[French Rage]

[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=18303.msg217267#msg217267 date=1512539402]
Except for their win-loss record

Fair, though Costello played against tougher teams than Hogan did. Counting the UCLA and ASU games as Costello games, the average Sagarin rating of his opponents was 81.45. (which would be roughly a top-25 team this year). Hogan, by contrast, faced off against opponents whose average rating was 78.1. (To be fair, the Colorado game -- which I counted as a start -- was an outlier. Remove that and Hogan's average opponent in 2012 was 83.14.)

Anyway, the win-loss record comparison is hardly something you can credit Hogan for. The 2012 defense was excellent and the 2017 defense was average, if not outright poor.
[/quote]

I don't exactly think of Hogan's opponents in 2012 as easy.  Sure Colorado was a walkover, but OSU was a team near the top of the division, Oregon was Oregon, UCLA was good enough to win its division and playing them twice in 6 days was not easy.  That's what makes the end of 2012 run so impressive.

[French Rage]

[quote author=Spiny_Norman link=topic=18303.msg217267#msg217267 date=1512539402]
Except for their win-loss record

Fair, though Costello played against tougher teams than Hogan did. Counting the UCLA and ASU games as Costello games, the average Sagarin rating of his opponents was 81.45. (which would be roughly a top-25 team this year). Hogan, by contrast, faced off against opponents whose average rating was 78.1. (To be fair, the Colorado game -- which I counted as a start -- was an outlier. Remove that and Hogan's average opponent in 2012 was 83.14.)

Anyway, the win-loss record comparison is hardly something you can credit Hogan for. The 2012 defense was excellent and the 2017 defense was average, if not outright poor.
[/quote]

I don't exactly think of Hogan's opponents in 2012 as easy.  Sure Colorado was a walkover, but OSU was a team near the top of the division, Oregon was Oregon, UCLA was good enough to win its division and playing them twice in 6 days was not easy.  That's what makes the end of 2012 run so impressive.