The 2013 and 2014 seasons each had a game that I choose to believe does not exist. If I’m looking for a pattern, the 2013 installment was the last game of the season, 2014’s was the exact mid-point of the season and 2015’s version was the first game. Hopefully that pattern holds true and we got the game of denial out of the way early.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some 2014 data as our Cougs prep for our "opener" vs Rutgers this Saturday. Last year’s Cougars saw great improvement in total offense going from 54th in 2013 to 7th in the country, picking up more than 6,200 yards, and saw a solid move in the right direction in Offense S&P+ (comprehensive advanced metric that adjusts for opponent strength) from 51st to 39th.