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All MACing




Here is the follow up to my post on players drafted out of the MAC (May 7). The conclusion of that post was there is no real connection between having players drafted into the NFL and winning seasons. UB may be having as many or more players drafted than all but WM but we are not seeing success on a regular basis. Teams like BG are winning year in and year out with only two players drafted in the last ten years, vs UB’s eight. It seemed the issue is Buffalo’s depth and breadth of rather than the occasional NFL level player.

This time I looked at players making All MAC teams, first, second and third team All MAC. I am sure there is a little chicken and egg here. Average players on good teams get more credit than deserved and players on poor teams get over looked come awards time. I really do not think anyone will be surprised that consistently good teams have disproportionally more plays on these All MAC teams than consistently bad teams but I still found the numbers interesting.

I looked at the last 5 years (got tired of data mining and did not think more years would change the answer). There are 29 players on each All MAC team. No effort was make to weight the player’s positions on these teams, a QB means a lot more to wins and losses than a punter or kick returner, I just took the raw data. Also, I only looked at regular season records.

First team All MAC

In 2015, NIU had eight players (28%) on the first team All MAC list, the most of any team in the last five years. Oddly enough they did not have an outstanding season, only 8-4 (6-2 in the MAC). Nine teams had at least five players named to the first team All MAC. On average, they were 9-3 (.759 winning percentage), we would all take that. Of those nine teams, NIU did it three times and Toledo did it twice. Buffalo had five players in 2013 and an 8-4 record. Hey, we made a good list, sadly this will be the last highlight for UB…..

Any All MAC team

Eighteen teams had at least 10 players named to either of the three All MAC teams (think depth and breadth). The average record of these teams was again 9-3. Of those teams, only the 2013 Toledo team (7-5) did not get a bowl game. Ball St twice had the most players named to All MAC teams with 15 in 2012 and 2013. Those teams went a combined 19-5 (.792), depth and breadth equals wins.

What about the other side of the ledger? Two teams only had one player making an All MAC team, 2012 Akron and 2013 UMASS. Both teams went 1-11. Nineteen teams had less than five players named to an All MAC team. The winning percentage of these teams was .220 (not even 3-9). In this group, you have the 2013 CM and 2014 Ohio teams that both went 6-6, take those teams out and the winning percentage gets uglier. Yes, the 2016 UB team (2-10) is in this group.

Total players named to an All MAC team in the last five years

Toledo leads the pack with 55 players. Toledo is also the only school in the last five years with a winning record every year, with an average winning percentage of .717. NIU was fifth with 44 players but had the best winning percentage over the last five years of .767. Ball St is the interesting school in the top five, they were second with 48 players but last (of the top five) in winning percentage at .533. Clearly Ball St has hit some hard times. In 2016 and 2015 they had a total of ten players where in 2012 and 2013 they had a total of 30. WM is the flip side of that coin with 36 players in the last three years and only 11 total in 2012 and 2013. The total of 47 put WM in third place. The last team in the top five, and only MAC East team, is BG. They were fourth with 44 players named to an All MAC team and third in winning percentage of .617. Last year was their only losing season of the last five. Are they the example of players getting too much credit because their team is winning? They only had 2 players drafted in the last 10 years. Someone must win games in the MAC East and BG does it consistently seemingly with above average MAC talent. Buffalo had 26 players named to All MAC teams, only Akron, Miami, EM and UMASS had less.

Just a little fun with numbers…….

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