Give any statistician a few numbers to work with and they can be downright deadly, if you pay any attention to them.
“Put in the second string. We’ve never lost with a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.”
“The Dow is up to 14,000. Who says we need to stop buying these loans?”
“The polls put our guy ahead by 11 points in Mid-October. Call that tuxedo place and tell ‘em I’m buying mine for the inaugural ball.”
After its first three games, UTEP paid no attention to the stat that no Miners football team has ever won three-in-a-row after starting 0-and-3. Good thing for them, too, seeing as the 2008 team became the first of 15 to come all the way back.
Again, that’s if you listen to the statisticians. Many of them picked the Miners to be 3-and-3, but not to lose the first three. Silly stats geeks – they keep looking at numbers. The answer, my friend, was blowin’ in the wind.
If the stats geeks had paid attention to their sense of smell, they would have known UTEP would be 0-and-3 against teams with mascots that moo or mascots that take care of mascots that moo.
As for the present win streak, there was a stat there, too.
If stats geeks had looked they would have found a stat that would foretell the
Miners three-game winning streak. UTEP is 3-0 against Conference
Think about it – UTEP pasted
And coming this week, the
Put it in the books and forget the 17-and-a-half point spread, the Miners go to 4-3 this Saturday.
How will they do this with a porous defense against the
nation’s number one offense? Mike Price is still working on that, watching tape
of other defenses that didn’t work with Osia Lewis and his staff.
Price even bought Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn’s DVD and book on how to run his offense, plus he got a little professional help in deciphering TU’s complicated signaling system.
Maybe the best way UTEP can beat the Malzahn Method is with
it’s own offense. A big play offense that has been getting big plays lately
will tangle with a suspect Golden Hurricane defense.
They’ve had problems on both sides of the ball. The Miners defense has allowed a few of its own big plays and receivers have dropped more than one good pass.
But one of the best things UTEP has shown over the last
three weeks is something no statistician can track – heart.
Will that translate to a win as the Miners take a step up in the level of competition against the Golden Hurricane?
Maybe the Miners should take a page from
“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.” If you pay attention to the stats.
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