Sports Reference Blog

Stathead Football’s Newest College Tool is Here

Posted by Jonah Gardner on December 3, 2024

We're excited to announce that the College Team Season Finder is live on Stathead Football! This tool completes our set of college football search tools, giving you the power to unlock the College Football Reference database in ways that you've never been able to before.

With the College Team Season Finder, you can answer questions like:

  1. What team had the most rushing yards in a season?
  2. What was the most wins by a team that finished the season unranked?
  3. What was the best point differential by a school in the 1990s?
  4. What school has the most losses since 2020?

If you've never tried Stathead, bowl season is the perfect time! You can get a free one-month trial when you sign up today!

Posted in CFB at Sports Reference, Stathead | No Comments »

Another New College Football Tool for Stathead!

Posted by Jonah Gardner on November 21, 2024

That's right! Just one week after launching the College Player Game Finder, we're back with another new college football tool. Say hello to the College Team Game Finder!

As you'd guess from the name, the College Team Game Finder is a search engine that is powered by College Football Reference's extensive database of college box scores. You can search team stats like yards and turnovers back to 2000, while scores and points are complete back to 1869! Some questions you can answer include

  1. What team had the most passing TDs in a bowl game?
  2. What was the heaviest loss by a team that won the National Championship?
  3. What team had the most games in a season with 50+ pass attempts?
  4. What year had the most bowl games decided by double-digits?

If you've never used Stathead, this is the perfect time to start your free trial! Sign up for a monthly plan and your first month is on us. Cancel anytime

Posted in Announcement, CFB at Sports Reference | Comments Off on Another New College Football Tool for Stathead!

A New College Football Tool Launches on Stathead

Posted by Jonah Gardner on November 15, 2024

Exciting news! We've just launched the College Player Game Finder tool on Stathead!

This new tool gives you the power to explore College Football Reference's extensive box scores in new and exciting ways. You can answer questions like

  1. What was the most passing yards in a game by a freshman?
  2. Who had the most games with a passing TD and a rushing TD?
  3. Who had the most sacks in a College Football Playoff game?
  4. What season had the most 400-yard passing games?

Coverage for player stats goes all the way back to 2000, giving you close to 25 years of college football gamelogs to search.

If you haven't tried Stathead, now is the time! Your first month is free, meaning you can explore both of our college football tools during this crucial point in the CFB season. Plus, we have more tools on the way, including a Team Game Finder launching very soon.

Try Stathead Football today or login.

Posted in Announcement, CFB at Sports Reference, Stathead | Comments Off on A New College Football Tool Launches on Stathead

Huge Update to Historical Women’s College Basketball Stats

Posted by Mike Lynch on November 13, 2024

We are thrilled to announce that we have released a huge update to the women's college basketball statistics appearing on College Basketball Reference. With this update, we now have player, team and opponent statistics going all the way back to 1981-82, which was the first season of NCAA-sanctioned women's basketball. This exciting update now gives us statistics for legends such as Cheryl Miller, Anne Donovan, Yolanda Laney, Teresa Edwards, Katrina McClain, Wanda Ford, Cynthia Cooper and Doris Burke. Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, CBB at Sports Reference, Data, History | 1 Comment »

Full Box Scores and Statistics Added for 1984 Men’s Olympic Basketball

Posted by Mike Lynch on November 4, 2024

Thanks to the research of Todd Spehr, we have recently enhanced and expanded our statistical coverage of the 1984 Men's Olympic Basketball competition. Our box scores, and therefore our cumulative stats for the competition, now have all of the categories recorded at the time accounted for. These games, in Los Angeles, represented the Olympic debut of a young Michael Jordan months before his NBA debut. The Gold Medal-winning U.S. team also featured Hall of Famers Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing. They were the last all-college team to win Olympic Gold. We hope you enjoy this addition.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Data, History | Comments Off on Full Box Scores and Statistics Added for 1984 Men’s Olympic Basketball

Sam Davis Memorial Award Added to Basketball Reference

Posted by Mike Lynch on October 31, 2024

Last week we added the USBWA MVP (and voting) to Basketball Reference. Today we are happy to announce that we have added some more award to Basketball Reference, allowing us to more fully flesh out our coverage of historical MVP and ROY awards. The most important and notable addition in this group is the Sam Davis Memorial Award, which was awarded by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association to the MVP each season from 1949-50 (the first NBA season after the merger of the BAA and NBL) through 1974-75. The NBA would merge with the ABA after the 1975-76 season, so this is a nearly full accounting of 'unofficial' MVPs from the original incarnation of the NBA. The MBWA also awarded an NBA Rookie of the Year, called the Hy Turkin Memorial Award. The organization also briefly had ABA counterparts for both of these awards: MBWA Outstanding ABA Player of the Year and MBWA Outstanding ABA Rookie. Read the rest of this entry

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USBWA MVP Award (and voting) Added to Basketball Reference

Posted by Mike Lynch on October 25, 2024

In modern times, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) is an organization for journalists covering college basketball. However, many decades ago writers covering the pro game were also part of the USBWA. The organization for journalists covering professional basketball is the Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA). But the PBWA wasn't formed until the 1970s. It has voted for many major NBA honors since 1980-81. Before this, however, the NBA MVP was determined by a player vote. Players could not vote for teammates and, thus, it was impossible to be a unanimous MVP. However, from 1958-59 through 1965-66, the USBWA pulled double duty and, in addition to voting for collegiate honors, handed out its own NBA MVP award, which was voted on by three scribes from each NBA city.

Basketball Reference is thrilled to announce that we have added this award (and full voting tallies!) to our database. This voting provides an interesting peek at what modern award voting methods would have rewarded in some vintage NBA seasons. Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Awards, Basketball-Reference.com, Data | Comments Off on USBWA MVP Award (and voting) Added to Basketball Reference

Corrections Applied to Historical Game-Level Team Turnovers on Basketball Reference

Posted by Mike Lynch on October 22, 2024

Basketball Reference is thrilled to announce a subtle, but meaningful, improvement to our game-level NBA statistics: the addition of 'team' turnovers to our single-game team turnover totals for all seasons back to 1993-94. Go ahead and read that again. And then maybe again. Again? Yes, it's a confusing word salad. But we'll explain. At least we'll try to! Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Data, History, Statgeekery | Comments Off on Corrections Applied to Historical Game-Level Team Turnovers on Basketball Reference

Coverage of Games vs Non-Major Opponents Extended Back to 1992-93 on Sports Reference College Basketball

Posted by Mike Lynch on October 21, 2024

The school schedules for men's basketball teams have recently been updated to include games vs. non-major opponents back through the 1992-93 season on College Basketball Reference. Previously, the schedules were only complete with all non-major opponents back until 1994-95. This means that the La Salle fan writing this can now look back and (not) laugh when reviewing the Explorers' 1992-93 season schedule, which opened with a narrow victory over Hall of Famer Herb Magee's Division II Philadelphia Textile Rams (now known as Jefferson University). Or perhaps you'd prefer to see a vintage Georgetown/St. Leo result. Either way, we've now got it! We'd like to thank Kevin Johnson for providing us with this improved information. Please keep your eyes peeled for further enhancements on this front in the future.

Posted in Announcement, CBB at Sports Reference, Data | Comments Off on Coverage of Games vs Non-Major Opponents Extended Back to 1992-93 on Sports Reference College Basketball

Complete Box Scores Added for Chicago Packers/Zephyrs

Posted by Mike Lynch on October 21, 2024

There may not be too many Chicago Packers or Chicago Zephyrs fans around these days, but nonetheless we are incredibly excited to announce that we now have full, official box scores for every game in the history of these teams on Basketball Reference. Over a decade after the demise of the Chicago Stags, the Chicago Packers were an expansion team in 1961-62. The following season they changed their name to the Chicago Zephyrs. After two seasons in the Windy City, they blew all the way east to Baltimore, where they were known as the Bullets, eventually moving to the nation's capital where they are now known as the Washington Wizards. The Chicago Bulls became an expansion team in 1966-67 and were the first Chicago NBA franchise to truly stick. Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Data, History | Comments Off on Complete Box Scores Added for Chicago Packers/Zephyrs