With a Side of Knowledge is a podcast produced by the Office of the Provost at the University of Notre Dame. It brings listeners informal interviews with fascinating scholars and professionals from both Notre Dame and elsewhere that take place over brunch.
The 17th and final episode of season two, “On Football Rankings and Measuring Efficiency,” was released Thursday, May 30, and features Brian Fremeau, the creator of the eponymous Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI), a college football rating system based on opponent-adjusted possession efficiency.
Since diving into the world of football analytics back in the early 2000s, Fremeau has contributed work to Football Outsiders, Blue & Gold Illustrated, The Athletic, espn.com, and ESPN The Magazine.
In this conversation with host Ted Fox, Fremeau unpacks what it is that he aims to assess with FEI, covering things like how we can more precisely measure a college football team’s strength of schedule, the nature of the red zone, and what, technically, constitutes garbage time.
You can visit provost.nd.edu/podcast to learn more about With a Side of Knowledge, which is available through iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher or by searching “With a Side of Knowledge” in your favorite podcast app.
You can also listen to the episode with Fremeau using the player below.
Originally published by at provost.nd.edu on May 30, 2019.