Where Are We? #1 & #2: The Track and the Track Record

Where are we?

It's a question I think every Bull is asking now that we have a new AD.

To answer this question, I looked at 28 schools.*

1ST ISSUE: Track around Stadium

By my count 6 teams have a track around their stadium. Two have concrete plans to remove the track.

Track Stadium Schools breakdown into 3 categories.

1) No Track Around Our Basketball Court

Members:

Duke
Kansas

2) Inexplicably Successful Schools of the Pacific Northwest

Members:

Boise State (Plan to remove)
Nevada
Washington (has played their last game with a Track)

3) MAC Schools Stuck In the Past:

Members:

Eastern Michigan
Buffalo

Priority - 10 - The track has to go, it just has to.
Importance - 2 - The track may keep some (like me) away from UB Stadium, however the true fans will watch the Bulls anywhere. Moreover, the track has no impact** on the play of the football athletes, and we all know if we win, people would watch the Bulls play anywhere.

**I did however once witness a starting Wide Receiver attempting a fade route to the back of the end zone...his momentum carried him off the field he landed on the hard track and injured his shoulder.

2ND ISSUE: Recent track record.

Looking at our sample of competitors, who are the winners in the past 5 seasons? The five year period generously removes our 1 win seasons of the early 2000's, and includes all of our Turner Gill glory years.

Overall 28 of the 33 teams sampled played FBS for the last 5 years.
UB is 21st out of those teams with a 23-39 record 37.1%.

Out of the 16 teams new to FBS,
UB is 12th.

Out of the 12 MAC schools + Temple
UB is 9th.

The Average win loss record for 5 years amongst these teams is 29-33, so we are only about 1 win a year away from being middle of the pack. The gold standards are Boise and Nevada. Boise had a 90.91% winning percentage, Nevada's a respectable 62.12%.

So it's no surprise we aren't winning, I'm kinda shocked we're so low on the list, but it makes sense.

Issues 1 & 2 are not groundbreaking...we know we aren't winning enough and I'm sure we know a track around a football field is a bad idea. Stay tuned for more.

*Teams in the Sample

1) Buffalo,

Our 12 current MAC opponents, as well as 14) Temple and 15) Marshall.

I also looked at teams that started playing FBS ball in the 90's
16) South Florida 2001
17) Florida International 2005
18) Georgia State 2013
19) UCF 1996
20) Mid Tennessee 1999
21) UConn 2000
22) UTSA 2012
23) FAU 2005
24) UAB 1996
25) Texas State 2012
26) South Alabama 2012
27) Idaho 1996
28) Nevada 1992
29) Boise State 1996
30) Troy 2002
31) Louisiana-Monroe 1994
32) Arkansas State 1992
33) Western Kentucky 2009