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Win Probability Graphs for All Super Bowls

9th January 2014

We've added win probability graphs to every Super Bowl, from I to XLVII, from exciting to not-so-exciting. For years prior to 1999, play times were extrapolated from drive start and end times listed in the NFL Gamebooks for those games. For example, if we know this 8-play Rams drive in Super Bowl XIV started at 7:25 and ended at 3:20 with a touchdown, we estimate that each play took roughly 35 seconds off the clock. These are imperfect estimates (obviously the clock will stop on an incomplete pass or an injury and certain plays take longer to run than others), but they are close enough to allow us to calculate a pretty close approximation of the win probability for that given moment.

Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com | 3 Comments »

Job: User Affairs Coordinator @ Sports Reference

6th January 2014

User Affairs Coordinator @ Sports Reference.

Yes, we'll pay you money to spend all day answering questions about sports. Please pass along this job ad to anyone you might think would be interested.

Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, CBB at Sports Reference, CFB at Sports Reference, Expire30d, Hockey-Reference.com, Olympics at S-R, Pro-Football-Reference.com, Statgeekery, Tips and Tricks, WAR | 5 Comments »

College Football Updates Galore, 1956-Present

20th December 2013

As a pre-bowl season present to all, we would like to announce that we have added a LOT more college football data. New data fills out individual player stats back to 1956, and includes:

  • Passing/Rushing/Receiving - complete seasonal offensive stats back to 1956 for players, which means we now have leaderboards for the past 57+ years
  • Interceptions - we now have full data back to 1976, which means that a player like Charles Woodson no longer looks like just a wide receiver, and Deion Sanders isn't just some guy who played for Florida State.
  • Punt and kick returns - we now have full data back to 1976, which also benefits Woodson & Sanders, of course, but helps fill out the stats of players like Tim Brown and Barry Sanders
  • Punting and kicking stats - also dating back to 1976, you can now get your fill of the kicking stats of various Zendejases

We've also added 1,312 new team seasons worth of data back to 1956, updating every major and many non-major schools' complete offensive stats. Finally, we've fleshed out player links between the college football and pro football sites, so finding pro stats for college players should be much easier (and vice versa). Look for an expansion of the Play Index tools soon to encompass this new data.

A BIG thanks to guys at Sports Data Research for working with us to bring this update to the site.

Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, CFB at Sports Reference, Pro-Football-Reference.com | Comments Off on College Football Updates Galore, 1956-Present

Neil Paine Joining FiveThirtyEight

19th December 2013

As Nate Silver tweeted out earlier today, Neil Paine is leaving Sports Reference early next month to join Nate's new FiveThirtyEight.com. I know I speak for everyone here at SR when I say I'm feeling a mix of sadness that on a daily basis we won't get to tap Neil's encyclopedic knowledge of European NBA players, his knowledge of pretty much every sabermetric study ever done, his patience dealing with every kind of user complaint, and his wit, pluck, and genuine enthusiasm for his work. But also happiness for Neil that his writing and thinking is getting the platform it justly deserves. I know someday we'll be bragging that we knew Neil Paine before he was a bigshot. :)

I'll be anticipating his articles and I suggest you search them out as well when the site launches in early 2014.

Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, CBB at Sports Reference, CFB at Sports Reference, Expire30d, Hockey-Reference.com, Olympics at S-R, Pro-Football-Reference.com, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Added Turnover Type to Game Play Finder

17th December 2013

It's a frequent question - who throws the most interceptions returned for touchdowns? Chase blogged about it here a few years ago, but in an effort to help find who's the king of the pick six I've added the ability to filter by type of touchdown to the game play finder tool. Setting the turnover type to interceptions only and searching for most pick sixes thrown since 1999 shows us Peyton Manning tied with Brett Favre and Carson Palmer as the leaders with 21 apiece, with 810 total thrown over that span.

Note that this does pick up a couple of instances where a pass was intercepted, fumbled, and subsequently returned for a touchdown by the offensive team, so subtract one pick six apiece from Drew Brees and Brad Johnson.

Posted in Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com | 2 Comments »

Happy Holidays from Sports Reference

16th December 2013

Happy Holidays from Sports Reference

Here's to a great 2013 and a blessed 2014.

Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, CBB at Sports Reference, CFB at Sports Reference, expire21d, Hockey-Reference.com, Olympics at S-R, Pro-Football-Reference.com, WAR | 3 Comments »

Fumblingest Players

12th December 2013

Just saw this tweet:

 

Which made me wonder - who really is the fumblingest player of all time? First, it seems only fair to look at fumbles on a per-touch basis. Yes, Terry Metcalf managed to fumble 62 times in 81 games (which is admittedly nuts), but he was rushing, receiving, and returning kicks in that time, so he had the ball in his hands 1226 times over those 81 games. On a pure per-touch basis (since 1960 with a minimum of 300 touches) it looks like it was one Kermit Alexander who was the most likely to put the ball on the ground - 29 fumbles on 329 overall touches (that's a fumble almost 9% of the time he put his hands on the ball). Here's your top 50 overall "leaders":

+------------------+---------+---------+---------------+
| name             | fumbles | touches | fum_per_touch |
+------------------+---------+---------+---------------+
| Kermit Alexander |      29 |     329 |        0.0881 |
| Howard Stevens   |      30 |     372 |        0.0806 |
| Darrien Gordon   |      27 |     338 |        0.0799 |
| Todd Kinchen     |      26 |     334 |        0.0778 |
| Robbie Martin    |      23 |     302 |        0.0762 |
| Ron Smith        |      39 |     542 |        0.0720 |
| Eddie Payton     |      21 |     321 |        0.0654 |
| Speedy Duncan    |      26 |     406 |        0.0640 |
| Walter Stanley   |      24 |     400 |        0.0600 |
| Mike Fuller      |      21 |     353 |        0.0595 |
| Bobby Wade       |      23 |     394 |        0.0584 |
| Sidney Thornton  |      22 |     405 |        0.0543 |
| Alvin Haymond    |      23 |     433 |        0.0531 |
| Steve Odom       |      19 |     367 |        0.0518 |
| Dennis McKinnon  |      17 |     336 |        0.0506 |
| Terry Metcalf    |      62 |    1226 |        0.0506 |
| Stefan Logan     |      17 |     337 |        0.0504 |
| Wayne Patrick    |      18 |     363 |        0.0496 |
| R.W. McQuarters  |      15 |     304 |        0.0493 |
| Alonzo Highsmith |      16 |     325 |        0.0492 |
| Michael Bates    |      20 |     407 |        0.0491 |
| Lionel James     |      32 |     665 |        0.0481 |
| Az-Zahir Hakim   |      25 |     526 |        0.0475 |
| Dexter Carter    |      33 |     696 |        0.0474 |
| Fulton Walker    |      15 |     317 |        0.0473 |
| J.W. Lockett     |      15 |     319 |        0.0470 |
| Mack Herron      |      27 |     581 |        0.0465 |
| Willard Harrell  |      36 |     785 |        0.0459 |
| Joe Auer         |      16 |     350 |        0.0457 |
| Tommy Mason      |      61 |    1354 |        0.0451 |
| Greg Pruitt      |      83 |    1843 |        0.0450 |
| Devin Hester     |      32 |     717 |        0.0446 |
| Mel J. Gray      |      31 |     705 |        0.0440 |
| Rick Kane        |      24 |     550 |        0.0436 |
| Shaun McDonald   |      13 |     303 |        0.0429 |
| Louis Lipps      |      22 |     516 |        0.0426 |
| Scott Laidlaw    |      14 |     330 |        0.0424 |
| Rod Woodson      |      23 |     552 |        0.0417 |
| Troy Walters     |      15 |     362 |        0.0414 |
| Izzy Lang        |      14 |     338 |        0.0414 |
| Michael Lewis    |      19 |     464 |        0.0409 |
| Dick Gordon      |      15 |     368 |        0.0408 |
| Rick Upchurch    |      27 |     662 |        0.0408 |
| Wendell Tyler    |      64 |    1573 |        0.0407 |
| Roscoe Parrish   |      14 |     347 |        0.0403 |
| Bobby Duhon      |      15 |     374 |        0.0401 |
| Tim Worley       |      20 |     500 |        0.0400 |
| Ed Williams      |      12 |     301 |        0.0399 |
| Louie Giammona   |      13 |     327 |        0.0398 |
| Bob Tucker       |      17 |     428 |        0.0397 |
+------------------+---------+---------+---------------+

Note that without a minimum number of touches the leader is Norman Jefferson who managed 5 fumbles on 11 career kick returns (which is likely why he only got 11 career kick returns).

Posted in Pro-Football-Reference.com | Comments Off on Fumblingest Players

Added Temperature to Team Game Finder

10th December 2013

Since it's a frequent request & the mercury is dipping ever downward, today I've added temperature as an option to the team game finder. You can search for the best records in sub-10 degree temperatures or even performance in hot games. Look for this to show up on the player game finder soon as well, to help stoke the debate about cold weather performance.

Temperature data from before 1999 is local to the airport nearest the stadium site (as detailed in this blog post) and from 1999 on is from gamebook data directly. Note that temperature is only recorded for games outdoors, so you may want to select "Outdoors" as the stadium type before trying a temperature search.

Posted in Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com | 3 Comments »

Where Does Florida State Rank Entering the BCS Championship Game?

9th December 2013

Chase asked where FSU's +42.3 pre-bowl PPG differential ranked among all BCS-bowl teams historically, so I thought I'd run a quick database search:

Year School Pre-Bowl MOV Bowl
2013 Florida State (acc) +42.3 BCSCG (vs. Auburn)
2005 Texas (big-12) +36.3 Rose (W 41-38 vs. Southern California)
2001 Miami (FL) (big-east) +33.8 Rose (W 37-14 vs. Nebraska)
2008 Florida (sec) +32.3 BCSCG (W 24-14 vs. Oklahoma)
2000 Florida State (acc) +32.2 Orange (L 2-13 vs. Oklahoma)
2013 Baylor (big-12) +32.1 Fiesta (vs. Central Florida)
2010 Texas Christian (mwc) +31.9 Rose (W 21-19 vs. Wisconsin)
2010 Oregon (pac-10) +30.9 BCSCG (L 19-22 vs. Auburn)
1999 Virginia Tech (big-east) +30.8 Sugar (L 29-46 vs. Florida State)
2003 Oklahoma (big-12) +30.3 Sugar (L 14-21 vs. Louisiana State)
2008 Southern California (pac-10) +29.8 Rose (W 38-24 vs. Penn State)
2001 Florida (sec) +29.7 Orange (W 56-23 vs. Maryland)
2008 Oklahoma (big-12) +29.5 BCSCG (L 14-24 vs. Florida)
2012 Oregon (pac-12) +28.8 Fiesta (W 35-17 vs. Kansas State)
2005 Southern California (pac-10) +28.7 Rose (L 38-41 vs. Texas)
2007 Kansas (big-12) +28.3 Orange (W 24-21 vs. Virginia Tech)
2009 Texas Christian (mwc) +28.3 Fiesta (L 10-17 vs. Boise State)
2011 Louisiana State (sec) +27.9 BCSCG (L 0-21 vs. Alabama)
2012 Alabama (sec) +27.8 BCSCG (W 42-14 vs. Notre Dame)
2008 Penn State (big-ten) +27.8 Rose (L 24-38 vs. Southern California)
2011 Wisconsin (big-ten) +27.6 Rose (L 38-45 vs. Oregon)
2013 Alabama (sec) +27.4 Sugar (vs. Oklahoma)
2000 Miami (FL) (big-east) +27.2 Sugar (W 37-20 vs. Florida)
2011 Alabama (sec) +27.2 BCSCG (W 21-0 vs. Louisiana State)
2009 Boise State (wac) +26.5 Fiesta (W 17-10 vs. Texas Christian)
2010 Ohio State (big-ten) +26.1 Sugar (W 31-26 vs. Arkansas)
2006 Ohio State (big-ten) +25.9 BCSCG (L 14-41 vs. Florida)
2004 Utah (mwc) +25.6 Fiesta (W 35-7 vs. Pittsburgh)
2009 Texas (big-12) +25.5 BCSCG (L 21-37 vs. Alabama)
2008 Texas (big-12) +25.3 Fiesta (W 24-21 vs. Ohio State)
2007 Oklahoma (big-12) +25.2 Fiesta (L 28-48 vs. West Virginia)
1998 Ohio State (big-ten) +25.1 Sugar (W 24-14 vs. Texas A&M)
2013 Ohio State (big-ten) +25.0 Orange (vs. Clemson)
2012 Florida State (acc) +24.8 Orange (W 31-10 vs. Northern Illinois)
2004 Southern California (pac-10) +24.3 Orange (W 55-19 vs. Oklahoma)
2003 Louisiana State (sec) +24.2 Sugar (W 21-14 vs. Oklahoma)
2006 Boise State (wac) +23.8 Fiesta (W 43-42 vs. Oklahoma)
2002 Miami (FL) (big-east) +23.8 Fiesta (L 24-31 vs. Ohio State)
2011 Oklahoma State (big-12) +23.5 Fiesta (W 41-38 vs. Stanford)
2002 Oklahoma (big-12) +23.5 Rose (W 34-14 vs. Washington State)
2003 Southern California (pac-10) +23.4 Rose (W 28-14 vs. Michigan)
2011 Stanford (pac-12) +23.3 Fiesta (L 38-41 vs. Oklahoma State)
2009 Florida (sec) +23.2 Sugar (W 51-24 vs. Cincinnati)
2000 Oklahoma (big-12) +23.0 Orange (W 13-2 vs. Florida State)
2010 Wisconsin (big-ten) +22.8 Rose (L 19-21 vs. Texas Christian)
2011 Oregon (pac-12) +22.5 Rose (W 45-38 vs. Wisconsin)
2010 Stanford (pac-10) +22.5 Orange (W 40-12 vs. Virginia Tech)
1999 Wisconsin (big-ten) +22.5 Rose (W 17-9 vs. Stanford)
2004 Oklahoma (big-12) +22.4 Orange (L 19-55 vs. Southern California)
2006 Louisville (big-east) +22.3 Orange (W 24-13 vs. Wake Forest)
2003 Kansas State (big-12) +22.3 Fiesta (L 28-35 vs. Ohio State)
2004 Auburn (sec) +22.3 Sugar (W 16-13 vs. Virginia Tech)
2007 Hawaii (wac) +22.0 Sugar (L 10-41 vs. Georgia)
2012 Northern Illinois (mac) +21.8 Orange (L 10-31 vs. Florida State)
1999 Nebraska (big-12) +21.8 Fiesta (W 31-21 vs. Tennessee)
2007 West Virginia (big-east) +21.7 Fiesta (W 48-28 vs. Oklahoma)
2001 Nebraska (big-12) +21.7 Rose (L 14-37 vs. Miami (FL))
1999 Florida State (acc) +21.6 Sugar (W 46-29 vs. Virginia Tech)
2007 Ohio State (big-ten) +21.3 BCSCG (L 24-38 vs. Louisiana State)
2003 Michigan (big-ten) +21.3 Rose (L 14-28 vs. Southern California)
1998 Wisconsin (big-ten) +21.1 Rose (W 38-31 vs. UCLA)
2002 Iowa (big-ten) +20.8 Orange (L 17-38 vs. Southern California)
2009 Alabama (sec) +20.7 BCSCG (W 37-21 vs. Texas)
2006 Louisiana State (sec) +20.6 Sugar (W 41-14 vs. Notre Dame)
1998 Florida State (acc) +20.6 Fiesta (L 16-23 vs. Tennessee)
2008 Utah (mwc) +20.2 Sugar (W 31-17 vs. Alabama)
2004 Virginia Tech (acc) +19.7 Sugar (L 13-16 vs. Auburn)
2012 Kansas State (big-12) +19.6 Fiesta (L 17-35 vs. Oregon)
1998 Tennessee (sec) +19.6 Fiesta (W 23-16 vs. Florida State)
2009 Cincinnati (big-east) +19.1 Sugar (L 24-51 vs. Florida)
2013 Clemson (acc) +19.1 Orange (vs. Ohio State)
2007 Louisiana State (sec) +19.1 BCSCG (W 38-24 vs. Ohio State)
2004 Texas (big-12) +18.8 Rose (W 38-37 vs. Michigan)
2005 Penn State (big-ten) +18.7 Orange (W 26-23 vs. Florida State)
2010 Auburn (sec) +18.2 BCSCG (W 22-19 vs. Oregon)
2008 Alabama (sec) +18.2 Sugar (L 17-31 vs. Utah)
1998 Syracuse (big-east) +18.1 Orange (L 10-31 vs. Florida)
2005 Ohio State (big-ten) +17.7 Fiesta (W 34-20 vs. Notre Dame)
2000 Florida (sec) +17.7 Sugar (L 20-37 vs. Miami (FL))
1998 Florida (sec) +17.6 Orange (W 31-10 vs. Syracuse)
2002 Georgia (sec) +17.3 Sugar (W 26-13 vs. Florida State)
2009 Ohio State (big-ten) +17.1 Rose (W 26-17 vs. Oregon)
2013 Michigan State (big-ten) +17.1 Rose (vs. Stanford)
2011 Michigan (big-ten) +17.0 Sugar (W 23-20 vs. Virginia Tech)
2003 Florida State (acc) +17.0 Orange (L 14-16 vs. Miami (FL))
2002 Southern California (pac-10) +17.0 Orange (W 38-17 vs. Iowa)
2002 Ohio State (big-ten) +16.9 Fiesta (W 31-24 vs. Miami (FL))
1999 Tennessee (sec) +16.8 Fiesta (L 21-31 vs. Nebraska)
2010 Virginia Tech (acc) +16.5 Orange (L 12-40 vs. Stanford)
2012 Notre Dame (independent) +16.4 BCSCG (L 14-42 vs. Alabama)
2001 Maryland (acc) +16.4 Orange (L 23-56 vs. Florida)
2013 Auburn (sec) +16.2 BCSCG (vs. Florida State)
2006 Michigan (big-ten) +15.6 Rose (L 18-32 vs. Southern California)
2006 Southern California (pac-10) +15.4 Rose (W 32-18 vs. Michigan)
2006 Florida (sec) +15.4 BCSCG (W 41-14 vs. Ohio State)
2007 Southern California (pac-10) +15.3 Rose (W 49-17 vs. Illinois)
2005 West Virginia (big-east) +15.3 Sugar (W 38-35 vs. Georgia)
2008 Ohio State (big-ten) +15.1 Fiesta (L 21-24 vs. Texas)
2013 Stanford (pac-12) +14.6 Rose (vs. Michigan State)
2010 Arkansas (sec) +14.6 Sugar (L 26-31 vs. Ohio State)
2005 Notre Dame (independent) +14.5 Fiesta (L 20-34 vs. Ohio State)
2005 Georgia (sec) +14.5 Sugar (L 35-38 vs. West Virginia)
2010 Oklahoma (big-12) +14.5 Fiesta (W 48-20 vs. Connecticut)
2000 Oregon State (pac-10) +14.2 Fiesta (W 41-9 vs. Notre Dame)
2009 Oregon (pac-10) +14.1 Rose (L 17-26 vs. Ohio State)
2006 Oklahoma (big-12) +14.1 Fiesta (L 42-43 vs. Boise State)
2007 Virginia Tech (acc) +13.8 Orange (L 21-24 vs. Kansas)
2012 Florida (sec) +13.8 Sugar (L 23-33 vs. Louisville)
2003 Miami (FL) (big-east) +13.6 Orange (W 16-14 vs. Florida State)
2013 Central Florida (american) +13.6 Fiesta (vs. Baylor)
1998 UCLA (pac-10) +13.0 Rose (L 31-38 vs. Wisconsin)
2002 Washington State (pac-10) +12.9 Rose (L 14-34 vs. Oklahoma)
2001 Oregon (pac-10) +12.2 Fiesta (W 38-16 vs. Colorado)
2012 Wisconsin (big-ten) +11.7 Rose (L 14-20 vs. Stanford)
2000 Purdue (big-ten) +11.4 Rose (L 24-34 vs. Washington)
2011 Virginia Tech (acc) +11.3 Sugar (L 20-23 vs. Michigan)
2012 Stanford (pac-12) +11.0 Rose (W 20-14 vs. Wisconsin)
2007 Georgia (sec) +10.9 Sugar (W 41-10 vs. Hawaii)
2002 Florida State (acc) +10.8 Sugar (L 13-26 vs. Georgia)
2001 Illinois (big-ten) +10.7 Sugar (L 34-47 vs. Louisiana State)
2000 Notre Dame (independent) +10.7 Fiesta (L 9-41 vs. Oregon State)
2013 Oklahoma (big-12) +10.5 Sugar (vs. Alabama)
2009 Georgia Tech (acc) +10.5 Orange (L 14-24 vs. Iowa)
1999 Michigan (big-ten) +10.3 Orange (W 35-34 vs. Alabama)
1998 Texas A&M (big-12) +10.1 Sugar (L 14-24 vs. Ohio State)
2006 Notre Dame (independent) +10.0 Sugar (L 14-41 vs. Louisiana State)
2000 Washington (pac-10) +9.7 Rose (W 34-24 vs. Purdue)
2001 Colorado (big-12) +9.7 Fiesta (L 16-38 vs. Oregon)
1999 Alabama (sec) +9.5 Orange (L 34-35 vs. Michigan)
2007 Illinois (big-ten) +9.3 Rose (L 17-49 vs. Southern California)
2011 West Virginia (big-east) +8.7 Orange (W 70-33 vs. Clemson)
2001 Louisiana State (sec) +8.6 Sugar (W 47-34 vs. Illinois)
2004 Michigan (big-ten) +8.4 Rose (L 37-38 vs. Texas)
2005 Florida State (acc) +7.8 Orange (L 23-26 vs. Penn State)
2009 Iowa (big-ten) +7.6 Orange (W 24-14 vs. Georgia Tech)
2006 Wake Forest (acc) +7.5 Orange (L 13-24 vs. Louisville)
2011 Clemson (acc) +7.5 Orange (L 33-70 vs. West Virginia)
2012 Louisville (big-east) +7.2 Sugar (W 33-23 vs. Florida)
2003 Ohio State (big-ten) +7.2 Fiesta (W 35-28 vs. Kansas State)
2008 Cincinnati (big-east) +7.2 Orange (L 7-20 vs. Virginia Tech)
2010 Connecticut (big-east) +7.1 Fiesta (L 20-48 vs. Oklahoma)
2004 Pittsburgh (big-east) +5.9 Fiesta (L 7-35 vs. Utah)
1999 Stanford (pac-10) +5.6 Rose (L 9-17 vs. Wisconsin)
2008 Virginia Tech (acc) +4.8 Orange (W 20-7 vs. Cincinnati)

Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, CFB at Sports Reference, History, Pro-Football-Reference.com, SRS, Stat Questions, Statgeekery, Trivia | 6 Comments »

Announcing the Player Streak Finder

5th December 2013

Today we push out a tool I've been meaning to write for a while: a player streak finder. Inspired by the great Baseball Reference streak finders, this tool will let you find consecutive player games or seasons in which a particular criteria was met. For instance, if you're wondering which QB has the longest streak of games without an interception, the answer is Tom Brady, with 11 (for games with at least 14 pass attempts). Or how about which running back has the most consecutive seasons of 1000+ yards (Emmit Smith, with 11).

You can also filter by team on offense (or defense for games searches), for instance to find out which quarterback has the most consecutive games against the Browns with a TD pass or which Bears running back has the most consecutive 1000+ yard seasons.

Posted in Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com | 7 Comments »