HurricaneVision
Staff Writer
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2012
- Messages
- 943
When I was reviewing prospects for the 2015 NFL Draft, one thing kept popping up from NFL talent evaluators that I would read: “How could a Miami team with all that talent finish 6-7?”
That statement piqued my interest and led me to wonder if their season was truly an outlier, or just another case of a talented team underperforming expectations and talent level. Given the fact we all are wanting to review the job Golden did, I needed a set end point, and since 2005 was the year Golden was hired for his first coaching job at Temple, ten seasons is a nice sized data set- and a round number- I decided to go back to 2005 and build a database of each team that had a finalist for the Mackey Award (Walford in 2014), a 1st round pick at OL (Flowers), two first round picks in the draft (Flowers, Dorsett), or a Butkus award finalist (Perryman). I decided to limit my database to merely finalists for a major award that we had a finalist for last year. This means that Miami was even more of an outlier due to the fact that Duke Johnson was one of 10 semi-finalists for the Doak Walker award (best RB) and the Walter Camp offensive player of the year award.
From 2005-2014, there were 29 teams with a Mackey Award finalist on their team. These teams averaged 9.6 wins, 3.5 losses. Over this timeframe, 27 of the 29 teams had a winning record- 93.1% of teams (Miami in 2014, Minnesota in 2006 did not). 18 of the 29 teams won double digit games- 62% of teams.
There were 56 teams with a first round OL on their team. These teams averaged 9.0 wins, 4.0 losses per season. Over this timeframe, 49 of the 56 teams had a winning record- 87.5% of teams. 21 of the 56 teams won double digit games- 37.5% of teams.
There were 59 teams with at least two first round picks in the same season. These teams averaged 10.2 wins, 3.0 losses per season. 57 of the 59 teams had a winning record- 96.6% (2014 Miami, 2010 Colorado did not). 39 of the 59 teams had double digit wins- 66.1% of teams.
There were 42 teams with a Butkus award finalist on their team. These teams averaged 9.4 wins, 3.7 losses per season. Over this timeframe, 35 of the 42 teams had a winning record- 83.3% of teams. 21 of the 42 teams won double digit games- 50% of teams.
One other team over the past 10 seasons had the combination of a Mackey finalist, 1st round OL, two 1st round picks, Butkus award finalist on their team- 2009 Florida (13-1). Again, this doesn’t even include Duke. Florida had Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps at RB with Tebow at QB.
Over these 10 seasons, these teams met three areas of the criteria: 2014 Florida State (14-1), 2013 Ohio State (12-2), 2012 Notre Dame (12-1), 2010 Wisconsin (11-2), 2007 USC (11-2), 2005 Ohio State (10-2). Every single team that the award nominees that Miami had last year won at least 10 games. When you consider the fact that Miami also had a Doak Walker semi-finalist and the ACC Freshman of the Year at QB, you could reasonably argue that the 2014 Miami Hurricanes are one of the most underachieving football teams of the modern era, and without question over the last 10 seasons. I’m not sure you can put it any other way but to say that Golden had massive amounts of talent on last year’s team and completely mismanaged them into a losing record the likes of which we may not have ever seen before.
That statement piqued my interest and led me to wonder if their season was truly an outlier, or just another case of a talented team underperforming expectations and talent level. Given the fact we all are wanting to review the job Golden did, I needed a set end point, and since 2005 was the year Golden was hired for his first coaching job at Temple, ten seasons is a nice sized data set- and a round number- I decided to go back to 2005 and build a database of each team that had a finalist for the Mackey Award (Walford in 2014), a 1st round pick at OL (Flowers), two first round picks in the draft (Flowers, Dorsett), or a Butkus award finalist (Perryman). I decided to limit my database to merely finalists for a major award that we had a finalist for last year. This means that Miami was even more of an outlier due to the fact that Duke Johnson was one of 10 semi-finalists for the Doak Walker award (best RB) and the Walter Camp offensive player of the year award.
From 2005-2014, there were 29 teams with a Mackey Award finalist on their team. These teams averaged 9.6 wins, 3.5 losses. Over this timeframe, 27 of the 29 teams had a winning record- 93.1% of teams (Miami in 2014, Minnesota in 2006 did not). 18 of the 29 teams won double digit games- 62% of teams.
There were 56 teams with a first round OL on their team. These teams averaged 9.0 wins, 4.0 losses per season. Over this timeframe, 49 of the 56 teams had a winning record- 87.5% of teams. 21 of the 56 teams won double digit games- 37.5% of teams.
There were 59 teams with at least two first round picks in the same season. These teams averaged 10.2 wins, 3.0 losses per season. 57 of the 59 teams had a winning record- 96.6% (2014 Miami, 2010 Colorado did not). 39 of the 59 teams had double digit wins- 66.1% of teams.
There were 42 teams with a Butkus award finalist on their team. These teams averaged 9.4 wins, 3.7 losses per season. Over this timeframe, 35 of the 42 teams had a winning record- 83.3% of teams. 21 of the 42 teams won double digit games- 50% of teams.
One other team over the past 10 seasons had the combination of a Mackey finalist, 1st round OL, two 1st round picks, Butkus award finalist on their team- 2009 Florida (13-1). Again, this doesn’t even include Duke. Florida had Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps at RB with Tebow at QB.
Over these 10 seasons, these teams met three areas of the criteria: 2014 Florida State (14-1), 2013 Ohio State (12-2), 2012 Notre Dame (12-1), 2010 Wisconsin (11-2), 2007 USC (11-2), 2005 Ohio State (10-2). Every single team that the award nominees that Miami had last year won at least 10 games. When you consider the fact that Miami also had a Doak Walker semi-finalist and the ACC Freshman of the Year at QB, you could reasonably argue that the 2014 Miami Hurricanes are one of the most underachieving football teams of the modern era, and without question over the last 10 seasons. I’m not sure you can put it any other way but to say that Golden had massive amounts of talent on last year’s team and completely mismanaged them into a losing record the likes of which we may not have ever seen before.
