Monday, December 31, 2012

Chick-fil-A Bowl 2012

Today's Chick-fil-A Bowl has the Clemson Tigers of the Atlantic Coast Conference playing against the Louisiana State University (LCU) Tigers of the Southeastern Conference.  Here is how each team matches up using the NCAA FBS Production Model.

Clemson is currently 10-2 playing against an average strength of schedule.  Clemson's best game of the year was a win over currently ranked #59 Georgia Tech (all of their other nine wins were against teams currently ranked in the bottom half of the FBS) and their worst loss (they only had two) was to currently ranked #27 South Carolina.  Clemson is currently ranked as the #24 most productive team overall with the #10 best offense and the #53 best defense.

LSU is currently also 10-2 playing against an average strength of schedule.  LSU's best game this season was a victory over currently ranked #13 Texas A&M, and the worse of the their two losses was to currently ranked #9 Florida.  LSU is currently ranked as the #14 most productive team in the NCAA FBS overall with the #45 ranked offense and the #5 ranked defense.

Given that LSU is more productive than Clemson, the NCAA FBS Production Model "predicts" that LSU will be the winner in today's Chick-fil-A Bowl.