Ohio State analysts track high-tech stats for new era of football
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Stats. Data. Analytics. Football is more than a game of physical aggression. It's also about numerical aggregation.
Coaches, broadcasters and gambling enthusiasts unite in their interest in accurate data from every play in every game. At Ohio State, they have assembled a team to keep all the stats straight, using both modern and old-school technology.
The team is positioned high atop Ohio Stadium in the press box, far away from the field. A crew of about eight people are seated in that booth, all with binoculars in hand.
"I live and die by those binoculars." OSU statistician Scott Rex said. "They're the most critical part of the whole operation."
OSU statistician Kyle Kuhlman heads up the gameday operation. He sits in something of a lifeguard chair in the stats room, always on watch. He incessantly inputs data from every play into the NCAA Livestats computer system, which is a relatively new product.
That data is then immediately uploaded to partners across the country, and is what you see in live stat trackers on ESPN.com, OhioStateBuckeyes.com and on the networks broadcasting each game. The data is calculated in real time so coaches can instantly evaluate it during games.
"Yards after catch, passing charts, how are they doing when they're passing long to the left or short to the right? That stuff is all put through the system," Kuhlman said. "We can print that at any point."
"Everything has to be right," Rex said. "Every yard line has to be right. Every jersey number has to be right."
Rex's role focuses on the offense for each team, calling out which players threw, carried or caught the ball. Although the computer system is the main source of the data, the staffers also keep written notes of each play and the data is constantly checked for accuracy. The staff also has access to DVR replays of the game to double check yard lines, jersey numbers and any questions that may arise.
"If somebody jumps in and says, 'Hey, you might have that yard line wrong,' it's 'yeah, you're probably right. Let's take another look at that,'" Rex said.
"You're logging the history of a very history-rich program at Ohio State," Kuhlman said. "The stats I'm logging today are being compared to the stats for Archie Griffin. It's fun to be a part of that. It's the tangible history of Ohio State football and Saturdays at the shoe ... that's pretty awesome."