I know all of you have been waiting with bated breath about the 2nd edition, and as usual about 10 of you will read it because "TLDR", but for those of you that are taking about 4 craps a day after Thanksgiving weekend and are interested in how football has changed, here is what I have.
Up until 1928 college football seasons varied widely in the number of seasons so I didn't pay much attention to it, years where Mizzou played 3 games or 12 would be hard to really assess.
After 1928 Mizzou played 8-12 regular season games including some really good Faurot years.
Prior to Faurot Mizzou was in a mini dark age, where it went 15-42-5, including the only winless season in Mizzou history. The winning percentage for this era was .242, or the equivalent to ~3-9 season today, something Mizzou has not done since Smith went 3-8 in 2000.
From 1935-1942 Faurot went 48-24-6 (.6154). Equivalent to between 8-4 and 7-5 today. The ceiling was 8-2 and the floor was 3-6-1. Today that would equate to a ~9/10 win season and a 4-8 type season.
Faurot left to serve in the Navy in 1943-1945 and I've excluded the war years in this analysis because one year only 8 games was played.
After WW2, Faurot returned to go 47-52-3 (.4608). Equivalent to going about 5-7 or 6-6 today. His ceiling was 8-3 with a floor of 1-9 (yikes).
Broyles took over for one year and went 5-4-1, basically a 6-6 season.
So from 1928-1942 and 1946-1957 the numbers compared to today would look like this over 27 seasons:
Losing seasons: 8 (29.5%)
6-6 type season .500 or slightly better: 8 (29.5%)
7-5 type of season (6-4 or 7-4): 3 (11%)
8-4 (6-3, 5-2-1): 3 (11%)
9-3 (8-2, 8-3-1): 5 (19%)
Equivalent to 8 8 win seasons or better.
One caveat, I'm counting 5-6 seasons as 6-6 seasons when equivalent to modern day teams playing an FCS team (which Mizzou has never lost to).
Today this would be equal to Mizzou going 6-6 or better 70% of seasons, with 1 out of 3 seasons being 8-4 or better. 2 out of every 5 seasons would be a losing season.
In 1958 Dan Devine took over and College football saw a more modern schedule with 10 games + 1 bowl game.
Between 1958 and 1970 Devine went 92-37-7 (.6725), an average today of a little better than 8-4. The floor was roughly 6-6 while the ceiling by todays standards would be 12-0 or 13-0.
6-6 type season: 3 (23%)
7-5 type season: 0 (0%)
8-4 type season: 5 (38%)
9-3 type season: 3 (23%)
10-2 type season: 1 (8%)
11+ win season: 1 (8%)
This is the equivalent of 10 8 win seasons or better.
Dan Devine is the best coach in Missouri history (sorry GP). More than 77% of his seasons were at or better than an 8-4 season today. He did have one losing season at 5-6-1 that I counted toward 6-6, but also a 5-4-1 and 6-5 season that I counted for as the same.
In 1970, Devine's last season they started the 11 game schedule.
From 1971 to 2005 the average seasons were 11 games + 1 bowl game.
Mizzou went a combined 173-219-7 (.4336). Roughly the equivalent of Mizzou going 5-7 for a solid 35 years.
Losing Seasons: 17 (49%)
6-6 type seasons: 5 (14%)
7-5 type seasons: 6 (17%)
8-4 type seasons: 7 (20%)
51% of seasons would be bowl seasons at 6-6 by today standards.
8 wins or more: 7.
The dark ages of Mizzou football for sure.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the Pinkel 2006 season (12 game season) to present, as we know most of those stats but Pinkel's seasons:
Losing seasons: 2
6-6 seasons: 0
7-5 seasons: 1
8-4 seasons: 2
9-3 seasons: 1
10-2 seasons: 2
11-1 seasons: 2
8 or more wins: 7
So the total seasons since 1928 is 90 (-3 for war years so 87). Mizzou has won the equivalent of 8 or more games 30 of those 87 seasons, or 34% of the time.
By all accounts, 8 wins is very good season for Mizzou football.
Mizzou has only won the equivalent of 9 or more games 15 times, or roughly 17% of Mizzou seasons.
If Mizzou wins the bowl game that is an EXCEPTIONAL season by Mizzou standards.
If you go by the historical numbers Mizzou should roughly win 8 games once every 3 years, 9 or more once every 6 years.
The truth is probably somewhere in between. If you remove the "dark ages" of Mizzou football you remove over 60% of Mizzou's losing seasons. Remove the Pinkel and Devine years and you don't have a 10 game winning season.
Mizzou fans should be very happy with a 8-5 or a 9-4 season.
Up until 1928 college football seasons varied widely in the number of seasons so I didn't pay much attention to it, years where Mizzou played 3 games or 12 would be hard to really assess.
After 1928 Mizzou played 8-12 regular season games including some really good Faurot years.
Prior to Faurot Mizzou was in a mini dark age, where it went 15-42-5, including the only winless season in Mizzou history. The winning percentage for this era was .242, or the equivalent to ~3-9 season today, something Mizzou has not done since Smith went 3-8 in 2000.
From 1935-1942 Faurot went 48-24-6 (.6154). Equivalent to between 8-4 and 7-5 today. The ceiling was 8-2 and the floor was 3-6-1. Today that would equate to a ~9/10 win season and a 4-8 type season.
Faurot left to serve in the Navy in 1943-1945 and I've excluded the war years in this analysis because one year only 8 games was played.
After WW2, Faurot returned to go 47-52-3 (.4608). Equivalent to going about 5-7 or 6-6 today. His ceiling was 8-3 with a floor of 1-9 (yikes).
Broyles took over for one year and went 5-4-1, basically a 6-6 season.
So from 1928-1942 and 1946-1957 the numbers compared to today would look like this over 27 seasons:
Losing seasons: 8 (29.5%)
6-6 type season .500 or slightly better: 8 (29.5%)
7-5 type of season (6-4 or 7-4): 3 (11%)
8-4 (6-3, 5-2-1): 3 (11%)
9-3 (8-2, 8-3-1): 5 (19%)
Equivalent to 8 8 win seasons or better.
One caveat, I'm counting 5-6 seasons as 6-6 seasons when equivalent to modern day teams playing an FCS team (which Mizzou has never lost to).
Today this would be equal to Mizzou going 6-6 or better 70% of seasons, with 1 out of 3 seasons being 8-4 or better. 2 out of every 5 seasons would be a losing season.
In 1958 Dan Devine took over and College football saw a more modern schedule with 10 games + 1 bowl game.
Between 1958 and 1970 Devine went 92-37-7 (.6725), an average today of a little better than 8-4. The floor was roughly 6-6 while the ceiling by todays standards would be 12-0 or 13-0.
6-6 type season: 3 (23%)
7-5 type season: 0 (0%)
8-4 type season: 5 (38%)
9-3 type season: 3 (23%)
10-2 type season: 1 (8%)
11+ win season: 1 (8%)
This is the equivalent of 10 8 win seasons or better.
Dan Devine is the best coach in Missouri history (sorry GP). More than 77% of his seasons were at or better than an 8-4 season today. He did have one losing season at 5-6-1 that I counted toward 6-6, but also a 5-4-1 and 6-5 season that I counted for as the same.
In 1970, Devine's last season they started the 11 game schedule.
From 1971 to 2005 the average seasons were 11 games + 1 bowl game.
Mizzou went a combined 173-219-7 (.4336). Roughly the equivalent of Mizzou going 5-7 for a solid 35 years.
Losing Seasons: 17 (49%)
6-6 type seasons: 5 (14%)
7-5 type seasons: 6 (17%)
8-4 type seasons: 7 (20%)
51% of seasons would be bowl seasons at 6-6 by today standards.
8 wins or more: 7.
The dark ages of Mizzou football for sure.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the Pinkel 2006 season (12 game season) to present, as we know most of those stats but Pinkel's seasons:
Losing seasons: 2
6-6 seasons: 0
7-5 seasons: 1
8-4 seasons: 2
9-3 seasons: 1
10-2 seasons: 2
11-1 seasons: 2
8 or more wins: 7
So the total seasons since 1928 is 90 (-3 for war years so 87). Mizzou has won the equivalent of 8 or more games 30 of those 87 seasons, or 34% of the time.
By all accounts, 8 wins is very good season for Mizzou football.
Mizzou has only won the equivalent of 9 or more games 15 times, or roughly 17% of Mizzou seasons.
If Mizzou wins the bowl game that is an EXCEPTIONAL season by Mizzou standards.
If you go by the historical numbers Mizzou should roughly win 8 games once every 3 years, 9 or more once every 6 years.
The truth is probably somewhere in between. If you remove the "dark ages" of Mizzou football you remove over 60% of Mizzou's losing seasons. Remove the Pinkel and Devine years and you don't have a 10 game winning season.
Mizzou fans should be very happy with a 8-5 or a 9-4 season.
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