New Indexes Designed to Evaluate the Performance of Often Overlooked College Football Kickers and Punters

MEDIA CONTACT: Jim Hellegaard
561-319-2233, jhellegaard@fau.edu

BOCA RATON, Fla. (August 29, 2018) – The on-the-field performance of two of the most often overlooked positions in college football – kicker and punter – are the focus of new indexes developed by a Florida Atlantic University instructor. (ARES).

“I’d like to elevate the status of kickers and punters,” said Evan Jaffe, creator of the indexes and a data analyst and quantitative methods instructor in FAU’s College of Business. “These specialists don’t always get the glory, but they’re often the difference between a team winning or losing a football game.”

The FAU Kicker Index (business.fau.edu/kicker) and the FAU Punter Index (business.fau.edu/punter) will rank kickers and punters of Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams throughout the season. The indexes will evaluate each active kicker and punter, and provide weekly and cumulative rankings as well as insights into individual players.

To kick off the season, Jaffe’s model will develop a watch list of both kickers and punters predicted to be among the top performers in the 2018 season, as well as year-end rankings for last season. The indexes use the principles of business analytics applied to a sport to gauge performance. Usually punters are judged primarily by the distance of their kicks and kickers by the distance and accuracy of their field goal attempts. FAU’s kicker and punter indexes also uses these measures, but combine them with several additional indicators of performance.

The models were developed through an extensive analysis of historical kicking and punting data, providing a systematic, refined method for gauging performance. While the indexes’ developers won’t reveal the exact, proprietary factors that go into the calculations for the rankings, they did shed some light on how their metrics differentiate from others. Here are a few of the factors they consider:

• Geography of the stadium and atmospheric conditions
• Timing of activity (especially made field goals)
• The kicking play’s impact on game momentum
• Location on the field of a punt’s origin (not just distance covered)

The indexes will be updated every Thursday throughout the NCAA football season. The regular-season index rankings will be released after the regular schedules (excluding conference championships and bowl games) are complete. Cumulative index rankings, which include post-season games, will be published Jan. 8, 2019, following the national championship.

The indexes can be followed on Twitter at @FAUkickerindex and @FAUpunterindex. 

- FAU -

About Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.