Statistically Speaking: EMU Edition

It has been said that there are three kinds of lies:  lies, damned lies and statistics.

Comparing statistics at this point is like comparing apples and baseballs.  Penn State has faced the likes of Alabama and Temple.  Yes--Temple.  EMU has faced THEM and Alabama State, neither of which compares equally with Alabama.  And Temple could probably beat Howard and Alabama State worse than Eastern Michigan did.

Ordinarily, I don't start publishing these stats until we hit Big Ten season, but when I looked at them this past week, I did a double take.

Statistically speaking, EMU is comparable to Penn State, the difference in competition notwithstanding.

NCAA Stats Comparison
Category:	PSU	EMU
Rushing	66	6
Passing Offense	106	118
Total Offense	103	83
Scoring Offense	90	100
Rushing Defense	42	75
Turnovers Gained	31	64
Passes Had Intercepted	49	72
Pass Defense	7	11
Net Punting	108	70
Punt Returns	59	35
Kickoff Returns	53	62
Turnover Margin	32	77
Fumbles Recovered	53	53
Passes Intercepted	18	60
Fumbles Lost	35	35
Turnovers Lost	44	65
Passing Efficiency	115	112
Pass Efficiency Defense	11	31
Total Defense	9	29
Scoring Defense	25	29
Fewest Penalties Per Game	41	97
Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game	44	113
Punt Return Yardage Defense	104	29
Kickoff Return Yardage Defense	91	1
Offense Third-down Efficiency	87	83
Offense Fourth-down Efficiency	13	51
Defense Third-down Efficiency	36	89
Defense Fourth-down Efficiency	48	1
Tackles for Loss	76	5
Offense Tackles for Loss	11	73
Pass Sacks	76	16
Pass Sacks Allowed	44	44
Time of Possession	66	64
First Downs	89	97
First Downs Allowed	14	47
Red Zone Efficiency	75	81
Red Zone Efficiency - Defense	106	64
Average NCAA Rank:	56.14	57.89
Weighted Avg. Rank:	59.5	61.75

They are better than we are offensively so far.  Of course, so are 102 other teams.  But defensively, we don't see the statistical edge that I expected.  In terms of pass defense and scoring defense, the difference is insignificant.

EMU appears to be better special teams-wise.

Seriously?  Three games into the season and we are statistically equal with Eastern Michigan.

Penn State is a 29 point favorite over the Eagles.  Hope we don't need any last second heroics or goal line stands to pull this one out.