96 for 99 starts).  The last to do it: Maddux with an absurd 132 game streak covering 4+ seasons with a total ERA of 1.99.
2. He will almost certainly finish in the top 2 of Cy Young voting again, making 4 straight years in the top 2.  The only pitchers to do it: Maddux, Pedro, Randy Johnson.
3. His current ERA is 1.82 and was 1.83 last year.  Only 3 pitchers have completed 2 seasons in a row under 2.00 in the live-ball era: Maddux, Koufax, Hal Newhouser.
4. Finally, most impressive, Kershaw currently leads the NL in both strikeouts per 9 innings (11.0) and fewest walks per 9 innings (1.2).  If he holds on, he will be the first to do it since Walter Johnson in 1913!

We are watching history.

S

Football Season

I spent all morning listening to Bill King.

Highlights.

• Florida has recruited badly and he thinks Muschamp is an idiot about offense.
• He trust Urban to win the Big 10.
• Spurrier is for real. 
• Bama is Bama
• He is like me and thinks that the BCS was the greatest thing ever.  We have to remember how bad it was prior to the BCS. 

Miles quote.
Leornard Fournette is 230lbs and the second fastest player on the LSU team.
King comments...This is LSU he is talking about.

Let's compare:
 Peterson was smaller at 210 215ish.
Only Walker, Jackson and Dupree fit that description. That is rare air.

I will mark this one up as I will believe it when I see it, but I hope it  is true.

J.

Rory makes me enjoy golf again!

He is all of 5'9" and does things that we have not seen in years with his ball speed as high as 183.79. Bubba Watson had the highest his year at 188.49 mph and averages over 183. But, The difference is control, no one is better with power and control with the modern balls and equipment..

Thinking back, maybe Greg Norman and his reported avg swing speed of 132mph s was better, Norman always seemed in balance.  Sadly, I missed Jack in his youth so I can't really dismiss his power and balance, but Rory is definitely special.

Yes, Tiger was a better overall golfer and brutally strong, but he never was fluid nor near as accurate with the big stick.
(Even when he had Harmon teaching him he was winning with his short game and the best putt reading ability we have ever witnessed.)

Rory's recent explosion made me look for a comment I had found when he was with Titleist.

"At the Titleist Performance Institute in California they have one. What they weren’t prepared for though, were the read outs when McIlroy popped over there to hit balls.

As his club made contact with the ground, so did the jaws of the technicians. “We knew Rory was fast,” said Dave Phillips from TPI, “but when we plugged him into our software, we couldn’t believe our eyes. His downswing hip speed redlined at 717 degrees per second.”

No one has hip speed like that, this was breaking new territory. The guys at Titleist had been accustomed to logging speeds more in the mid 500 range. They had never registered numbers like this. “His freakish – and that’s putting it lightly – lower body action is the reason why Rory can drive it past everyone but the very longest in the field.”

He might only be 5ft 9in tall, but his hips move from 49° closed nearing the top of the backswing, to 62° open at impact and that, say the experts, is off the scale. The average for a Tour pro comes in at 30° closed to 48° open."

I hope he wins the PGA.

J.