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Everyone has gotten so caught up in actual conference realignment that we've seemingly lost track of the great time waster of this past offseason, the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft. Yesterday, the House of Sparky revisited the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft, taking a look at overall win-loss records and the current BCS standings.
Let's dig a bit deeper and look at total offense, total defense and what is really driving conference realignment ... the almighty dollar (home game attendance).
Total Offense
| Conference | Games | Average Points | Average Total TDs | Average of Points/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cult of Les Miles | 97 | 272.5 | 35.5 | 33.5 |
| The Empire | 95 | 262.5 | 32.9 | 33.2 |
| Conference TMZ | 94 | 235.8 | 29.9 | 30.4 |
| Twelve Pack | 96 | 234.7 | 29.8 | 29.3 |
| House of a Thousand Sanctions | 89 | 235.8 | 30.3 | 29.2 |
| Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | 94 | 237.0 | 29.6 | 28.0 |
The Cult of Les Miles is averaging 33.5 points per game, best in the nation. This average has been bolstered by Oklahoma State and Stanford, both who are averaging nearly 50 points a game so far this season. Had The Cult not drafted Florida Atlantic late in the 11th round (the Owls are averaging a blistering 11.7 points per game), the conference would be even further out in front.
At the other end of the standings is the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which is averaging just 28.0 points per game. Both TCU (42.9) and Texas Tech (38.9) have put up some serious points this season, but the Sisterhood's per-program average is significantly weighed down by the offensive output of Indiana (23.2), Penn State (21.8) and Colorado (18.8).
Let's next take a look at the other side of the ball.
Total Defense
| Conference | Average Total Defense Rank | Average of Yards/Play | Average of Yards/G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conference TMZ | 33.5 | 4.83 | 330.1 |
| The Cult of Les Miles | 47.6 | 5.11 | 350.9 |
| The Empire | 53.6 | 5.32 | 362.3 |
| House of a Thousand Sanctions | 54.2 | 5.35 | 372.7 |
| Twelve Pack | 60.1 | 5.53 | 374.2 |
| Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | 60.2 | 5.48 | 380.2 |
Conference TMZ is the draft's best defensive conference thus far. On average, the conference is giving up just 4.83 yards per play and 330.1 yards a game. Certainly helps when you have seven defenses ranked in the top 25 in total defense -- Michigan State (2), Florida State (8), Louisville (12), Boise State (16), Ohio State (17), Utah (21) and West Virginia (25).
Much like the conference's offensive output, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has statistically the worst defenses of the draft. Traveling Pants Ds are giving up over 380 yards a game, and the conference claims four defenses that rank 100+ in total defense -- Colorado (100), Texas Tech (102), Indiana (112) and Kansas (120, DFL).
It's worth noting that The Cult of Les Miles has the best offenses of the draft and the second best defenses. As HoS pointed out, clearly Red Cup Rebellion knew what they were doing, assembling the SEC of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft ... at least in the short term.
Finally, let's take a look at average per-game home attendance figures so far this season.
Home Attendance
| Conference | Home Games | Average Attendance | Total Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Cult of Les Miles | 53 | 65,109 | 3,450,791 |
| Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants | 53 | 60,997 | 3,232,826 |
| The Empire | 50 | 60,741 | 3,037,029 |
| House of a Thousand Sanctions | 56 | 58,879 | 3,297,216 |
| Conference TMZ | 54 | 58,239 | 3,144,882 |
| Twelve Pack | 55 | 57,847 | 3,181,609 |
Here, The Cult of Les Miles kills it again, averaging more than 65,000 fans per home game over the conference's first 53 games. It obviously helps that The Cult's second round pick, Michigan, has packed over 110k into the Big House in each of the Wolverine's first six home games. In total, over 3.4 million fans have attended The Cult home games this season.
Here are the top 10 best attended games so far this season:
1. 114,804: Notre Dame at Michigan (The Cult)
2. 112,115: Purdue at Michigan (The Cult)
3. 111,106: San Diego State at Michigan (The Cult)
4. 111,106: Minnesota at Michigan (The Cult)
5. 110,506: Western Michigan at Michigan (The Cult)
6. 110,343: Eastern Michigan at Michigan (The Cult)
7. 107,846: Alabama at Penn State (Sisterhood)
8. 105,551: Wisconsin at Ohio State (TMZ)
9. 105,306: Michigan State at Ohio State (TMZ)
10. 105,096: Colorado at Ohio State (TMZ)
The conference at the bottom of the home attendance standings is ... the Twelve Pack? Whoops. The Twelve Pack is averaging just 57,847 per game. All six Duke home games, a pair of BC games (against UMass and Duke) and Northwestern's game against Eastern Illinois are weighing down our conference's average.
Overall, taking stock of the current standings, BCS standings, total offense, total defense and home game attendance, I'd rank the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft football conferences as follows:
1. The Cult of Les Miles (Red Cup Rebellion)
2. The Empire (Team Speed Kills)
3. Conference TMZ (Big East Coast Bias)
4. House of a Thousand Sanctions (House of Sparky)
5. Twelve Pack (BC Interruption)
6. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Black Heart, Gold Pants)
But hey, the Twelve Pack is building towards the future, right?