I confess: Brain fade resulted in a terrible error

I messed up big time in constructing the lead of my Lafayette football Media Day feature story in The Morning Call this morning.

I was trying to compare last year's anemic offensive output with those of past Lafayette teams, and in looking at the Team Records page in the media guide, my brain misread a section referred to as "RUSHING DEFENSE."

I took the numbers -- 600 yards in 1939 ("Fewest net yds gained"), an average of 2.1 ("lowest ave. yds/rush") in 1940 and 66.7 ("lowest ave. yds/game") in 1939  as referring to the Leopards' all-time offensive frustration against opposing defenses.

What they REALLY meant was those were numbers Lafayette defenses had put on their opponents.  The 1939 Leopards were just 4-5, but they shut out three opponents and gave up just 67 points in the other six games. The 1940 team was an undefeated 9-0 with four shutouts and 33 points allowed. Those defensive stats came from those two seasons.

The Lafayette offense's numbers in 2017 were 430 net rushing yards, 1.7 yards per rushing attempt and 39.1 average yards rushing per game. So, the actual fact is that the Leopards' numbers were all lower than the all-time marks Lafayette defenses had posted against opponents in all the years such stats were being compiled.

The bottom line in my thought process -- that Lafayette must post better rushing stats this season if it hopes to increase its chances of turning around the program that has won only six games the last three years -- is still the same.

As for me, I can only hope my brain is more efficient going forward than it was Tuesday night.  To Coach Garrett and the team, use my blunder as motivation to stick it to me in 2018.