On Football Rankings and Measuring Efficiency—Brian Fremeau, FEI - a podcast by University of Notre Dame

from 2019-05-30T00:00

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The idea behind this show is pretty simple: A university campus is a destination for all kinds of interesting people, so why not invite some of these folks out to brunch, where we’ll have an informal conversation about their work, and then we’ll turn those brunches into a podcast?

It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Brian Fremeau is the creator of the eponymously named Fremeau Efficiency Index, or FEI, a college football rating system based on opponent-adjusted possession efficiency. (Don’t worry—we start out by unpacking what that means.) Since diving into the world of football analytics back in the early 2000s, Brian has contributed work to Football Outsiders, Blue & Gold Illustrated, The Athletic, espn.com, and ESPN The Magazine.

In this episode, our season two finale, Brian breaks down things like how we can more precisely measure a college football team’s strength of schedule, the nature of the red zone, and what, technically, constitutes garbage time. He and host Ted Fox also happen to be old friends, and if you like sports, math and statistics, and/or simply hearing someone thoughtfully dig into widely held assumptions, we think you’ll enjoy listening to Brian just as much as Ted always has.

LINKS

Further episodes of With a Side of Knowledge

Further podcasts by University of Notre Dame

Website of University of Notre Dame