NCDA President Felix Perrone recently provided me with an interesting set of data. He compiled the records for each team in the league against each of the opponents that they have played from fall of 2010 (when the NCDA’s official records begin) to present day. Note, there are game results available prior to 2010, but not all scores were accurately recorded until that fall of 2010, so the “official” records begin then. Feel free to visit the “Standings” tab on this website and explore for yourself.
Anyway, listed below are the top 50 ‘win totals’ for one team over a single opponent. Basically these are all the matchups where one team has at least 6 wins over their opponent.
Keep in mind this is only from 2010 to present. Obviously I would like to point out that while GVSU is 29-3 over MSU since 2010, the actual all-time series total is 43-3! For those of you that can’t do math, this means GV had a 14-0 record over MSU prior to 2010 when official records began. So, while examining the stats, be cognizant of the fact that other matchup totals may be off a bit due to the fact that this is 2010-present.
I will give the rest of my thoughts below the table:
| Most Wins Against Single Opponent | |||
| # | Wins | Teams | Wins |
| 1 | 29 | GVSU over MSU | 3 |
| 2 | 24 | GVSU over SVSU | 6 |
| 3 | 19 | GVSU over CMU | 8 |
| 4 | 15 | JMU over Towson | 1 |
| 5 | 14 | JMU over UMD | 1 |
| 6 | 13 | MSU over BGSU | 0 |
| 7 | 13 | Towson over VCU | 0 |
| 8 | 13 | Kent over BGSU | 2 |
| 9 | 13 | UK over WKU | 5 |
| 10 | 13 | SVSU over CMU | 9 |
| 11 | 13 | CMU over MSU | 9 |
| 12 | 13 | SVSU over MSU | 10 |
| 13 | 11 | UK over Miami | 0 |
| 14 | 11 | CMU over Kent | 3 |
| 15 | 11 | Kent over OSU | 11 |
| 16 | 11 | OSU over Kent | 11 |
| 17 | 11 | UMD over Towson | 11 |
| 18 | 11 | Towson over UMD | 11 |
| 19 | 10 | GVSU over Kent | 0 |
| 20 | 10 | GVSU over BGSU | 0 |
| 21 | 10 | CMU over BGSU | 0 |
| 22 | 10 | OSU over BGSU | 1 |
| 23 | 10 | UWP over DePaul | 1 |
| 24 | 10 | Kent over WKU | 2 |
| 25 | 10 | MSU over Kent | 2 |
| 26 | 10 | MSU over SVSU | 13 |
| 27 | 9 | Kent over DePaul | 0 |
| 28 | 9 | GVSU over JMU | 1 |
| 29 | 9 | UK over Kent | 7 |
| 30 | 9 | MSU over CMU | 13 |
| 31 | 9 | CMU over SVSU | 13 |
| 32 | 8 | OSU over DePaul | 0 |
| 33 | 8 | MSU over DePaul | 0 |
| 34 | 8 | SVSU over DePaul | 0 |
| 35 | 8 | SVSU over BGSU | 0 |
| 36 | 8 | JMU over VCU | 0 |
| 37 | 8 | OSU over WKU | 2 |
| 38 | 8 | CMU over GVSU | 19 |
| 39 | 7 | Kent over Miami | 0 |
| 40 | 7 | GVSU over DePaul | 0 |
| 41 | 7 | GVSU over UK | 0 |
| 42 | 7 | Kent over Akron | 1 |
| 43 | 7 | UMD over VCU | 6 |
| 44 | 7 | Kent over UK | 9 |
| 45 | 6 | Kent over Towson | 0 |
| 46 | 6 | Kent over Ohio | 0 |
| 47 | 6 | SVSU over UK | 0 |
| 48 | 6 | CMU over DePaul | 0 |
| 49 | 6 | JMU over Miami | 0 |
| 50 | 6 | BGSU over DePaul | 1 |
Main Takeaways:
- Grand Valley is good at dodgeball, and has been for a long time. Yeah, we get it Kevin, please move on…
- I know a lot of people like to hate on James Madison, but let’s take a quick look at their records over the teams they play the most: 15-1 over Towson. 14-1 over Maryland. Technically their next most common opponent is GVSU in which they are 1-9, but you guys are sick of hearing about GVSU, I know. JMU is also 8-0 over Virginia Commonwealth, 3-0 over Penn State, 2-0 over Stevenson, and 1-0 over Virginia. That gives the Dukes a grand total of 43-2 over East Coast foes. Wow! Unreal. Especially when you consider that JMU, TU, and UMD all joined the league on the same day. Very impressive stuff.
- I love the fact that two of the more exciting rivalries (of my era at least) are knotted up at 11-11. Kent State vs. Ohio State and Towson vs. Maryland. I love these in-state rivalries, and it is only fitting that both of them are exactly even from 2010-present.
- From 2010-present, MSU has more wins (13) over Bowling Green then they do over any in-state opponent. Don’t blame the current MSU roster for that though. That might change in the near future.
- UK over WKU 13-5 is another matchup I noticed. This has been a great rivalry over the past 6 or 7 years. UK has historically been the better team, but the Hilltoppers have found a way to get wins from time to time when nobody expects it. Probably one of my favorite rivalries in the sport.
I hope you enjoyed this article. What are your main takeaways when looking at this data? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
