Much of the time, a final score pretty well sums up the approximate differences between two teams. But, a few times a week, it’s the most misleading thing about a game!

Two weeks ago, UCLA beat BYU 27-17 despite being outgained by almost 200 yards. Of note:

*BYU won total yardage 435-236
*BYU held UCLA to 3.0 yards-per-carry, and less than 130 passing yards
*BYU held UCLA to a woeful 2 of 12 on third down conversions

How did UCLA win? BYU’s inexperienced offense kept giving the ball away. UCLA won the turnover category 4-1, and returned an interception for a TD.

If you were scoreboard watching, it looked like UCLA was storming to a big early lead (20-3 at the half) and coasting home. If you were boxscore watching, you knew that the Bruins weren’t playing very well outside of the turnover category.

(Apparently linemaker Las Vegas Sports Consultants just watches scoreboards instead of boxscores. They’ve gone “public” with their official top 30 every week so people can see what the “experts” think compared to the mainstream media. The LVSC “experts” had UCLA as the 6th best team in the country after the BYU game. You’ll see how that illusion was dispelled in a moment. By the way, Nebraska was 7th in those rankings, Louisville 8th, and Georgia Tech 11th. Do some boxscore reading of your own and see if those were accurate!)

This past weekend, UCLA went into Utah a bit overconfident, and got absolutely clobbered on the scoreboard. Fans and sports wagerers all over the country were wondering how a 15-point favorite could lose 44-6!

This time, the fickle turnover category went the other way. UCLA could only turn 373 yards into 6 points because they gave the ball away five times. The Utah game was about statistically even (386-373 yardage edge for Utah). It was a scoreboard rout because Utah was dealing with a short field all day.

So…no…UCLA isn’t a lot better than BYU, but light year’s worse than Utah. And, no they were never the 6th best team in the country either! 

For two weeks in a row, UCLA was involved in one of the most misleading boxscores of the day. What does a more comprehensive analysis show?

*UCLA’s running game is non-existent, averaging less than 100 yards and 3.0 ypc against a pair of Mountain West defenses. Hey, they’re nice defenses…but real top ten caliber teams wouldn’t be that inept on the ground against them.

*UCLA is just 7 of 28 on third down conversions against those teams, a woeful 25% mark. You can’t win at this level if you can’t move the chains and put points on the board. Well, you can’t win unless you get some turnover breaks!

*UCLA was outgained by both BYU and Utah, meaning you’d be hardpressed to pick them to win the Mountain West, let alone make a run at the Pac 10 crown.

As you handicap this week’s card, make sure you’re basing your conclusions on what happened on the field of play, NOT what happened on the scoreboard!

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