Breaking Down the Chickenhawks

Ok so I hate the team that my beloved Wildcats are playing this weekend. It isn't a normal healthy "hate your ex-wife" hate. Oh no. It's loathing. They disgust me. Sitting in their stadium last year made me violently ill. It's beyond rational hatred. I understand that.

That said, I know the disgusting vermin have played football well this year. Let's take a look at their NCAA statistics. Let's start with offense:

Category/national rank/statistic
Rushing offense/12/226.75 ypg
Passing offense/10/326.00 ypg
Total offense/3/552.75 ypg
Scoring offense/4/53.50

Those are pretty amazing statistics! But let's see who they racked those stats up against:

Central Michigan
Southeast Louisiana (Div. 1AA)
Toledo
Florida International

Central Michigan is 2-3 with wins versus Toledo and Northern Illinois. North Dakota State hammered them by 30. Central Michigan gave up lots of yards to Kansas--but that's their MO. They are ranked 116th in total defense.

Southeast Louisiana is 1-3 with a victory over mighty Kentucky Wesleyen. Southeast Louisiana is 78th in total defense in Division 1AA.

Mighty Toledo is 1-4, with a win versus Iowa State, when ISU gave them the game. Toledo's defense is not very Rocket-ish, and they currently rank 109th in Division 1.

Florida International is 0-5 with a 17 game losing streak. Their defense is ranked an even 100 in Division 1.

So, they have played three division one teams with defenses that are 116, 109, and 100. That's hard to do, since there are 119 division one teams. Well done!

In other words, the offensive statistics have been put up against air. Interesting.

Now let's take a look at the defensive stats:

Category/national rank/statistic
Rushing defense/21/94.75 ypg
Passing efficiency defense/3/81.64 rating
Total defense/3/218.75 ypg
Scoring defense/1/5.75 ppg
Pass Defense/3/124.00 ypg
Tackles for Loss/2/10.75 tpg

Those look pretty impressive. Now about those opponents again:

Central Michigan is 63rd in total offense, so that looks much better.
Southeast Louisiana is 92nd in total offense in Division 1AA. Stopping them isn't difficult.
Toledo is 87th in total offense.
Florida International is dead last (119th) in total offense.

Those gaudy defensive statistics appear to be better than the offensive stats--it's not quite air. But still those stats have been accumulated against short-bus offenses.