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Examining Missouri's NFL pipeline

Mizzou is making another commercial, advertising Markus Golden, Mitch Morse, Jimmie Hunt, and the "#MizzouMade" brand.

Streeter Lecka

Mitchmorse_medium

Mitch Morse explains that he wants to be an actor "so badly, it's ridiculous."

Above he demonstrates his angry face.

Jimmie Hunt talks but I just get lost in his eyes.

Markus Golden speaks and you begin to wonder if there's a deep note he CAN'T hit.

This is pretty cool stuff but it did result in a bit of confusion recently.
At the end of the video there's dramatic music and a narrator explains...

"Since 2007, Mizzou football is the only BCS football program ranked in the top 5 in academic performance, and top 5 in NFL first round draft picks, and top 10 in total wins, and the only program that can make those claims."

On the Mizzou website, next to a big picture of Justin Smith it says this:
NFL PIPELINE
If there's anything that Mizzou takes pride in, it's the pipline they've created to the pros. So many players have been readied for the NFL by way of Gary Pinkel's program, many of them being selected in the first round.

Since 2007, the Tigers are in the top 5 of total draft picks. Since 2009, Mizzou has had as many first round draft picks as South Carolina, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas Kentucky and Vanderbilt combined.
Besides the drewdering of "pipline", our friends over on RockyTopTalk disputed some claims:


More to the point-

Top 5 in NFL total draft picks and Top 10 in wins

None of that is actually true. Yall produced 13 draft picks ‘07-’13 which isn’t even top 5 in the SEC, and won 65 games, tied for 11th nationally and 16th in winning percentage. But hey, #proprietarystats, amirite?

I went back and compiled a list of the Mizzou NFL Draft picks since 2007. Maybe my math is off but (1+2+6+1+3+1+2 = 16) total draft picks, not including the 4 in 2014.

16 =/= 13

Between 2007 and 2013, Mizzou produced (6) 1st NFL first round players. I included 2014 just for symmetry.

Mizzou NFL Draft Picks 2007-2014

2014

(4)

2010

(1)


Kony Ealy

Panthers (2nd round)

Sean Weatherspoon

Falcons (1st round)

Justin Britt

Seahawks (2nd round)

2009 *

(6)

EJ Gaines

Rams (6th round)

Jeremy Maclin

Eagles (1st round)

Michael Sam

Rams (7th round)

Ziggy Hood

Steelers, (1st round)

2013

(2)

William Moore

Falcons (2nd round)

Sheldon Richardson

Jets (1st round)

Chase Coffman

Bengals (3rd round)

Zaviar Gooden

Titans (3rd round)

Colin Brown

Chiefs (5th round)

2012

(1)

Stryker Sulak

Patriots (6th round)

Michael Egnew

Dolphins (3rd round)

2008

(2)

2011

(3)

Will Franklin

Chiefs (4th round)

Aldon Smith

49ers (1st round)

Martin Rucker

Browns (4th round)

Blaine Gabbert

Jaguars (1st round) *

2007

(1)

Andrew Gachkar

Chargers (7th round)

Brian Smith

Jaguars (4th round)


* But does he really count?

*2009 was pretty cool

And since I have it in front of me, we can see how Mizzou stacks up against the rest of the SEC between 2007-2013
Team No. Draft Picks 1st Round Picks
LSU 44 11
Georgia 41 5
Florida 37 10
Alabama 36 14
South Carolina 27 2
Tennessee 23 7
Arkansas 23 3
Auburn 21 3
Texas A&M 18 3
Mizzou* 16 6
Miss State 13 2
Kentucky 13 0
Ole Miss 12 3
Vanderbilt 10 1

*Played in Big 12 prior to 2012

For those scoring at home (6) first round draft picks is actually good for... 5th!

Then we can look at the "top 10 in wins" confusion. Via the source provided:
Rank Team name Winning 
Percentage
Games 
Won
Games 
Lost
Games 
Tied
Games 
Played

1 Boise State 0.85870 79 13 0 92
2 Alabama 0.83146 74 15 0 89
3 Oregon 0.82609 76 16 0 92
4 Oklahoma 0.78723 74 20 0 94
5 Louisiana State 0.78495 73 20 0 93
6 Ohio State 0.78481 62 17 0 79
7 Southern Cal 0.73626 67 24 0 91
8 Texas Christian 0.73333 66 24 0 90
9t Cincinnati 0.72527 66 25 0 91
9t Oklahoma State 0.72527 66 25 0 91

11 Virginia Tech 0.71579 68 27 0 95
12t Brigham Young 0.71429 65 26 0 91
12t Texas 0.71429 65 26 0 91
14 Florida 0.70652 65 27 0 92
15 Florida State 0.70115 61 26 0 87
16t Wisconsin 0.69892 65 28 0 93
16t Georgia 0.69892 65 28 0 93
16t Missouri 0.69892 65 28 0 93
19 Stanford 0.69231 63 28 0 91
20 Michigan State 0.68817 64 29 0 93

You'll notice that Mizzou has won 65 games, tied with BYU, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, and Georgia. There's another bunching of teams at 66, TCU, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State and one more at 74 with Alabama and Oklahoma.

If you just ranked this list by wins it would go like this:

Wins: 2007-2013
Rank Wins School

1

79 Boise State
2 76 Oregon
3 74 Alabama, Oklahoma
4 73 LSU
5 68 Virginia Tech
6 67 Southern California
7 66 TCU, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State
8 65 BYU, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Mizzou
9 64 Michigan State
10 63 Stanford

Well, would you look at that! Mizzou indeed ranks in the top 10 in wins since 2007. As far as that dig about 16th in winning percentage, I had to Control+F "Tennessee" to find them tied for 69th with North Carolina State and South Florida, above only Mississippi, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

Just for good measure, I'll also confirm the APR claim.

(2013) Below is a rundown of the latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores for the 14 SEC football programs:

Rank, School Score
1. Missouri 982
2. Alabama 978
3. Vanderbilt 973
4T. Florida 968
4T. Georgia 968
6. Mississippi State 967
7. South Carolina 966
8. Texas A&M 954
9. Auburn 950
10T. LSU 944
10T. Ole Miss 944
12. Kentucky 943
13. Arkansas 938
14. Tennessee 924

MUTIGERS.COM Mizzou Enjoys Outstanding 2013-14 Academic Success

Among the 14 schools inside the SEC, Mizzou finished second overall with five sports programs leading the conference in Academic Progress Rate (APR). The top Tigers APR programs included Mizzou baseball, football, men's swimming and diving, women's swimming and diving, and wrestling.

Crazy how #proprietary stats work, huh?