Saturday, December 14, 2013

Army-Navy in 2013

Today's Army-Navy game marks the end of the regular season in college FBS football for this year. Let's take a look at these two teams for today's game using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

Army is currently 3-8 playing against a strength of schedule equal to 88.00, which is "easier" as compared to the "league" average.  (I determine if a team's schedule strength is "easier" if the teams calculated schedule strength is between one and two standard deviations greater than the league average schedule strength.)  Army's best win was against currently ranked #86 Louisiana Tech and their worst loss was to currently ranked #110 Air Force. Army currently has the #103 most productive team in the nation - which is near the bottom of the "league".  Army has the 114th ranked most productive offense and the 80th ranked most productive defense.

The Midshipman are 7-4 so far this season and are playing in the Armed Forces Bowl against Middle Tennessee State.  Navy has played against a strength of schedule of 78.36, which is also "easier" than the "league" average. Navy's best win was against currently ranked #56 South Alabama and their worst loss was against #85 Notre Dame. In terms of production, Navy has currently the #82 ranked most productive team in the nation, with the #99 ranked most productive offense and the #57 ranked most productive defense.

Given that Navy is a more productive team than Army this season, the model "predicts" that Navy will be the winner of the game today.