The Football Analytics Show by The Power Rank and Ed Feng

Host Ed Feng discusses how to use yards per play adjusted for strength of schedule to evaluate college football teams for 2018. He talks about the 0-4 team better than its record suggests, and the 5-0 team poised for disappointment. Then he digs into the team with playoff hopes that has seen a drastic decline on defense. He ends with some quick insights on 4 teams, including Michigan and Ohio State.

Rob Pizzola, a numbers based sports bettor, joins the show to discuss football and hockey analytics. He shares his experience starting out as a bettor and running the Prediction Machine site. Rob also discusses his NFL modeling and which team he's looking to back the next few weeks. With the start of the NHL season on October 4th, he educates us on the latest in hockey analytics and gives a bold prediction for the upcoming season.

David Hale, writer for ESPN, joins me to discuss his recent article on turnovers in college football. He talks about how game situation affects turnovers, and how these big plays can have interesting psychological consequences on the other team (e.g. Miami's turnover chain in 2017). We also discuss the catastrophe of Florida State, and whether to back or fade them. David also provides his thoughts on Clemson and Dabo Swinney's early season approach to coaching.

Josh Hermsmeyer, a data scientist and writer for FiveThirtyEight, joins me talk about his work on NFL passing analytics. He explains the concept of air yards and how the distance the ball travels in the air can lead to predictive stats. Josh also discusses his recent FiveThirtyEight article on how NFL offenses do not pass nearly enough. Finally, he gives us a value player for DFS and an NFL team prediction.

Kevin Cole, Director of Data and Analytics at RotoGrinders, joins the show to talk the 2018 NFL season. He tells us about his Bayesian model for projecting young quarterbacks and how it sees Jimmy Garappolo, Dak Prescott, Carson Wentz and Jared Goff. Kevin also gives predictions for DFS (a receiver to target) and the NFL (team that won't make the playoffs).

Sometimes, a college football team doesn't live up to the hype. Host Ed Feng uses the preseason AP poll as a benchmark for expectations, then employs a regression model to find 3 overrated teams for 2018.

Bill Connelly, college football analytics expert and writer at SB Nation, joins me to discuss the upcoming season. We talk about his study on explosive plays, which has implications for Michigan's defense and Stanford's offense. Bill then tells us how his preseason model works, and what it says about Miami and USC. We end with Bill's overrated and underrated team for 2018.

Aaron Schatz, founder of Football Outsiders and pioneer in football analytics, joins the show to discuss his predictions for the 2018 NFL season. He tells us why the defense in Cleveland and Indianapolis will be much better than anyone expects. We also get into projecting San Francisco QB Jimmy Garoppolo based on a small sample size. Finally, Aaron reveals the secret to why Baltimore and New England might succeed this season.

Gill Alexander, host of A Numbers Game on VSIN, joins me for a wide ranging discussion on football analytics. He tells us story behind his Beating the Book podcast and how he weaves numbers into the show. Then we discuss the upcoming NFL season, including Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Cleveland among other teams. We end with Gill's movie recommendation that the analytics seem to like.

Will the Los Angeles Rams dominate after their free agent signings this off season? Will San Francisco burst into the playoffs with new QB Jimmy Garappolo? Will Cincinnati struggle again? Host Ed Feng harnesses the wisdom of crowds to get NFL preseason rankings and answer these questions.