| Phil Steele Blog • August 3, 2015 |
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2014 Starts Lost to Injury.
Each year in my magazine and usually in my summer blog series, I list the teams that lost the most or fewest games due to injuries or disciplinary reasons. Although certain programs are better at keeping players healthy, while other programs tend to screen more rigorously for character (or perhaps are more lenient on punishment), the inclusion of a team on either list is generally attributable to good old fashioned luck.
For this reason, my research has shown that teams that benefit from great health tend to have a weaker season the next year. Perhaps the best example of the importance of health is the 2000 Oklahoma National Championship team, which did not lose a single starter all season. On the flip side, injury riddled teams tend to bounce back and improve in the next year. A recent example is Colorado State, which lost 53 starts in 2012 to injury (and suspension) and went 4-8. In 2013, they were much healthier and went 8-6, including getting their first bowl win since2001.
As I do each off-season, I re-evaluated my annual analysis on this topic and made some slight tweaks to the parameters. In this case, I raised the starts lost threshold to 34 (from 32) at the top end and reduced the threshold to 5 (from 6). Here are the results of my research:
Lost 34 Starts or More
In the last 8 years, there have been 126 teams that have lost 34 or more starts. Of this 126, the results are as follows:
- 71 had an improved record (56.3%)
- 15 had the same record (11.9%)
- 86 improved or remained the same (68.3%)
This year’s teams that fall into this category are:
- Iowa State- 42
- Wyoming- 41
- BYU- 38
- Texas A&M- 37
- Appalachian State- 35
- Georgia State- 34
- San Jose State- 34
Lost 5 Starts or Fewer
In the last 8 years, there have been 56 teams that have lost 5 or fewer starts. Of this 56, the results are as follows:
- 37 had a worse record (66.1%)
- 6 had the same record (8.9%)
- 43 had a worse or same record (76.8%)
This year’s teams that fall into this category are:
- Ohio State- 4
- Fresno State- 5
- Michigan State- 5
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