What does it take to win the Pac-10?

August, 30, 2010

8/30/10

12:26

PM ET

By Ted Miller | ESPN.com

This is cool: It's the introduction to "The Eliminator," which is tracking the title race in each conference. Today's entry does this:

We ran the stats of every Division I team, looking specifically at the national and conference champions of the past several years, to find out what statistical categories correlate to college football success. Then we set statistical benchmarks for each league to see what's been required for each conference champion (for example, you better score a lot of points if you want to win the Pac-10; in the ACC, not so much).

It's an Insider story, but here's a peak at what it said about the Pac-10:

OFFENSIVE BENCHMARKS

Score at least 30.5 points per game
Have a completion percentage of 58 or better
Average 4.08 yards per carry or better
Post a turnover margin of 0.15/per game or better

DEFENSIVE BENCHMARKS

Hold opponents to 23.8 points per game or fewer
Hold opponents to a 38.74 third-down conversion percentage or less

Not terribly surprising. The Pac-10 is an offensive league, with good weather (for the most part), great skill players and complicated schemes. Still, the numbers are interesting.

Ted Miller | email

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ESPN.com Pac-12 blogger
Covered college football since 1997
Wrote for Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Ted Miller

Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-12. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in the 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Kevin Gemmell

Gemmell covered San Diego State and the Mountain West Conference for three years before joining ESPN.com. As a Santa Clara graduate, his hope is that the Broncos will one day re-institute football. Until then, he lives vicariously through his readers. Gemmell lives in California with his wife and son.

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