Football: when the stats favour the losing team...

The Game Room
1

Weird CFL game here in Saskatchewan last night: Hamilton Ti-Cats against the Sask Roughriders.

Here’s the stats:

Total plays: Ti-cats 62, Riders 45
Total yards: Ti-cats 429, Riders 298
Time of possession: Ti-cats 32.57, Riders 27.03
Penalties: Ti-cats 7 for 54 (av 7.7 yards), Riders 8 for 107 (av 13.4 yards)

Passing yards: Ti-cats 23/43, 333 yards, Riders 14/19, 148 yards
Rushing yards: Ti-cats 96 yards, Riders 150 yards

1st Downs: Ti-cats 25, Riders 12
Passing 1st Downs: Ti-cats 15, Riders 4
Rushing 1st Downs: Ti-cats 6, Riders 7
Penalty 1st Downs: Ti-cats 3, Riders 1

Pretty crushing for the Ti-cats, right? (Oh, plus the Ti-cat QB tied a CFL record: 9 games in a row where he led the team to more than 300 yards)

Except the Ti-cats lost.

The only stat that matters: Riders 18, Ti-cats 13.

It’s that rushing stat for the Riders that tells the tale: they won the game on two plays. Early in the second, Hughes (DL) for the Riders forced the Ti-Cat QB into a pop-up fumble, recovered it, and ran it in 45 yards for a TD.

Then late in the 4th, Thigpen (RB) took a hand-off and ran it in for a 34 yard TD.

Riders special teams weren’t clicking. They failed to make either convert (one kicking, one rushing), so went away with 6 each time.

It was a defensive battle: in spite of that 429 yards total offence, the Ti-cats never scored a touchdown; all their points came on field goals and a rouge.

A weird game by the stats, but the Riders pulled it out!

2

But the Ticats won the popular vote.

3

Losing teams often have a significant advantage in the game stats because they’re playing from behind and spend the whole game trying to catch up. See: Kirk Cousins’ entire NFL career.

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4

I do agree that it is uncommon, but DCnDC nailed it in that the game can become lopsided while the team behind tries to catch up. I noted one stat that you didn’t report which is turnovers, which in addition to special teams can be huge.

I participated in a game in high school in which the stats were something like:
Home Away
34 Score 31
96 Rushing 150
12 Passing 350
because:
9 Punts 2
57 Punt Avg 25
5 Interceptions 0
250 Int. Ret. Yds 0
21 Points off TO 0

When you become desparate, your play calling becomes riskier and in this case, a throwing offense which set records all season threw 3 interceptions which were run back for touchdowns. But the normal statistics showed absolute domination the other way.

And for a NFL comparison that is even more lopsidedly weird than either of ours:
Super Bowl XLVIII where the Broncos led most statistical categories but lost 43-8.

5

This is like the 2013 Seattle Seahawks. Unimpressive offensive numbers aside from rushing. But their defense was historic, and they spent most of the season steamrolling everyone. And they capped the season wih the previously-mentioned Super Bowl win (fun fact: they went into that game as supposed underdogs).

6

As a Minnesota Vikings fan, my favorite was a 2005 game against the NY Giants. The Giants dominated the game, but the Vikings ended up winning. Some of the stats:
First Downs: MIN 11, NYG 25 (3 of Minnesota’s first downs were on their last drive)
Total Yards: MIN 137, NYG 405 (42 of Minnesota’s yards were on their last drive)

So before that last Minnesota drive, Minnesota had 8 first downs, and 95 yards of offense. Somehow the score was tied at 21. The Viking scores were interception return, punt return, and kickoff return. Their last drive resulted in a field goal and the win.

7

Exactly. If you tell me the QB had 50 pass attempts and 400 yards and no other stats or the score, I’m going to assume the team lost.

8

Not football, but Chad Wesley Smith works at a powerlifting/bodybuilding/weight training website called Juggernaut Training Systems. In college, he was a nationally ranked shotputter. He tells the story of his chief rival. CWS could bench more, squat more, had a higher vertical jump, a better time in the 40 yard dash. There was only one way in which his rival beat him - he could put the shot further.

Some basketball coach or other was being interviewed before a big game. He was asked what was the important factor he was focusing on. “We can’t let them outscore us - otherwise we’re gonna have trouble.”

In sports, this is known as “being good at fundamentals”.

Regards,
Shodan