Athletics: Cajuns are No. 23 in 2018 pentathlam contest

Staff Reports, The Daily Advertiser, July 22, 2018

Since local diehard Ragin’ Cajuns fan Glen Raggio has been collecting results of the Pentathlam in 2005, UL has usually fared very well, largely because of the incredible national success of its softball and/or baseball program.

Although neither had a dominant season by their lofty standards in 2018, the Cajuns program was still able to maintain a Top 25 finish overall due to an historic season by coach Bob Marlin’s men’s basketball team.

Each year, Raggio compiles a spreadsheet of numbers, collecting the winning percentages of all the Division I schools in the sports of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball.

A year ago, UL was No. 13 nationally with a combined winning percentage of 68.62. This season, the Cajuns slipped a bit to No. 23 overall with a winning percentage of 63.59.

Ironically, just one spot ahead of UL was LSU in the No. 22 spot with a winning percentage of 64.04. That’s just two spots behind last year’s No. 20 finish at 63.89.

For the second straight year, Florida State ended up on top at No. 1, although it’s overall winning percentage dropped a little from 76.78 to 73.71. UCLA, meanwhile, rose from No. 14 all the way to No. 2 with a combined winning percentage of 73.17.

There was no other Sun Belt school in the top 40, although Sun Belt-shunned Liberty was No. 18 at 65.52 and former Sun Belt member New Mexico State was No. 26 at 63.02.

Central Florida at No. 20 and Houston at No. 21 were the only other mid-majors in this year’s Top 25.

The pentathlam isn’t the only information Raggio follows. He also does the septathlam, which adds volleyball and soccer to make it a seven-sport competition.

LSU, meanwhile, actually jumped 24 spots from No. 43 last year to No. 19 this season with a 63.71 winning percentage.

The mid-majors that finished ahead of UL in the septathlam were: Central Florida at No. 16, Missouri State at No. 21, Furman at No. 22, New Mexico State at No. 25 and James Madison at No. 28.

Raggio also updates the cumulative pentathlam totals going back to his first year of compiling these winning percentages in 2005. In this year’s 14-year totals, the Cajuns are No. 20, which is exactly where they stood a year ago.

LSU, meanwhile, remains at No. 5 overall in the 14-year pentathlam contest with a winning percentage of 68.03, just below 68.33 last summer.

Louisville remains No. 1 overall with a combined winning percentage of 71.01, followed closely by Florida at 70.60. No other school had a winning percentage of 70 or more.

The only other mid-major school in the top 20 was BYU at No. 17. The next closest Sun Belt school was Texas State at No. 67, followed closely by Troy at No. 75.

The next highest from the state was Louisiana Tech at No. 71.

2018 Pentathlam

(The pentathlam calculates the total winning percentage in the sports of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball during a school year:)

School	Winning Pct.
1. Florida State	73.71
2. UCLA	73.17
3. Michigan	71.57
4. Georgia	71.29
5. Ohio State	70.26
6. Louisville	70.24
7. Oklahoma	69.80
8. Oregon	69.27
9. Mississippi State	67.89
10. Texas A&M	66.83
11. South Carolina	66.82
12. Auburn	66.67
13. Tennessee	66.67
14. Florida	66.51
15. Duke	66.34
16. Minnesota	66.32
17. Baylor	65.64
18. Liberty	65.52
19. Michigan State	65.22
20. Central Florida	64.74
21. Houston	64.18
22. LSU	64.04
23. Louisiana	64.59
24. Arkansas	63.11
25. Oregon State	63.05

Other Schools of Interest

41. Troy	60.50
42. Middle Tennessee	60.42
43. Nicholls State	60.42
45. Louisiana Tech	60.31
54. Texas State	57.95
55. Southeastern, La.	57.81
56. Florida Atlantic	57.07
88. Southern Miss	52.58
91. South Alabama	53.36
99. McNeese State	51.60
105. Georgia State	51.31
116. Grambling	49.09

2018 Septathlam

(The septathlam calculates the total winning percentage in the sports of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and soccer during a school year:)

School	Winning Pct.
1. UCLA	73.36
2. Florida State	71.76
3. Louisville	70.24
4. Florida	70.15
5. Michigan	69.42
6. Stanford	68.75
7. Minnesota	68.72
8. Duke	68.22
9. Ohio State	67.89
10. Baylor	67.61
11. Georgia	67.46
12. Texas	66.93
13. Oregon	66.14
14. Texas A&M	66.01
15. South Carolina	65.40
16. Central Florida	65.27
17. Tennessee	65.16
18. Auburn	64.61
19. LSU	63.71
20. Washington	63.60
21. Missouri State	63.60
22. Furman	63.52
23. North Carolina St.	63.31
24. Notre Dame	63.16
25. New Mexico St.	62.92
26. Mississippi St.	62.88
27. Kentucky	62.35
28. James Madison	62.02
29. Arkansas	61.98
30. Louisiana	61.98

Other Schools of Interest

32. Liberty	61.75
39. Western Kentucky	59.75
44. Nicholls State	59.15
45. Alabama	58.87
47. Texas State	58.65
52. Louisiana Tech	57.56
58. Coastal Carolina	56.30
59. Troy	55.78
65. South Alabama	55.04
76. McNeese State	54.01
102. Southeastern, La.	50.21
112. Northwestern State	49.34

Cumulative Penthathlam (2005-18)

(The cumulative pentathlam calculates the total winning percentage in the sports of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and softball over the last 14 years:)

School

Winning Pct.

1. Louisville

71.01

2. Florida

70.60

3. Florida State

69.91

4. Oklahoma

69.57

5. LSU

68.03

6. Texas A&M

67.83

7. Tennessee	67.33
8. Texas	66.88
9. Ohio State	66.86
10. Notre Dame	66.85
11. Baylor	66.43
12. UCLA	66.22
13. Arizona State	66.08
14. North Carolina	66.08
15. Michigan	65.89
16. Stanford	64.51
17. BYU	64.39
18. Alabama	63.97
19. Arizona	63.72
20. Louisiana	63.12
21. Georgia	62.61
22. Connecticut	62.55
23. Kentucky	61.79
24. Fresno State	60.65
25. South Carolina	60.47

Other Schools of Interest

47. Western Kentucky	56.22
65. Middle Tennessee	53.21
67. Texas State	52.98
70. Southern Miss	52.78
71. Louisiana Tech	52.63
75. Troy	52.20
80. Florida Atlantic	51.69
83. McNeese State	51.53
102. Southeastern, La.	48.96
104. Northwestern State	48.42
110. Southern U.	48.03

Athletic Network Footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas.
Glen Raggio may be contacted by email at gmraggio@bellsouth.net
It is wonderful to have someone with Glen’s interest and dedication levels to provide this unique information to the Cajun Nation.
Thank you, Glen.