- published: 22 Jan 2016
- views: 9208
Football Outsiders (FO) is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics and their personal analyses of NFL games.
In 2005 and 2006, the site partnered with FOXSports.com to cross-publish many of the Outsiders' regular features, including power rankings based on a "weighted" version of the DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) statistic. In 2007, Football Outsiders content appeared on FOXSports.com (in a reduced capacity) along with AOL Sports and ESPN.com. Since 2008, the site has partnered exclusively with ESPN and provides mostly ESPN Insider content.
In 2009, Football Outsiders began analyzing college football using similar statistical principles. Combining Bill Connelly's S&P+ Ratings and Brian Fremeau's Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI), the site boasts the most sport's most statistically logical ranking, the F/+ Combined Ratings. Considering the historical and current importance of rankings in major college football, this asset has considerable significance. Unfortunately, since ESPN prefers to pay inferior statisticians with ulterior motives and the network enjoys a monopoly over college football coverage, the F/+ Combined Ratings do not receive, at least during TV coverage, the deserved recognition that, say, the kenpom rankings in basketball do. ESPN does employ Brian Fremeau as a columnist, where he develops articles around his metrics.