Losses by 10 Points or Less - The Numbers

[Keepinitreal]

A hot topic lately has been losses by 10 points or less - specifically, Bielema's record in his last 10 (now 11) games. I thought I'd dig in to the numbers beginning with Nutt's first season 1998. Here are some breakouts by tenure:

Coach         Total Losses within 10 Points     Total Losses Greater Than 10 Points
Nutt                         45%                                                 55%
Petrino                     47%                                                 53%
Smith                       50%                                                 50%
Bielema                    56%                                                 44%

Bielema is the only coach who when loses - more often than not, it's within 10 points or less. The other coaches, including Petrino - when losing, lose by greater than 10 points. Essentially, Bielema's losses are much closer than we have seen historically. You can go two ways here - does this mean Bielema loses these by making inferior decisions, or does he coach well enough that we rarely get blown out and are in every game? Given his first two full years on the job, I view this as keeping us in games as we had significant catching up to do beginning in 2013.

Bottom line - some stats, depending on your viewpoint of the head coach, back up your view so it's easy to quote. Case in point, Bielema's close game record. But the fact that his losses are more often than not close games, especially when compared to history, appear show a positive side of his tenure so far. Who knows what the remainder of the year holds, but subjectively looking at results is a much better method than quoting stats with no context.

[Poker_hog]

When you limit possession scores will be closer

[Keepinitreal]

When you limit possession scores will be closer

exactly.. losing record within 10 games isn't necessarily an indictment, since most losses are within 10 points. Some coaches can have a great record in games decided by 10 or less, because when they lose, they get hammered. Then all the sudden that statistic doesn't say it all.

[BadHog]

Does this really matter? You win, you lose. Only thing that matter is the win. Does anyone give a flying flip about the score when they win? Hell no. But here we are on Hogville debating the 10 points or less win/loss record because we have not been winning.

[Keepinitreal]

Does this really matter? You win, you lose. Only thing that matter is the win. Does anyone give a flying flip about the score when they win? Hell no. But here we are on Hogville debating the 10 points or less win/loss record because we have not been winning.

I'm with you. I see this thrown out all over the place I guess as a point that we can't win close games, just wanted to dig in and see what's behind it. Due to our style of play, we have lost more close games because we are in more close games. If we just win, it won't matter, though. Let's keep it up.

[sickboy]

Good numbers here