More Touchdowns than Dunks

After writing an article about basketball teams that fail to win more games than their school's football team, a reader suggested I look into basketball teams that fail to score more points than the football team against the same opponent.

If that sounds a bit confusing, the chart below should help. In the left column are scores from the current football season. In the right, scores from last year's basketball season. Also included is the month in which the game took place.

Looking at Oklahoma, for example, you'll see the Sooners football team beat Texas A&M by a score of 66-28 a few weeks ago. Last season, the OU basketball team split its series with the Aggies, but failed to reach 66 points in either contest. The football team also scored 18 more points against Nebraska than the basketball team did.

Football '08                                                                                         Basketball '07-'08

USC

Beat Wash St 69-0; Oct                                                           Lost 73-58; Jan

                                                                                           Lost 74-50; Feb

Oregon State

Beat Wash St 66-13; Oct                                                         Lost 69-46; Jan

                                                                                           Lost 70-57; Feb

Oregon

Beat Wash St 63-14; Sep                                                         Lost 69-60; Jan

                                                                                           Lost 62-53; Feb

Texas Tech

Beat Okla St 56-20; Nov                                                          Lost 74-55; Jan

Beat Kansas 63-21; Oct                                                           Lost 109-51; Mar

Oklahoma

Beat Tex A&M 66-28; Nov                                                        Lost 60-52; Feb

                                                                                           Won 64-37; Mar

Beat Nebraska 62-28; Nov                                                        Lost 63-45; Feb

Tulsa

Beat UTEP 77-35; Oct                                                             Lost 65-61; Jan

                                                                                           Won 73-50; Feb

                                                                                           Won 64-62; Mar

Houston

Beat Tulsa 73-30; Nov                                                             Lost 73-69; Mar

Rice

Beat SMU 56-27; Aug                                                              Lost 68-53; Feb

I believe this is the complete list as of Nov. 18, though feel free to let me know if I’ve missed any. Also, here are some interesting notes:

• Washington State makes the list three times. WSU’s struggles on the football this season have been well-documented (Wazzou is 1-10). A stingy Cougar defense on the hardwood last season also helps. Three Pac-10 hoops opponents, USC, Oregon State, and Oregon, each had two cracks at WSU but failed to outscore their school’s football team. The basketball teams went a combined 0-6 while, not surprisingly, the football teams went 3-0.

• Biggest points differential. Oregon State vs. Washington State. The Beavers put 66 on the board in Reeser Stadium, but only dropped 46 on the Cougars on the hardwood in Pullman.

• You Can Beat That. There were two instances where the football team scored fewer than 60 points and the basketball team still couldn’t outscore it (Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State and Rice vs. SMU).

• Trifecta: The Tulsa basketball team had three shots against UTEP to score more than the football team, but failed in consecutive months. The Golden Hurricane won two of their matchups on the hardwood, but could never match the 77 points Tulsa would score against UTEP in October.

• Who’s Laughing Now? About a month after its blow-out victory against UTEP, Tulsa ran into a high-powered offense of its own, losing 70-30 to Houston. This time the Golden Hurricane basketball team was up to the challenge, beating Houston 73-69 and outscoring the Cougar football team in the process.