Introducing the Sickos Committee Endowment for Extraordinary Execution and the Elevation of Extra Football Award - Honoring teams who play Overtime successfully the most.
Hello, Commissioner Escalante here, our VP of Recreational Spread-sheeting Kevin went down a rabbit hole this season.
Kevin then tracked all the data and wrote this blog entry. He did an absolutely masterful spread-sheeting job like he always does.
The Sickos Committee is extremely proud to share it with all of you.
We hope you enjoy.
ELEVATING EXCELLENCE IN EXCESS FOOTBALL
Sometime during Week 2 of the 2022 season, possibly while watching UTSA play their second overtime game in two weeks, or perhaps while watching Pitt take Tennessee to overtime in what became in hindsight an extremely strange result, I asked some other Committee members if there were always this many overtime games or if we were witnessing something special. And, being unable to find anywhere that gave me a satisfactory answer, I started keeping track of all of the overtime games played this season. Each week, I recorded the winning and losing teams, as well as the number of overtime periods played. Then, I went back to 2019 (the first year the NCAA introduced any kind of two point conversion shootout) and did the same.
2022 Overtime Breakdown by Week:
So, now I had a spreadsheet full of three and a half years of overtime data (counting 2020 as less than a full year since FCS data is less readily available), but was I right about this season? The answer was yes and no. The first two weeks of 2022 had the highest total overtime periods played across any two week span in the time-frame I was tracking. But 2022 as a whole wasn’t anything outrageous, finishing with the exact same number of overtime periods played (110) across one fewer overtime games, 66 in 2022 and 67 in 2019.
Total regular season overtime games and periods played since 2019:
I didn’t spend all this time just for an inconclusive answer though, so what to do with four years’ worth of overtime winners and losers?
Obviously, it’s time to make up a trophy.
Here at the Sickos Committee, we love two things: highlighting national champions that may not otherwise get the recognition they deserve, and rivalry trophies. Last summer we collected a list of all national national champions across all sports and competitions, NCAA recognized or not. Some of these overlap, such as the multiple meat judging titles claimed by different schools.
Earlier this season, the Montana football team filmed a video of the team weighing the massive Great Divide Trophy in response to our (and our followers’) many questions about it.
In the spirit of claiming your niche titles, and before any football title games are played, I would like to award a Very Specific National Title within D1 football. Namely that of our National Overtime Champions, recognizing the season’s most successful overtime team.
Introducing the Sickos Committee Endowment for Extraordinary Execution and the Elevation of Extra Football Award.
The criteria are simple: play more overtime games than anyone else, and don’t lose of those games. In the event that no team is undefeated through multiple overtime games, the team that played the most games and has the best record in those games wins the title. If multiple teams have the same record in these criteria, total number of overtime periods played is the final tiebreaker. The more the better, we’re rewarding teams for giving us free football here. No extra credit for stuffing your opponent and kicking a field goal here. Surely we can all agree that Illinois 20 - Penn State 18 (9OT) is much more entertaining than Illinois 13 - Penn State 10 (OT) would’ve been.
Did I use that example just as an excuse to include the box score? Absolutely yes, now let’s hand out some historical titles.
2019 Winner - Georgia Southern and Baylor share the title. (Both 2-0 with 5 total periods played.)
(Samford played the most extra football this year, going 1-3 across 7 overtime periods.)
Teams that played 2 or more OT games in 2019:
2020 Winner - Texas (2-1 in Overtime with 6 total periods played.)
No team went undefeated in 2021 while playing more than one overtime game. Due to this Texas takes home the title at 2-1. They played 6 overtime periods this season, taking home the award for providing the most free football as well.
Teams that played 2 or more overtime games in 2020:
2021 Winner - San Diego State and Texas State split the title (Both 2-0 across 5 overtime periods.)
Southern Illinois (2-0, 2OTs) and North Carolina Central (2-0, 3OTs) narrowly miss out on the final tiebreaker. We have a shared title in most extra time played as well, between the aforementioned Penn State and Illinois.
Teams that played two or more overtime games in 2021:
And now for the first National Football Champion of the 2022 season:
2022 Winner - Texas Tech. (With an indisputable 3-0 record across 4 overtime periods.)
UTSA, Kennesaw State, and Houston all played 3 games as well, with Tech’s victory over shared opponent Houston providing the edge over the Meeps, who played more periods. Our most prolific overtime participants was Bowling Green, with a 1-1 record across 9 OT periods including one 7 OT Game.
Teams that played 2 or more overtime games in 2022:
We may go back in time to try to gather more data from the years past in the off-season. Congratulations to Texas Tech on winning this prestigious award we just made up!