The thing that stands out to me in this analysis is how little difference there is in most of the bars, yet there’s a most notable difference in the records of the PSU and Wisconsin.
But then you remember the old adage, defense wins championships and it becomes very obvious why Wisconsin sits atop the Big Ten.
The effective field goal percentage of Wisconsin’s opponents is 44.6, for Penn State it’s 56.9. Wisconsin’s the best in the league, PSU is next to last (cellar dweller NW is last).
That pretty much says it all.
The more I look at tempo-free stats, the more I think that–if you’re going to be really good in one particular statistical area–defensive effective FG% is the one you want. More on this topic:
http://spartansweblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/pregame-reading-10/