SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,517
- Like
- 62,713
Dino Babers has said a few times, (most recently on his last radio show), that teams that get kickoff returns for touchdowns tend, more often than not, to lose those games whereas teams that get punt returns for touchdowns tend to win them. he invited Matt Park to "look it up".
I decided to. First I looked the stats on NCAA.com. Unfortunately the rankings of kick-off and punt returners doesn't say how many touchdowns the returners scored. But the team listings for kickoff and punt returns do.
www.ncaa.com
www.ncaa.com
I then used SportsFeference.com, (which has been behaving rather strangely, failing to download certain things - but I was able to figure ways to get around it), to determine which players on those teams had returned kicks for scores. I then used the "Game Log" for those players to determine which game that occurred in.
www.sports-reference.com
Unfortunately, a fair number of what the NCAA counts as "punt returns" for touchdowns are actually blocked punts returned for touchdowns and Sports Reference doesn't. Dino had said that if you block a kick, you also usually win. For those teams I used ESPN to look at the team's schedules and looked on the scores to get their "Gamecast" page which shows how the scores were made. I checked either their wins or their losses, which ever they had fewer of.
www.espn.com
Anyway, here are the results:
- Teams that returned kick-offs for touchdowns were 20-13 in those games. They didn't "usually lose".
-Teams that returned punts for touchdowns, (or blocked them and scooped them up or fell on them for touchdowns were 31-8.
Still Dino seems to be learning in the right direction. It does seem better to score off a punt than a kickoff. I wonder if that could have something to do with the fact that good teams return more punts and bad teams return more kickoffs and that good teams tend to defeat bad teams.
I decided to. First I looked the stats on NCAA.com. Unfortunately the rankings of kick-off and punt returners doesn't say how many touchdowns the returners scored. But the team listings for kickoff and punt returns do.
NCAA College Football FBS current team Stats | NCAA.com
Discover the current NCAA FBS Football leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.
www.ncaa.com
NCAA College Football FBS current team Stats | NCAA.com
Discover the current NCAA FBS Football leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.
I then used SportsFeference.com, (which has been behaving rather strangely, failing to download certain things - but I was able to figure ways to get around it), to determine which players on those teams had returned kicks for scores. I then used the "Game Log" for those players to determine which game that occurred in.
College Football Stats, History, Scores, Standings, Schedule & Records | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Complete source for college football history including player, school, and conference stats, awards, records, leaders, scores and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
Unfortunately, a fair number of what the NCAA counts as "punt returns" for touchdowns are actually blocked punts returned for touchdowns and Sports Reference doesn't. Dino had said that if you block a kick, you also usually win. For those teams I used ESPN to look at the team's schedules and looked on the scores to get their "Gamecast" page which shows how the scores were made. I checked either their wins or their losses, which ever they had fewer of.
College Football Teams - ESPN
ESPN presents the full 2023 conferences College Football season team lineup. Includes rosters, schedules, stats and ticket information for all NCAA teams.
Anyway, here are the results:
- Teams that returned kick-offs for touchdowns were 20-13 in those games. They didn't "usually lose".
-Teams that returned punts for touchdowns, (or blocked them and scooped them up or fell on them for touchdowns were 31-8.
Still Dino seems to be learning in the right direction. It does seem better to score off a punt than a kickoff. I wonder if that could have something to do with the fact that good teams return more punts and bad teams return more kickoffs and that good teams tend to defeat bad teams.
