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While we can dissect a ton of things that went wrong in 2020 with this program, and the state of where this program stands right now, 2020 may have lowered the bar to standards we've never, ever seen before in BG's 100+ year history as something was pointed out to me the other day. While I knew BG was/is dreadful, until I saw the actual numbers in front of me, the figures were beyond alarming.

BG averaged just 11.4 ppg on offense and allowed 45.0 ppg on defense in 2020...That's beyond terrible, it's downright pathetic and downright embarrassing....In going back as far as I could find year-by-year totals averages posted on Phil Steele's website (dating back to1988 - 32 years), these figures were not only the worst averages for a BG offense and defense in that span, there were never worse averages even on side side of the ball, let alone both! Meaning, not only didn't BG ever experience numbers worse in a single season by either the offense or defense like we experienced in 2020, the 2020 team had averages worse on both sides of the ball than BG had as a team individually on either side of it (offense or defense). BG was literally collectively worse than it had ever been on just one side of the ball.

Think about that for a minute - and what's more - these numbers were ALL against MAC competition - essentially vs the MAC East except for one game - or they could have been even worse! Guys, let that sink in for a minute to understand how bad things are. There were no Power Five opponents, we didn't face the MAC Champion, we didn't face Liberty who we were also scheduled to play, we essentially set an all-time record combined lows ever vs our MAC East peers. It's mind boggling. In our 100+ year history we have average less than 11.4 ppg in a season. Back in our first year of competition (1919) when we wore leather helmets, BG didn't score a point in 3 games (0.0 ppg). But we only allowed 28 points (9.3 ppg). In 1935 BG averaged just 3.6 ppg and allowed 35.1 ppg, which was still a better differential than what we established in 2020.

Pardon me if I put my 35+ years of financial analysis to use on your calculation that this team was historically bad. Yes, they were bad, very bad but it is difficult to use scoring across 100 years of college football to come to that conclusion. Scoring has been basically up overall since about 1960 except for a puzzling 2 ppg drop in 2005 in the mean scoring average. In 2020 the scoring average was 30.7. In the year of 1935 that you mention as the previous worse BG team it was 13.3. So using the differential from that base year in comparison to 2020 an equivalent defense would have been about 80 and an offense of 8. So maybe 2020 is still not the worst ever.

Several MAC football teams over the last 30 years have struggled to stay competitive. What has happened at BG could have happened to any of the league members; and has to an extent as seen when reviewing Eastern, Kent, Akron’s etc history over the same period of 30+ years. Will BG pull out of the basement? Probably so, but certainly not overnight and hopefully sooner than later. I believe several of the players in the league have simply decided to decline offers to play at BG and instead have landed elsewhere. Thus, we have been out recruited by the likes of Kent, Eastern and other programs similar to Bowling Green. Honestly and unfortunately they see better situations elsewhere and at this point who could blame them.

fredthefalcon wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:31 pm Pardon me if I put my 35+ years of financial analysis to use on your calculation that this team was historically bad. Yes, they were bad, very bad but it is difficult to use scoring across 100 years of college football to come to that conclusion. Scoring has been basically up overall since about 1960 except for a puzzling 2 ppg drop in 2005 in the mean scoring average. In 2020 the scoring average was 30.7. In the year of 1935 that you mention as the previous worse BG team it was 13.3. So using the differential from that base year in comparison to 2020 an equivalent defense would have been about 80 and an offense of 8. So maybe 2020 is still not the worst ever.

There were 3 of the 130 FBS teams that didn't participate this season. Out of the 127 FBS teams that did, BG finished #126 in scoring offense and #126 in scoring defense. Only UMass was worse on offense and only Kansas was worse on defense. However, both of those teams were better on the other side of the ball, cementing BG's place at the bottom of the FBS. It honestly sickens me to see what this program has become in such a short period of time. Sure we've had some bad years in our history. But in the 25+ years that I've been following this program, this is the worst of it. Take a year like 2000 when we won only 2 games. It was the last of several losing seasons. We weren't good, but we still competed and were in a number of our losses then. Now, we're getting destroyed, badly, by even our own MAC East peers in games we are severely overmatched in. No doubt about it, we're at rock bottom.

BGSU33 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 4:59 pm No doubt about it, we're at rock bottom.

Works for me. I recommend the stout.

BGSU33 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 4:59 pm

fredthefalcon wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:31 pm Pardon me if I put my 35+ years of financial analysis to use on your calculation that this team was historically bad. Yes, they were bad, very bad but it is difficult to use scoring across 100 years of college football to come to that conclusion. Scoring has been basically up overall since about 1960 except for a puzzling 2 ppg drop in 2005 in the mean scoring average. In 2020 the scoring average was 30.7. In the year of 1935 that you mention as the previous worse BG team it was 13.3. So using the differential from that base year in comparison to 2020 an equivalent defense would have been about 80 and an offense of 8. So maybe 2020 is still not the worst ever.

There were 3 of the 130 FBS teams that didn't participate this season. Out of the 127 FBS teams that did, BG finished #126 in scoring offense and #126 in scoring defense. Only UMass was worse on offense and only Kansas was worse on defense. However, both of those teams were better on the other side of the ball, cementing BG's place at the bottom of the FBS. It honestly sickens me to see what this program has become in such a short period of time. Sure we've had some bad years in our history. But in the 25+ years that I've been following this program, this is the worst of it. Take a year like 2000 when we won only 2 games. It was the last of several losing seasons. We weren't good, but we still competed and were in a number of our losses then. Now, we're getting destroyed, badly, by even our own MAC East peers in games we are severely overmatched in. No doubt about it, we're at rock bottom.

You are right above in specifically recognizing this year and the previous 25 years, but you originally brought up the #s for 1935 and I was just comparing it on an apples to apples basis. Just like comparing the price of milk in 1935 to today.