Soccer Race

[GrandGreen]

As a diversion from football, a look at the soccer race were NT is faring much better. There are basically five teams left in the race, NT 7-0-1, WKU 7-1, FIU 6-1-1, MTS 6-2 and DU 6-2

Cobbling up a quick analysis of those 5 teams, shows some interesting items:

Scheduling for Soccer is completely unstable. NT has only 4 conference home games this year which they have already played. Denver has 5 home games, MTS 6, and FIU and WKU 7. Yes, I realize that this evens up across years, but I still wonder why it is necessary to so pollute the regular season championship by such unequal scheduling.

FIU is actually in the best position to win. They have played all four of the other contenders with a 2-1-1 record. The other teams have only played one game against the other leaders. Denver is 0-1, MTS 1-0, WKU 0-1 and NT 0-0-1.

Denver the favorite has lost games to both UALR and FIU.

NT is fourth in goals scored only ahead of FIU among the top 5. NT has thus far the best defense leading in goals allowed.

NT has by the far the worst remaining schedule playing MTS, WKU, and Denver all on the road. FIU the easiest, with UALR, ASU and FAU; all at home. WKU also has it last three games at home, Denver, NT, and MTSU. Denver plays at WKU and MTSU than gets NT at home.

Winning the conference regular season will probably get you nothing other than the top seed in the tournament. It would be nice to win, however it is likely that NT would have to win all three remaining games to be alone at the top of the conference. One loss and they could finish behind WKU if that is who they lose to or in a tie with FIU who will be highly favored to win their last three games.

[KRAM1]

Nice analysis...agree with your thoughts...UNT needs to win out to get the #1 seed...and they do have a real shot at doing just that. This team has surprised me a bit this season. After watching some of the early season games, I was concerned that the team was just not "jelling", the defense was shaky (youth and new personnel playing a roll) and the offense looked anemic...but, they really have come together nicely to make a great run. I see some very good things ahead for this team not only with the rest of this season but for the next few years....nice job ladies!

GO MEAN GREEN!

[BonfireBrian]

Interesting analysis. I believe the schedule is weighted the way it is to reduce travel costs. If you look at the soccer schedules, you'll see that you almost always play ULL and ULM on the road or at home in the same weekend, then Troy/South Alabama, etc. This way you can make one trip to that state and save money on costs. All of the other sports (besides football of course) are scheduled this way also to an extent, but it is able to even out in the other sports because more conference games are played.