Yet another problem with OT in college

Previously, I've posted that the OT structure in college football is, inherently, unfair. It also leads to misleading statistics. Texas A&M RB (or bulldozer) Jorvorskie Lane has 7 TD's this season. Four of those TD's came in a 47-45 victory over Fresno State at Kyle Field.

If you look at the scoreboard, you assume the Aggies won a shootout. If you look at Jorvorskie's line, you think he had a huge game: 121 yds and 4 TD's. If you watched the game, or look a little deeper, you will realize that a huge portion of the scoring came in extra time. It was 29-29 at the end of regulation. Thirty-four out of ninety-two is 37%! Two of Lane's TD's came in OT. The numbers from OT can dramatically skew numbers. Lane would have 5 TD's instead of 7 if Fresno State hadn't tied the game late. Also, adding the points to the team numbers artificially skew points per game numbers for the teams.

Overtime stats should not count towards season totals, especially TD numbers, which are artificially inflated by the ease of scoring in OT. Remember the Kentucky v. Arkansas game a few years ago? That was ridiculous. The OT system should be tweaked. But, for now, just add one point to the winner's score. The Aggies would have been Fresno State 30-29. If you want, put the OT score next to the final score like tennis does for tie breaks, making it 30-29 (18-16). This allows fans to distinguish between the regulation and OT portions of the game.

For those of you who don't remember the Kentucky v. Arkansas game from 2003, it pitted QB's Matt Jones and Jared Lorenzen. It set the NCAA record for most points in a game (after 1950) ... which is absolutely absurd (as college football didn't have OT for most of that time!) considering the 4th quarter came to an end with the game knotted at 24 all. Yes, 24-24. The game ended 71-63 (Arkansas won in the 7th OT frame). So, of the 134 total points, 86 came in OT. Yes, almost 2/3rds (64.2%) of the points in the highest scoring game since 1950 came after most games are over ... 25-24 (47-39) would be a much less misleading way to represent the way the game unraveled.