Crim: Pujols’ surge, Iowa’s meager offense and Williams’ record-setting effort provide stats, numbers to ponder

Stats, stats and more stats for your reading pleasure on a leisurely Labor Day.

Every Cardinals fan knows 42-year-old Albert Pujols looked like a younger version of himself at the plate in August, fueling a surge that propelled St. Louis to the top of the National League’s Central Division.

Just how hot was he? Jayson Stark of The Athletic crunched these numbers:

• Pujols had the highest OPS in August of any major-league hitter who had at least 65 plate appearances. His 1.224 OPS was 85 points higher than any other player. In the modern era, only one other player that old has had a 1.200 OPS or better in any calendar month, according to Baseball-Reference/Stathead, and that was Barry Bonds in April 2007 (1.349).

• Pujols posted an .803 slugging percentage, the best in the majors. Again, only Bonds (.814, April 2007) has slugged higher than .700 at age 42. An interesting anecdote is that Pujols had only two months of slugging .800 in his 20s and none in his 30s.

• Pujols hit eight home runs, one shy of the major-league lead for the month. (Teammates Noland Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt were among five players who bashed nine.) For perspective, Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado and Juan Soto are among the sluggers who haven’t hit eight homers in a single month this season.

• Pujols hit five home runs in five games, six in eight games and seven in 10 games from Aug. 10-22. Sluggers Pete Alonso, Shohei Ohtani and Vlad Guerrero Jr. haven’t hit seven homers in 10 games at any point this season, for example. Historically, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell didn’t hit seven in their careers at age 42 or beyond. How many players Pujols’ age have hit seven homers in 10 games? None. Ted Williams used to be the record-holder at age 41.

• Pujols was the oldest player to have a 4-for-4, two-homer game (Aug. 20 in Arizona). Only four other players have accomplished that after turning 40: Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, Rickey Henderson and Stargell.

The Cardinals have 28 games remaining in the regular season and Pujols needs five home runs to become just the fourth player to hit 700 or more in a career, so stay tuned.

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic offered these fun facts after the first full week of the college football season:

• Iowa ranked 121st in offense last season and looked even worse in its opener against South Dakota State. The Hawkeyes’ defense (four points on two safeties) outscored the offense (three points) in the 7-3 victory, despite 16 drives with an average starting field position of their own 42. Iowa’s 2.7 yards per play was the lowest in the FBS for a winning team since 2016.

• By contrast, Appalachian State scored 40 points in the fourth quarter and lost to North Carolina, 63-61. Which game was more entertaining?

• Defending national champion Georgia manhandled Oregon 49-3 and Florida upset Utah 29-26. Florida was picked to finish fourth in the SEC East and Utah, a preseason top 10 team, was expected to repeat as Pac-12 champions. The Pac-12 is now 1-8 against its last nine Week 1 games against SEC opponents — despite having a ranked team in all but two of them. Oregon and Utah, expected to be the cream of the crop in the Pac-12, already have a blemish and we’re barely into September. Expanding the playoffs to 12 teams in 2026 might enable the league to qualify.

• Bryce Young threw five touchdowns and had a 63-yard run in Alabama’s 55-0 shutout of overmatched Utah State. The Tide travel to Austin next week to take on future SEC foe Texas. Ballyhooed QB Quinn Ewers went 16 for 24 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for the Longhorns in his first career start against Louisiana-Monroe.

On the high school front, Georgia became the latest Power-5 school to offer a scholarship to Hannibal all-purpose back Aneyas Williams last week, and it’s easy to see why the junior is in such high demand.

Williams set a single-game school record by scoring eight touchdowns (five rushing, three receiving) in Hannibal’s 53-28 road victory over Jefferson City Friday night at Pete Adkins Stadium. He also kicked five extra points to account for all the Pirates’ points.

How does that performance stack up in the record book?

John Cook of Beatrice (Neb.) is listed in the National High School Record Book by Doug Huff as the all-time national single-game scorer with 98 points on 14 touchdowns and 14 extra points in a 128-0 victory over Tarkio (Mo.) in 1912. However, more recent research by historian Stu Pospisil of the Omaha World-Herald has determined Cook had only 12 touchdowns and 13 extra points, or 85 points.

According to MaxPreps.com, the record should belong to quarterback Leroy “Boney” Matthews, who scored 14 touchdowns and 14 extra points for 98 points in a 142-0 victory over Lehigh in 1927. Unfortunately, there is no newspaper story for the game except the score. However, the performance reportedly appeared in Ripley’s Believe It or Not in many major newspapers.

MaxPreps.com reports Alva Appleman of Moberly should hold the Missouri record with 82 points, ninth all-time, on 11 touchdowns and 16 extra points in a 148-0 win over Montgomery City in 1923. The mark was recently uncovered in research, although Appleman is not listed in the Missouri state record book.

Iowa hosts Iowa State and Nevada the next two weeks, then goes to Rutgers before returning home to face Michigan. What are the odds the Hawkeyes will have scored 98 points by the time the Wolverines roll into town?