I got this off another site I thought it was interesting to note. This is based solely on the top special teams! These are interesting #'s!
Special Teams – Are They Really That Special?
Insider Edge Sports
One of the most overlooked areas of handicapping football is special teams. Whether it’s the ability to make a late game-winning field goal, punting the ball inside the 20, or returning a kickoff to the 35-yard line, special teams can make or break a team. Consistent special teams leads to consistent winning, thus consistent profits for the player. So in a nutshell, special teams are that special and should always be looked at when doing your handicapping.
In college football, good kickers and punters are few and far between. Bad kicking leads to missed field goals, short kickoffs and shanked punts. Field position is enormous for a team on both sides of the ball and if they have solid kickers and punters, they are ahead of the game already. Return men also play a huge part with their ability to make big things happen and help secure good field position for their offense. Kentucky was blessed with a great punter with Glenn Pakulak, who was the 2002 special teams player of the year. They also had the best return man in the country with Derek Abney, who returned 6 kicks for touchdowns last season. So it comes to no surprise that Kentucky was #1 in our special teams rankings.
In the NFL, the kicking game is obviously a lot better with a lot more parity but it doesn’t mean it is any less important. Our results will show just that.
We look at everything from field goals to return yards to kicks inside the 20 when compiling our rankings. First we’ll look at our NCAA top 25 rankings and see what they show us.
21.26 Kentucky
21.17 Oregon
20.89 Nebraska
20.78 Iowa
20.68 Maryland
20.65 Tulane
20.61 Colorado
20.52 South Fla.
20.49 LSU
20.26 Kansas St.
20.09 Georgia
20.06 Brigham Young
20.02 Texas
19.96 Northern Ill.
19.89 UCLA
19.74 Southern Methodist
19.64 Colorado St.
19.61 Oklahoma
19.57 Syracuse
19.18 Tennessee
19.18 Missouri
19.10 TCU
19.08 California
18.92 San Jose St.
18.92 Miami (Fla.)
These teams went a combined 174-131 record ATS (57.0%), a very respectable against the spread number. The top 10 teams on our list were significantly better with a 74-45 record ATS (62.2%). Of those top 10 teams, all but Nebraska finished the season with a winning straight up mark showing how a good special teams unit can lead to success.
As stated earlier, special teams in the NFL are more uniform but nevertheless, they still play a huge role. Here is our top 10 NFL special teams rankings from 2002.
21.31 New Orleans
21.02 NY Jets
20.33 Atlanta
20.13 Philadelphia
19.95 Tampa Bay
19.74 Detroit
19.48 Oakland
19.17 Kansas City
19.08 Miami
19.00 New England
These teams had a combined 97-72 record ATS (57.4%), not as strong as the NCAA list, but still a profitable number at +17.8 units. Handicapping the NCAA and NFL need to be done differently in a lot of ways from each other but this is one aspect of football that it applies to both. Doing your homework on special teams can give you an edge that you didn’t think was there before.
Special Teams – Are They Really That Special?
Insider Edge Sports
One of the most overlooked areas of handicapping football is special teams. Whether it’s the ability to make a late game-winning field goal, punting the ball inside the 20, or returning a kickoff to the 35-yard line, special teams can make or break a team. Consistent special teams leads to consistent winning, thus consistent profits for the player. So in a nutshell, special teams are that special and should always be looked at when doing your handicapping.
In college football, good kickers and punters are few and far between. Bad kicking leads to missed field goals, short kickoffs and shanked punts. Field position is enormous for a team on both sides of the ball and if they have solid kickers and punters, they are ahead of the game already. Return men also play a huge part with their ability to make big things happen and help secure good field position for their offense. Kentucky was blessed with a great punter with Glenn Pakulak, who was the 2002 special teams player of the year. They also had the best return man in the country with Derek Abney, who returned 6 kicks for touchdowns last season. So it comes to no surprise that Kentucky was #1 in our special teams rankings.
In the NFL, the kicking game is obviously a lot better with a lot more parity but it doesn’t mean it is any less important. Our results will show just that.
We look at everything from field goals to return yards to kicks inside the 20 when compiling our rankings. First we’ll look at our NCAA top 25 rankings and see what they show us.
21.26 Kentucky
21.17 Oregon
20.89 Nebraska
20.78 Iowa
20.68 Maryland
20.65 Tulane
20.61 Colorado
20.52 South Fla.
20.49 LSU
20.26 Kansas St.
20.09 Georgia
20.06 Brigham Young
20.02 Texas
19.96 Northern Ill.
19.89 UCLA
19.74 Southern Methodist
19.64 Colorado St.
19.61 Oklahoma
19.57 Syracuse
19.18 Tennessee
19.18 Missouri
19.10 TCU
19.08 California
18.92 San Jose St.
18.92 Miami (Fla.)
These teams went a combined 174-131 record ATS (57.0%), a very respectable against the spread number. The top 10 teams on our list were significantly better with a 74-45 record ATS (62.2%). Of those top 10 teams, all but Nebraska finished the season with a winning straight up mark showing how a good special teams unit can lead to success.
As stated earlier, special teams in the NFL are more uniform but nevertheless, they still play a huge role. Here is our top 10 NFL special teams rankings from 2002.
21.31 New Orleans
21.02 NY Jets
20.33 Atlanta
20.13 Philadelphia
19.95 Tampa Bay
19.74 Detroit
19.48 Oakland
19.17 Kansas City
19.08 Miami
19.00 New England
These teams had a combined 97-72 record ATS (57.4%), not as strong as the NCAA list, but still a profitable number at +17.8 units. Handicapping the NCAA and NFL need to be done differently in a lot of ways from each other but this is one aspect of football that it applies to both. Doing your homework on special teams can give you an edge that you didn’t think was there before.
