Tag: 2020 college football season

NCAA Academic Progress Rate: APR Football Rankings By Conference

Academic Progress Rate 2020-2021 football rankings by conference.

The Academic Progress Rate 2020-2021 report has been released. Where to all the schools rank in each of the conferences?

Contact @PeteFiutak

The NCAA released its annual report of the Academic Progress Rate, or APR, measuring the improvements and academic success for the 2020-2021 school year.

From the NCAA, the APR is calculated as follows:

  • Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible.
  • A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate.
  • In addition to a team’s current-year APR, its rolling four-year APR is also used to determine accountability.

So which teams got the job done in the classroom? Here’s everyone’s APR ranking by conference …

APR Rankings By Conference
ACC | AAC | Big 12 | Big Ten | C-USA
Ind | MAC | MW | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
APR Rankings overall 1-130

ACC APR Rankings

1 Clemson 999

2 Wake Forest 990

3 Louisville 988

4 Boston College 986

5 Duke 985

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6 Pitt 984

7 Virginia 983

8 Miami 982

9 Georgia Tech 979

10 North Carolina 977

11 NC State 974

12 Virginia Tech 964

13 Florida State 958

14 Syracuse 957

APR Rankings By Conference
ACC | AAC | Big 12 | Big Ten | C-USA
Ind | MAC | MW | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
APR Rankings overall 1-130

NEXT: AAC APR Rankings

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Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Florida Cotton Bowl Classic

A look back at Oklahoma’s 2020 Cotton Bowl victory over Florida.

With the 2021 college football season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the Sooners’ output last season. Welcome to the “Sooners Summer Series,” Sooners Wire’s new series unpacking each game from the pandemic year. Continue reading “Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Florida Cotton Bowl Classic”

Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Kansas

A look back at the 2020 Oklahoma-Kansas matchup.

With the 2021 college football season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the Sooners’ output last season. Welcome to the “Sooners Summer Series,” Sooners Wire’s new series unpacking each game from the pandemic year. Continue reading “Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Kansas”

Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Texas Tech game

A look back at Oklahoma’s victory over Texas Tech in 2020.

With the 2021 college football season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the Sooners’ output last season. Welcome to the “Sooners Summer Series,” Sooners Wire’s new series unpacking each game from the pandemic year. Continue reading “Sooners Summer Series: Reviewing 2020 Oklahoma-Texas Tech game”

25 Worst College Football, Basketball Schools: Oops and Helmets 2020-2021

Which schools had the roughest season in the two major college sports? Here are the 25 that had the toughest 2020-2021 on the field/court.

Which schools had the roughest season in the two major college sports? Here are the 25 that had the toughest 2020-2021 on the field and court.

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Contact @PeteFiutak

For all the talk about the other college sports – with a few notable exceptions – it’s all about football and men’s basketball when it comes to national attention and in most years, the revenue to pay for everything else.

Which schools had the worst year in both football and men’s basketball?

To get on this list, 1) in most years, a school’s college football team had to miss out on a bowl appearance, but after a strange 2020, it’s about who had a losing/disappointing campaign, and 2) on the hoops side, the men’s basketball team had to finish with a losing season.

FBS schools for football, only, so these rankings are out of the 130 that play both high-end football along with basketball.

And the 25 football & basketball schools who struggled the most in 2020 – and part of 2021 – were …

The Hoops & Helmets Ranking from last season is out of 130 teams.

25. Central Michigan Chippewas

It’s a bit unfair for the Chippewas to be here, but there were 23 schools that had losers in both football and basketball so two others had to round out the top 25. In football, there was one decent win – 30-27 over Ohio – in a 3-3 season, but the basketball team was a disaster going 3-13 in the MAC and finishing 7-16 overall.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 67

24. Air Force Falcons

Air Force makes the Oops & Helmets cut because of basketball. It finished next-to-last in the Mountain West just ahead of New Mexico, going 5-20 on the year and just 3-17 in the league. The 3-3 football season wasn’t awful, but losing to Army stings. At least the Falcons beat Navy, and the three losses were all acceptable.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 59

23. Kentucky Wildcats

This goes against the overall spirit of Oops & Helmets – the fan base did get to enjoy a Gator Bowl win over NC State – but the football team went 5-6, so the program is the last on this list among those with losing seasons in both sports.

Obviously, if you’re not winning in basketball at Kentucky, there’s a problem. The team couldn’t seem to turn it on after a bad start, going 8-9 in the SEC and finishing with an ugly 9-16 campaign.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 12

22. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

This isn’t necessarily fair. The Demon Deacons got to a bowl game, but totally melted down in a 42-28 loss to Wisconsin to finish with a losing season. The basketball team ended up 14th in the ACC going 3-15 – just ahead of Boston College – and 6-16 overall.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 65

21. Minnesota Golden Gophers

A big disappointment in both sports, the football team went 3-4 and was very, very fortunate to get one of those wins against Purdue. The basketball team collapsed late in the season finishing 14-15. There might have been a win over a miserable Northwestern squad in the Big Ten Tournament, but the Gophers finished 6-14 in the conference.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 42

20. Kansas State Wildcats

The football season started bad with a home loss to Arkansas State, and ended with five straight losses to go 4-6 and 7th in the ten team league. Bruce Weber’s basketball team was plucky and tough, but it still finished 4-14 in the Big 12 – ninth in the league – and won just nine games.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 69

19. Penn State Nittany Lions

This it probably a bit unfair of a ranking, but the Nittany Lions had the worst start in the program’s football history going 0-5 before reeling off four straight to close out. The hoops team seemed close at times to making some sort of a run, but it finished tied for tenth in the league and 11-14 overall.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 8

18. Arkansas State Red Wolves

Just when it seemed like the football team would be in for a nice year after beating Kansas State on the way to a 3-2 start, the wheels came off in a 4-7 campaign. The basketball team wasn’t the the worst in the Sun Belt – it was fourth out of six teams in the West – going 11-13 overall and 7-8 in the conference.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 56

17. Charlotte 49ers

The 49ers went 9-16 in basketball and 5-11 in the conference, but at least it was 5th in the East ahead of Middle Tennessee and FIU. The football team went 2-4 and wasn’t all that bad, but it was a disappointment coming off a bowl season.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 75

16. Troy Trojans

This is a bit of a gift, only because the football team played in the nasty Sun Belt East. The Trojans finished last in the division, but it would’ve been the second-best team behind Louisiana in the West. It was still a 5-6 season overall and 3-4 in the league, and the basketball team didn’t help going 4-12 in a last place East finish and 11-17 overall.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 123

15. Nebraska Cornhuskers

The football powerhouse is overdue for things to start trending up after a 3-5 football campaign making it another clunker under Scott Frost. The basketball side had a few okay moments, but it went 7-20 to finish dead last in the Big Ten by a few games in a 3-16 conference season.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 124

14. UNLV Rebels

New head football coach Marcus Arroyo still has a whole lot of work to do. The team went 0-6 without coming closer than double-digits of anyone in the all-Mountain West slate. The basketball team had a little bit of fun going 12-15 overall and 8-10 in league play, but it was still a losing season.
Last Year’s Oops & Helmets Ranking: 107

13. Southern Miss Golden Eagles

It was a strange football season that never got better until the end with a stunning win over Florida Atlantic. The Golden Eagles started out with a loss to South Alabama, fired head coach Jay Hopson early in the year, and went 3-7 overall. The basketball team was even worse, going 4-13 in Conference USA and finishing last in the West.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 77

12. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

The Blue Raiders never got going in football with an 0-4 start, but at least they got a few wins in a 3-6 season. The basketball team was the second-worst in Conference USA, going 3-13 with a conference-low five wins overall.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 127

11. Eastern Michigan Eagles

The Eagles are here mostly because of the 3-11 MAC season in basketball and with just six wins overall. The football team was always competitive, but it started 0-4 before coming up with a nice win over Western Michigan in a 2-4 run.
Last Year’s Hoops & Helmets Ranking: 72

NEXT: Top – or Bottom – Oops & Helmets 10

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Where Oklahoma and its 2021 opponents finished in SP+ rankings

One of the more interesting analytics models is the SP+, where did Oklahoma and their future opponents finish in 2020?

There are many metrics that can be used to grade a team’s performance in a season. When looking at the Oklahoma Sooners record for 2020, a 9-2 record is a pretty good indication of how the team performed. As legendary coach Bill Parcells once said, “you are what your record says you are.”

While that does hold true, not everything is as black and white as that statement claims. There is a multitude of variables, models, and analytics to break it down even further. One such model is the SP+ model developed by ESPN’s Bill Connelly.

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What is SP+? ESPN’s website has a quick breakdown of this model.

In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.

The model ranks offense, defense, and special teams. The final team ranking is determined by offense plus special teams grade and subtracts the defense-grade.

Oklahoma’s Final SP+ Ranking

Oklahoma Overall Offense Defense Special Teams
Rating 27.5 44.9 19.6 0.4
Ranking 4th 3rd 15th 23rd

The Sooners finished the 2020 campaign with the fourth-highest overall SP+ ranking just behind the Alabama Crimson Tide, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Clemson Tigers. Three of the four teams that competed in the 2020 College Football Playoffs. The other participant being the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who fell all the way to No. 16.

The Sooners were just on the cusp of being one of those top teams, had it not been for a couple of mishaps to begin Big 12 Conference play in weeks two and three of the season. Moving forward into the 2021 season with a more experienced quarterback in Spencer Rattler, there is a great deal of hope that Oklahoma can return to the College Football Playoffs next season after a one-year hiatus in 2020.

In an effort to look forward, Sooners Wire looks at the 2021 opponents on the schedule and how they finished out the 2020 season with their SP+ rankings. The only team not accounted for will be Western Carolina who are members of FCS (Football Championship Subdivision).

Top moments of Bijan Robinson’s freshman year for Texas

There plenty of excitement for Bijan Robinson going into his sophomore season. A look at the top moments in his freshman year.

The college football season might be seven months away but that doesn’t take away from the excitement around the Forty Acres. The Texas Longhorns made a change at head coach bringing in Steve Sarkisian from the Alabama Crimson Tide, fresh off a National Championship. The burnt orange excitement has reached a fever pitch.

One of the reasons why is that Sarkisian utilized a top running back in Najee Harris for the last two years. In 2021 he inherits one of the best young running backs in the country. Bijan Robinson was on full display down the stretch, especially in the final two games of the season where he accounted for 443 yards and six touchdowns. Four rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns.

From the moment that Robinson’s letter of intent was sent to the University of Texas, there was a level of excitement. The man dubbed ‘Little Ricky’ but Ricky Williams himself had a high level of expectations. Not even those with the highest level of expectations for the five-star running back out of Arizona were fully prepared for his performances in 2020.

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A look at some of the best moments of the freshman season for Bijan Robinson.

Texas Football: Virtual report card by position group

One final look at the 2020 season for the Texas Longhorns. What grade did each position group receive?

With the 2020 college football season now almost a week behind us, let’s take one last look at the highs and lows of this past year.

The Longhorns and then head coach Tom Herman had high hopes for the season. Some, including ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, viewed Texas as a team that could contend for the College Football Playoff.

Herman’s squad was returning a large portion of their starters from 2019, led behind four-year starter Sam Ehlinger. The only real question was who would emerge at the wide receiver position with the losses of Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay to the NFL. Tarik Black transferred in from Michigan to compete with leading receiver Brennan Eagles. Jake Smith was expected to take on a much bigger role, Jordan Whittington switched to wide receiver and Joshua Moore returned.

There was plenty to be excited about.

Defensively, their best defender in Joseph Ossai would take on a pass rush role in Chris Ash’s defense as the ‘Jack.’ DeMarvion Overshown would move to linebacker alongside Juwan Mitchell. Not to mention, the secondary was very experienced with D’Shawn Jamison, Chris Brown, Caden Sterns and Josh Thompson.

Somehow, the excitement quickly unraveled for the Longhorns.

Back-to-back losses early in the season doomed this team. They would need to win every remaining game on their schedule to have a shot at a Big 12 title. Those dreams came crashing down against Iowa State when Texas blew a 20-13 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Texas finished with an overall record of 7-3. However, given the expectation level for this team, it felt more like a disappointment. In our final look back, we viewed the total snaps for each of the top players and our end of the season grades for each position.

Texas Football: Virtual report card by position group

One final look at the 2020 season for the Texas Longhorns. What grade did each position group receive?

With the 2020 college football season now almost a week behind us, let’s take one last look at the highs and lows of this past year.

The Longhorns and then head coach Tom Herman had high hopes for the season. Some, including ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, viewed Texas as a team that could contend for the College Football Playoff.

Herman’s squad was returning a large portion of their starters from 2019, led behind four-year starter Sam Ehlinger. The only real question was who would emerge at the wide receiver position with the losses of Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay to the NFL. Tarik Black transferred in from Michigan to compete with leading receiver Brennan Eagles. Jake Smith was expected to take on a much bigger role, Jordan Whittington switched to wide receiver and Joshua Moore returned.

There was plenty to be excited about.

Defensively, their best defender in Joseph Ossai would take on a pass rush role in Chris Ash’s defense as the ‘Jack.’ DeMarvion Overshown would move to linebacker alongside Juwan Mitchell. Not to mention, the secondary was very experienced with D’Shawn Jamison, Chris Brown, Caden Sterns and Josh Thompson.

Somehow, the excitement quickly unraveled for the Longhorns.

Back-to-back losses early in the season doomed this team. They would need to win every remaining game on their schedule to have a shot at a Big 12 title. Those dreams came crashing down against Iowa State when Texas blew a 20-13 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Texas finished with an overall record of 7-3. However, given the expectation level for this team, it felt more like a disappointment. In our final look back, we viewed the total snaps for each of the top players and our end of the season grades for each position.

Where the Oklahoma Sooners finish in final ESPN power rankings

The 2020 college football season is now complete. In ESPN’s final power rankings of the year, the Oklahoma Sooners finished No. 6 overall.

After starting out the season with an opening win over Missouri State, the promising season hit a road bump with back-to-back losses to Kansas State and Iowa State. Following the brief benching of starting quarterback Spencer Rattler, the Sooners were able to right the ship,  finishing the year on an eight-game win streak. This included some retribution from their last loss of the year against the Cyclones in Ames.

Down the stretch of the season, Oklahoma was one of the hottest teams in the country not named Alabama. ESPN produced their final power rankings of the season in which they have OU just outside the top five teams in the country.

The Sooners won their sixth straight Big 12 championship to complete a stirring turnaround after starting the season 1-2, including a 38-35 loss to Kansas State that saw OU blow a three-touchdown lead in the second half. That loss likely kept the Sooners from making their fifth College Football Playoff appearance in the past six years, but they finished the season on an eight-game winning streak, including a 55-20 rout of Florida in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. – ESPN’s Chris Low

The Sooners will be looking to make it a lucky seven in a row when they take the field in September. The opener at this point is scheduled to be in New Orleans when Oklahoma takes on the Tulane Green Wave on Sept. 4.

The other Big 12 teams in the final rankings:

  • Iowa State- No. 9
  • Texas– No. 18
  • Oklahoma State- No. 19

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