Daily Blog - Saturday May 30th

So far this week I have gone over the tackles returning % from 2008 for each of the 120 teams and yesterday it was total offensive yards returning from 2008. Today I look at lettermen. You cannot compare teams in terms of lettermen returning as some schools hand out letters for being at practice every day and others do not even award letters to some players in the two deep! The lowest amount of letters awarded in the last 10 years was 38 at Syracuse in 2003 and by contrast Nebraska in 2001 handed out 82! You cannot judge a team based on lettermen returning or lost. You can judge a team by % of lettermen returning which does away with the total number. As an example 32 lettermen returning out of 38 would be 85% and that is impressive. Equally impressive would be 70 of 82 lettermen returning which is the same 85%. Only two teams have lower than 50% lettermen returning this year (both service academies). This year the most experienced team in terms of lettermen returning that finished in the Top 10 last year is Alabama with 83.3%. Bama has 55 of 66 lettermen back this year. Texas is not too far behind at 81.3% which is the 5th highest.

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96 DAYS until the first college Football game of 2009!

Here is the complete list of 2009 % of lettermen returning.....

		% of Lett Ret			% of Lett Ret			% of Lett Ret
1	Toledo	89.1%	41	Illinois	73.0%	81	Memphis	68.1%
2	Alabama	83.3%	42	Syracuse	73.0%	82	Clemson	67.9%
3	Kent St	81.9%	43	Ucla	72.9%	83	Ul Monroe	67.8%
4	C Michigan	81.5%	44	Michigan	72.9%	84	Air Force	67.7%
5	Texas	81.3%	45	Texas Tech	72.9%	85	Colorado St	67.7%
6	Stanford	80.6%	46	Tulane	72.6%	86	N Mexico St	67.7%
7	Middle Tenn	80.4%	47	N Texas	72.3%	87	Florida Atlantic	67.6%
8	Minnesota	80.0%	48	Purdue	72.1%	88	Northwestern	67.6%
9	Arizona	79.7%	49	Usf	72.0%	89	Baylor	67.6%
10	Florida International	78.7%	50	California	71.6%	90	Virginia	67.3%
11	Ucf	78.6%	51	Florida St	71.6%	91	Notre Dame	67.2%
12	Uab	78.5%	52	Virginia Tech	71.4%	92	Akron	67.2%
13	Utah St	77.8%	53	Rutgers	71.2%	93	Nebraska	67.2%
14	E Michigan	77.6%	54	Utah	71.1%	94	Ohio University	66.7%
15	Arkansas St	77.3%	55	Oregon	71.0%	95	Tulsa	66.1%
16	Colorado	77.1%	56	Wake Forest	70.3%	96	La Tech	66.1%
17	Fresno St	77.1%	57	Miami Oh	70.3%	97	New Mexico	65.7%
18	Utep	76.4%	58	Troy	70.3%	98	Southern Miss	65.6%
19	Temple	76.1%	59	Georgia Tech	70.1%	99	N Carolina St	65.3%
20	Louisiana Lft	75.8%	60	Kansas	70.0%	100	N Illinois	65.2%
21	San Jose St	75.7%	61	Wisconsin	70.0%	101	Penn St	64.9%
22	Marshall	75.4%	62	Smu	69.9%	102	Rice	64.5%
23	Vanderbilt	75.4%	63	Unlv	69.7%	103	Tennessee	64.3%
24	Arizona St	75.4%	64	Boise St	69.6%	104	Byu	64.3%
25	Usc	75.3%	65	Miami (Fla)	69.6%	105	Ball St	64.3%
26	Nevada	75.0%	66	Oklahoma St	69.4%	106	W Michigan	64.0%
27	Michigan St	75.0%	67	Wyoming	69.4%	107	Connecticut	63.8%
28	Florida	74.6%	68	Auburn	69.1%	108	Kansas St	63.6%
29	Arkansas	74.6%	69	Iowa	69.0%	109	Missouri	63.0%
30	Washington	74.6%	70	Pittsburgh	69.0%	110	Texas A&M	62.7%
31	Oregon St	74.3%	71	Georgia	69.0%	111	Ohio State	61.3%
32	Oklahoma	74.2%	72	Tcu	68.7%	112	Hawaii	60.2%
33	Boston College	74.1%	73	Kentucky	68.5%	113	W Kentucky	60.0%
34	N Carolina	74.1%	74	E Carolina	68.4%	114	Miss St	58.8%
35	Mississippi	73.9%	75	Bowling Green	68.4%	115	S Carolina	58.8%
36	Buffalo	73.5%	76	Wash St	68.3%	116	West Virginia	56.9%
37	Lsu	73.4%	77	Houston	68.3%	117	Duke	55.9%
38	Iowa St	73.2%	78	Cincinnati	68.3%	118	Maryland	55.9%
39	San Diego St	73.1%	79	Idaho	68.2%	119	Navy	49.1%
40	Louisville	73.1%	80	Indiana	68.1%	120	Army	48.7%