[CTcard]

[quote author=HisKneeWasDown link=topic=15742.msg172485#msg172485 date=1474691980]
So let's just pick on ןɐɔ... they've played Hawaii and San Diego St, which are not high-calibre running teams, so for them to rank near last, well...

Indeed, there was; Steve Durrett used to make "relative performance ratios", basically adjusting the stats compared to what an opponent normally accomplished.  Sadly, he passed away not long ago.
[/quote]

As Steve himself often noted, that only provides a first level of connection, which for some purposes is inadequate. Later in the season, there's an issue if you compare a performance against a Group of 5 (which mostly plays weaker G5 teams in conference) versus a performance against a P5 team (which mostly plays strong P5 teams in conference). Early in the season it means you are comparing performances against poof-ball schedulers like Baylor (NWST, SMU, Rice) and UW (Rutgers, Idaho, PRST) to those against serious schedulers like $C and Stanford. Still it is considerably better than not doing so.

The advanced stats guys claim they are using more sophisticated adjustments for strength of schedule but mostly don't publish what they do, and this early in the season such things aren't reliable.

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And just to fix an error above, SDSU is a very good running team at 261 yards per game, 5.88 per attempt, and the country's leading RB in yds/game.

[CTcard]

[quote author=HisKneeWasDown link=topic=15742.msg172485#msg172485 date=1474691980]
So let's just pick on ןɐɔ... they've played Hawaii and San Diego St, which are not high-calibre running teams, so for them to rank near last, well...

Indeed, there was; Steve Durrett used to make "relative performance ratios", basically adjusting the stats compared to what an opponent normally accomplished.  Sadly, he passed away not long ago.
[/quote]

As Steve himself often noted, that only provides a first level of connection, which for some purposes is inadequate. Later in the season, there's an issue if you compare a performance against a Group of 5 (which mostly plays weaker G5 teams in conference) versus a performance against a P5 team (which mostly plays strong P5 teams in conference). Early in the season it means you are comparing performances against poof-ball schedulers like Baylor (NWST, SMU, Rice) and UW (Rutgers, Idaho, PRST) to those against serious schedulers like $C and Stanford. Still it is considerably better than not doing so.

The advanced stats guys claim they are using more sophisticated adjustments for strength of schedule but mostly don't publish what they do, and this early in the season such things aren't reliable.

-----------
And just to fix an error above, SDSU is a very good running team at 261 yards per game, 5.88 per attempt, and the country's leading RB in yds/game.