Alright, let’s talk about this little project I did, focused on JMU and Duke football. It wasn’t anything super complicated, just something I fiddled with to get a clearer picture for myself.
Getting the Ball Rolling
So, I follow both teams, kinda casually, you know? And I kept hearing different things, seeing scattered stats here and there. It got confusing trying to really compare them head-to-head based on memory or quick searches. I thought, why not just put the key stuff side-by-side? Make a simple chart. That was the big idea.
First thing I did was try to gather some info. This part took longer than I expected, honestly. I went digging around on a few sports websites, looking for basic stats – wins, losses, maybe some offensive and defensive numbers. It’s surprising how stats can be presented differently everywhere. Finding consistent data points for both teams from the same source or for the same periods felt like a bit of a goose chase sometimes.
Putting it Together
I didn’t use any fancy software. Nope, just opened up a basic spreadsheet program I already had. Figured that was the easiest way. I started by listing the teams across the top. Then down the side, I started adding categories. Stuff like:
- Overall Record (Wins-Losses)
- Points Scored Per Game
- Points Allowed Per Game
- Maybe some key player stats, if I could find them easily
- Conference standing, perhaps
Getting the data copied over was straightforward, just copy-paste mostly. But then I had to make it readable. Nobody wants to stare at a wall of numbers. So I played around with formatting. Added some grid lines. Maybe bolded the team names. Tried adding a bit of color to separate sections, but didn’t want to go overboard and make it look like a circus.
There was a bit of back-and-forth. I’d add a stat, then realize it wasn’t that useful, so I’d remove it. Or I’d find a better way to phrase a category. For instance, instead of just “Offense Yards”, maybe “Average Offensive Yards Per Game” made more sense. It was tweaking, really. Moving columns around, resizing things so it all fit nicely without looking cramped.
The Final Look (For Now)
So, after messing with it for a bit, I ended up with a chart. It’s pretty basic, nothing revolutionary. But it does what I wanted: puts the core comparison points for JMU and Duke football right next to each other. I can quickly glance at it and get a feel for how they stack up in the areas I care about.
It’s not perfect, data gets old fast in sports, right? So I know I’ll have to update it if I want to keep it relevant. But for a quick snapshot, it works for me. It was just a simple exercise, putting information together in a way that made sense to my brain. And that was the whole point, really. Just scratching my own itch.
