By BlogHawgs.com Statistical Front Man Brian Rogers

Every Tuesday, the BlogHawgs.com  Stat Geek is here to offer statistical information about the issues of the day that relate to University Arkansas athletics,  College Football, or as was the case a few weeks ago, (calling out) the lazy national pollsters / writers.

This week, I felt the need to take a dive into last week’s game against Jacksonville State and try to help Hog fans with  some much-needed-PERSPECTIVE.

With all the gnashing of teeth coming from the Natural State about the Hogs’ inability dismiss the lowly FCS (D-1AA) team by a suitable score of 84-0 or thereabout, I set out to see how other Top 25 teams fared in week 1 vs. FCS opponents.

For purposes of comparison, there were conveniently 5 Week 1 Top 25 vs. FCS matchups this year, as well as, 5 Week 1 Top 25 vs. FCS match-ups last year. I wanted to stay with Week 1 only because of similar “intangible” factors of rust, opening-game jitters and the FCS team gearing up all off season for their “Super Bowl”.

Per the chart below, Arkansas’ yards allowed total was the 2^nd most of the 10 match-ups over the past 2 years. That is not a good sign for a team desperately needing the D to rise up to avoid future  big-game disappointments. It is also interesting to see that Arkansas’ defensive performance in last year’s opener was in the top half.

 *See note regarding Kent. St. in the comments section.

However, remember the goal of this post is to provide perspective.

So, consider: When you add the number of plays the opponents ran in the game, the perspective changes. The 2012 Arkansas opener was on par with its 2011 opener and the openers of several programs that are known for their defense:

When looking at the various metrics in the charts, while Arkansas’ 4^th worst yards per play of the 10 games does not elicit warm and fuzzies all over Razorback Nation, the 3.98 yards per play was similar to the performances of some pretty good defenses (based on yards per game average in 2011).

The stats paint part of the pitcture, but a key variable coaches deal with in facing “inferior” opponents is the fact that they are dealing with 18-22 year old kids who listen to talk radio and read the internet or newspaper and often let their guards dowm and play to thee level of their competition, as well as having 1,000 other things on their minds in the first month of the season (with 1-998 of them being co-eds).

Bonus stat coverage: The Stat Geek would like to highlight an interesting STAT OF THE DAY, courtesy Seton O’Connor of the Dan Patrick Show. Per O’Connor, with rare exceptions (Auburn 2010 being one), champions crowned in the BCS era (1998 – present) have the following two attributes: they start in Top 16 of the AP poll and score between 31-57 points in their opener.

There are 6 teams in 2012 that meet these qualifications: Alabama, LSU, Southern Cal, Georgia, Texas, and Arkansas.