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Big thumbs up Ty, I liked it! Great job getting into the stats. I get where you are coming from.
Using a division's teams' win totals to determine if that division overall is better than another, yeah it is a useful stat but one could make an argument for the NFC North vs. the AFC West. Total wins? NFC North teams have 24, AFC West have 23. Is the NFC North division better than the AFC West? I'd make a case for the AFC West being better. Den, KC and SD up against GB, Det and Chi. Yes, Minn has a better record than Oak, but I'd argue that if the NFC North played the AFC West this year, the AFC West would win more games.
In a 4-year stretch, each division plays the other conference's 4 divisions, one division per year. This year it so happens the NFC South plays the AFC North. Also, the AFC West plays the NFC West.
If you look at SF/Sea/AZ/Rams playing Den/KC/SD/Oak, those 16 games are very interesting. Twelve have been played, and it's even right now at 6-6.
KC lost to SF and beat Sea and Rams, Den lost to Sea and Rams, and beat SF and AZ. SD has lost to AZ but beat Rams and Sea. Oak has lost to AZ and Sea. If these two divisions beat up on each other, does that make the AFC North better, or the NFC South worse, since those two divisions play each other? Tough to say. One can grab any set of stats to support a theory.
For the AFC North vs. NFC South, it's 10-1 for the AFC North. When comparing those two divisions, the AFC North is better this year. But on that alone, you can't say the NFC South is "bad".
For hosting a playoff game, in general it is an advantage for the home team. Would be interesting to look only at just the Wildcard playoff games over the past 20 yrs and see how often the home team wins. It's gotta be around 65%, just a guess though.
So is it fair, in 2014, for Atlanta to have to play Pitt/Cinc/Clev/Balt AND GB/Det/Chi/Minn? Who knows, but they do get to play NO/TB/Car twice each! LOL, j/k. But maybe in 2015, the AFC division that Atlanta plays will be less-than-avg, and Falcons will win 10 games and make the playoffs.
Anyway, under the current rules, those 6 games you play against your division opponents are SO important. You win your division, you get to host a playoff game (I think that's true in any situation for your first playoff game, not sure though). In any given year, you can make a case that if a team is 8-8 or 7-9 and wins their division, and their schedule was tough, that team should still get to host a playoff game against a wildcard team that DIDN'T win a division. But the important stat is wins and losses.
If team A wins 10 games, should they have to be the away team to play team B that won 8 games, since team A happened to be in a division where another team won say 12 games to win team A's division? If it was a neutral field, I'd say yes, but that home-field advantage sort of tips the scales towards a vote from me for the wildcard games being played in the city with the team with the best record.
All this said, if the Falcons win their division, I will cheer for them in the playoffs! Unless they play my Packers. lol
That should be a good one. I can't figure out the Dawgs. Talk about Jeckyll and Hyde.
Sometimes disappointing, but alway entertaining...
The answer is "never." GA vs. Tech game was the game of the year!Georgia Tech over Georgia
Clemson over University of South Carolina
Louisville over Kentucky
Florida State over Florida
when was the last time the ACC went 4 for 4 against the SEC ...
Jim
