SIX STATS you might not know about… Wisconsin’s appearances in the Rose Bowl
Image via Wikipedia
“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
The Wisconsin Badgers take on the Oregon Ducks on January 2 in the 98th Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California. Here are a few stats about the Badgers appearances in this game.
1. This is Wisconsin‘s eighth time in the Rose Bowl. They have a 3-4 record. They rank third in the Big Ten Conference in Rose Bowl appearances; Michigan leads with 20, followed by Ohio State with 14. In six of the seven games, the outcome has been decided by eight points or less.
2. Barry Alvarez was 3-0 in Rose Bowl appearances. The other Wisconsin coaches who coached in the Rose Bowl: Ivy Williamson (1953), Milt Bruhn (1960, 1963) and Bret Bielema (2011). Bielema last year became the ninth person in Rose Bowl history to both play and coach in the Rose Bowl.
3. This is the first time that the Badgers have played the Rose Bowl game on a Monday. They are 0-1 on Tuesday, 0-1 on Thursday, 1-1 on Friday, 2-1 on Saturday. This is also the first time they’ve played the Rose Bowl on a date other than January 1.
4. This is Wisconsin’s 23rd bowl game. They have a 11-11 record. This is their 10th straight year with a bowl game bid and the 17th year in the last 19 where they have played in a bowl game.
5. This is the fifth time that Wisconsin will face a team ranked higher than them in the Rose Bowl. In the 1963 game between Wisconsin and USC, it was the first time in history that the number 1 ranked and number 2 ranked teams faced off in a bowl game.
6. A few other odds and ends:
* The 7-0 loss the Badgers suffered in 1953 is the second lowest scoring game in Rose Bowl history.
* The Badgers and UCLA set a Rose Bowl record in 1999 when they combined for 1,035 total yards.
* In 2000, Ron Dayne became the third player in Rose Bowl history to be selected game MVP for the second time.
* The 24 combined points scored in the first quarter by Wisconsin and TCU in last year’s game was the most points scored by two teams in the first quarter in Rose Bowl history.
* This is the first time a Big Ten team has make back-to-back appearances in the Rose Bowl since Michigan did it in 2004, 2005. Prior to that, Wisconsin make consecutive Rose Bowl appearances in 1999, 2000.
Rams kicker joins elite group; Packers look to avoid dubious distinction!
- Josh Brown… Image via Wikipedia
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
With his 29-yard field goal on December 12 in the third quarter against the Seattle Seahawks, Rams kicker Josh Brown joined an elite group of kickers in NFL history. With that field goal, Brown became only the ninth kicker in NFL history to have 100 or more field goals with two different teams. Brown’s field goal gave him 100 with the Rams; he had made 116 field goals during a seven-year career as a member of the Seattle Seahawks. (Ironic that Brown made history against the Seahawks, the other team he kicked for in his career.)
Following are the nine kickers in NFL history who have made 100 or more field goals with two different teams.
Active kickers
Ryan Longwell… 226 with Green Bay; 133 with Minnesota (as of 12/24/11)
Adam Vinatieri… 263 with New England; 122 with Indianapolis (as of 12/24/11)
Josh Brown… 116 with Seattle; 102 with St. Louis (as of 12/24/11)
Retired kickers
Morten Andersen… 302 with New Orleans; 184 with Atlanta
John Carney… 261 with San Diego; 168 with New Orleans
Jim Turner… 151 with Denver; 153 with New York Jets
Gary Anderson… 309 with Pittsburgh; 109 with Minnesota
Matt Stover… 354 with Baltimore; 108 with Cleveland
Norm Johnson… 159 with Seattle; 105 with Pittsburgh
Packers look to avoid dubious distinction.
Through 15 games of the 2011 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers have gained 5,932 yards on offense and have given up 6,010. If the Pack finishes with more yards given up on defense than gained on offense, they will become the seventh team in NFL history to win 12 or more games and give up more yards than they gained. If they win their 15th game Sunday and finish the season with more yards given up than gained, they would become the first 15-win team to “accomplish” this feat; if they lose and finish with 14 wins and still have fewer yards gained than given up, they would become the second 14-win team with this dubious distinction in NFL history. Following are the teams with 12 or more wins who finished the season with more yards given up than gained.
Team, year Offensive yards/Defensive yards
Denver, 1984 (12 wins) 4935/5687
Detroit, 1991 (12 wins) 4788/5046
Buffalo, 1993 (12 wins) 5260/5554
Chicago, 2001 (13 wins) 4694/4978
Philadelphia, 2003 (12 wins) 5035/5307
New England, 2010 (14 wins) 5820/5864
Note: It is possible that the Packers could be joined on this list by the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have 4653 yards of offense and have given up 4622, a slim difference of 31 yards after 15 games played this season. Stay tuned!
Merry Christmas & Hello NBA…
Image via Wikipedia
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
Merry Christmas to all!
The NBA tips off its abbreviated 2011-2012 season today. Here are a few stats to get you in the mood for some basketball. First, a few trivia questions to test your knowledge of the NBA. See if you can come up with the answer before you sneak a peek at the answers later in the blog.
1. Are former NBA players more successful coaches than those coaches who never played in the league?
2. Can you name the seven NBA teams that have won over 250 games over the past five NBA seasons?
3. Which NBA team has scored the most points over the past five seasons?
4. Which NBA team has made the most three-point shots in the past five seasons?
Question #1. Of the seven NBA coaches who have won 1,000 or more games in their career, all seven were former players. They are: Don Nelson (1335), Lenny Wilkens (1332), Jerry Sloan (1221), Pat Riley (1210), Phil Jackson (1155), Larry Brown (1098), George Karl (1036). Here is the list of the Top 10 winningest NBA coaches who did not play in the league: Bill Fitch (944), Red Auerbach (938), Dick Motta (935), Jack Ramsey (864), Cotton Fitzsimmons (832), Gregg Popovich (797), John MacLeod (707), Mike Fratello (667), Chuck Daly (638) and Flip Saunders (636).
Question #2: Last year’s champions, the Dallas Mavericks, top the NBA with 280 wins over the past five seasons. They are followed by San Antonio (279), Los Angeles Lakers (278), Orlando (262), Boston (258), Phoenix (256) and Denver (252).
Question #3: The Phoenix Suns have filled the scorebook better than any other NBA team over the past five seasons with 44,687 points. They are followed by Golden State (44,146), Denver (43,808), the Lakers (42,806) and Utah (42,224).
Question #4: The three-point champ over the past five seasons is Orlando with 3571. Phoenix is second with 3463, followed by Golden State with 3329, the New York Knicks with 3296 and Houston with 3232.
SIX STATS you might not know about… the 2010-11 NBA season
Derrick Rose... Image via Wikipedia
“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
1. The Dallas Mavericks were a first-time NBA champion last season. They were the third first-time champ in the last 13 years; Miami in 2005-06 and San Antonio in 1998-99.
2. Derrick Rose was the league MVP last year. He became the 16th former Rookie of the Year to eventually win the MVP honor. The others: Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, Bob McAdoo, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and LeBron James.
3. Steve Nash won his fifth assists title in 2010-11. That ties him with Jason Kidd for fourth most assist titles in league history. John Stockton won nine titles; Bob Cousy, 8, and Oscar Robertson, 6.
4. The Chicago Bulls won the Central Division by 25 games over the Indiana Pacers. It was the third time in four years that a team has won a divisional title by 25 games. The other two: Cleveland in 2008-09 and Boston in 2007-08.
5. Paul Pierce became the 37th player in league history to score 20,000 points. He became the third Boston Celtics player (John Havlicek and Larry Bird) to score all of his 20,000+ points with the Celtics.
6. Another Celtic, Ray Allen passed Reggie Miller for the career lead in three-point shots made, 2,612 (Miller had 2,560). Last season Allen shot .444 from the three-point arc, the best percentage of his 15-year career. He also had his best field goal percentage of his career last year shooting .491 from the field. Allen is a career .399 percentage shooter from the arc; his career three-point percentage at home is .399 and .399 on the road.
Which NFL franchise has the best trio of QBs in their history?
Joe Montana: One-third of the best trio of franchise QBs in the NFL? Image via Wikipedia
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
I only caught a brief portion of the conversation on sports talk radio, ESPN-540 Milwaukee (the Steve “The Homer” True show). The discussion centered around Green Bay Packers quarterbacks Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and whether or not they were the best trio of QBs from an NFL franchise.
So… I decided to put some numbers to the discussion.
The premise I started with is that to qualify for my list, the quarterback had to have thrown 100 or more TD passes with the team and won 40 or more games for that team as the starting quarterback (Note: Some of the older QBs do not have won-loss records in the resources I used, so had to give some of the “older” QBs a “pass” if I thought they deserved to be on the list).
Here’s my list of the Top 10 NFL Franchises with the Best Trio of Quarterbacks in their History (Agreements? Disagreements? Let me know.)
1. San Francisco 49ers: Joe Montana, Steve Young and John Brodie. All three threw for 200 or more TD passes with the team (the only tandem in NFL history); all won 70 or more games as starting QB and Montana and Young not only won Super Bowls but also have been elected to the Hall of Fame. They have a fourth QB that fit my criteria: Y.A. Tittle.
2. Green Bay Packers: Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Maybe a little bias being a Packers fan, but I believe they stack up pretty well against other trios. They are one of only three QB trios to lead their team to the Super Bowl (Washington and the New York Giants are the other two). Rodgers is still early in his career, but he has the potential to finish with many more TDs and wins as the Packers QB. They have a fourth QB that fit my criteria: Lynn Dickey.
3. Dallas Cowboys: Troy Aikman, Danny White and Roger Staubach. The ‘Boys actually have five QBs who fit the criteria (add Tony Romo and Don Meredith). Staubach and Aikman won Super Bowls and were elected to the Hall. All three QBs listed threw for 150+ TDs and won 60 or more games as Dallas’ starting QB.
4. Washington Redskins: Sonny Jurgensen, Joe Theisman and Sammy Baugh. The Redskins QB history includes five QBs with 100 or more passing TDs when you add Billy Kilmer and Mark Rypien. Baugh holds the ‘Skins TD pass record; Jurgensen is in the Hall; Theisman won a Super Bowl (as did Rypien and Doug Williams).
5. New York Giants: Phil Simms, Eli Manning and Charlie Conerly. Another pair of Super Bowl quarterbacks in Simms and Manning. This threesome each had 170+ TD passes.
6. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts: Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas and Bert Jones. Manning and Unitas rank among the best of all time. Jones is not a real strong #3, so the team ranks lower in my rankings.
7. New England Patriots: Tom Brady, Steve Grogan and Drew Bledsoe: Each of the three have 60+ wins and more than 165 TDs on their Patriots resume. Brady and his three Super Bowls are a lock for the Hall. They have a fourth QB that fit my criteria: Babe Parilli.
8. Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans: Warren Moon, George Blanda and Steve McNair. This was the group that probably surprised me the most. This group each had over 150 TD passes. Moon and Blanda are Hall of Famers. They had a fourth QB that just missed the list: Dan Pastorini (he had 53 wins but only 96 career TDs).
9. San Diego Chargers: Dan Fouts, John Hadl and Philip Rivers. No Super Bowls leaves this group lower, but they each have over 150 TDs and 59+ wins. Rivers has the chance for 200+ career TDs, which would give the team three QBs with 200+ (a rarity… see the 49ers above).
10 (tie). Philadelphia Eagles: Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski and Randall Cunningham; Cincinnati Bengals: Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason and Carson Palmer. Solid groups, but no Hall of Famers or Super Bowl wins to make an impact on the list.
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