In today's part of his job that no doubt frustrates him to the core of his being, Nick Saban spent some time with the media discussing Alabama's game with Mississippi State on Saturday. During the allotted five minutes and eight seconds, Saban said that he thought Mississippi State was "probably the best 4-5 team in the country."
Many coaches, including Saban, use the playing up the opponent tactic to speak to their teams through the media (GOTTA STAY HUMBLE AND HUNGRY), as well as anyone who will listen just in case things go wrong and they actually lose. But no one really believes any of it because FOUR AND FIVE.
However, in this case, is what Saban said actually true? Is Mississippi State the best 4-5 team in the country?
LET'S CRUNCH SOME NUMBERS TO FIND OUT.
Currenty, out of 123 FBS teams, there are only nine 4-5 teams. Those teams are as follows:
North Carolina
Northwestern
Indiana
Louisiana Tech
Wyoming
Washington State
Florida (LOL)
Utah
Mississippi State
So how do we go about determining which of these teams is the one-eyed king in the land of the blind? I'll tell you how, by regurgitating stats collected through tedious research that lasted a solid 15 minutes.
Then, using those stats, we'll rank each team in the four categories I've determined to be super important, awarding nine points for the highest ranking and one point for the lowest ranking (and everything between those) within each category. After that, we should know whether or not Saban's statement has some merit to it. TO THE NUMBERS.
North Carolina
Total Offense: 61st (410.9)
Total Defense: 75th (411.2)
Scoring Offense: 75th (27.4)
Scoring Defense: 54th (25.2)
Best Win: 34-10 over Boston College (5-4)
Northwestern
Total Offense: 74th (399.3)
Total Defense: 81st (417.9)
Scoring Offense: 72nd (28.0)
Scoring Defense: 62nd (26.0)
Best Win: 48-27 over Syracuse (5-4)
Indiana
Total Offense: 8th (527.1)
Total Defense: 120th (519.1)
Scoring Offense: 9th (43.1)
Scoring Defense: 111th (37.4)
Best Win: 44-24 over Penn State (5-4)
Louisiana Tech
Total Offense: 80th (393.1)
Total Defense: 55th (386.0)
Scoring Offense: 103rd (21.3)
Scoring Defense: 40th (23.2)
Best Win: Tie
23-7 over FIU (1-8)
38-35 over UTEP (1-8)
Wyoming
Total Offense: 16th (491.8)
Total Defense: 113th (480.7)
Scoring Offense: 41st (33.6)
Scoring Defense: 97th (33.4)
Best Win: 38-31 over New Mexico (3-6)
Washington State
Total Offense: 58th (417.1)
Total Defense: 101st (453.1)
Scoring Offense: 58th (29.8)
Scoring Defense: 94th (32.7)
Best Win: 10-7 over Southern Cal (7-3)
Florida (LOL)
Total Offense: 111th (335.7)
Total Defense: 5th (278.8)
Scoring Offense: 105th (20.6)
Scoring Defense: 16th (19.0)
Best Win: 31-17 over Tennessee (4-6)
Utah
Total Offense: 75th (399.2)
Total Defense: 49th (382.2)
Scoring Offense: 58th (29.8)
Scoring Defense: 53rd (25.1)
Best Win: 27-21 over Stanford (8-1) (MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL)
Mississippi State
Total Offense: 35th (459.2)
Total Defense: 38th (372.2)
Scoring Offense: 58th (29.8)
Scoring Defense: 70th (27.2)
Best Win: Toss-up
21-20 over Bowling Green (7-3)
28-22 over Kentucky (2-7; probably Bowling Green though)
After the complicated points algorithm was tabulated, I give you the power rankings of the country's 4-5 teams:
Mississippi State 27
Utah 24
North Carolina 20
Indiana 20
Wyoming 20
Florida 20
Washington State 19
Louisiana Tech 18
Northwestern 16
Though Utah has the best win by far, they fall behind Mississippi State, our nation's finest 4-5 team. Maybe. Something tells me the math here or rankings system will not hold up under mild mathematical scrutiny.
So it's EXACTLY like the BCS! Cheers all around! Now hand me my millions!
And pass the word to Nick Saban that he is free to use this if a member of the media questions his claim from earlier today. This way, he can politely correct said member of the media before leaving him stranded on the stretch of I-20 between Tuscaloosa and Meridian, which ranks just behind the Bonneville Salt Flats in the Barren Lands Power Rankings.
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