While preparing for the Undergraduate Research Conference, SMSU mathematics major Justin Rhoades made a shocking discovery.

“I was going through some formulas, and something just didn’t add up,” Rhoades said.

For his project, Rhoades analyzed the relationship between the content of a coach’s pre-game pep talk, and the outcome of the game. The amount of inspiring words used, such as “victory,” “clobber ‘em,” and “stangbang,” was measured against the number of points scored.

“When I was running the pep talks through my program, I saw that the phrase ‘give 110 percent’ was repeated over and over again by all the coaches—the football coach especially,” Rhoades said. “This got me thinking: is this plausible?”

Rhoades then bought a 24-pack of Mountain Dew, locked himself in his dorm, and got to work. After 29 straight hours of number crunching, Rhoades came to a startling realization.

He discovered that giving 110 percent is not physically possible. The most a human can give is 100 percent.

“To put it simply, say I have a pizza,” Rhoades said. “The entire pizza is 100 percent. If I eat the entire pizza, I just ate 100 percent of it. There’s just no way I can eat 110 percent of it. To do that, I would have to eat pizza that wasn’t there. Just can’t be done.”

This statistical breakthrough saddened many SMSU athletes. The news sent shockwaves through the baseball team, who was practicing for a doubleheader later in the day.

“Here I thought I was giving my all and then some,” Second Baseman Allan Berg said. “Have I been lied to?”

“This is devastating. Absolutely devastating,” Heather Sherman of the tennis team said. “I have to rethink the whole way I play.”

The fans were equally heartbroken. None more that Steve Newhart, who has been to every SMSU football game in the last 14 years.

“I pay good money to go to these games, and I expect the players to give 110 percent,” Newhart said. “Now I hear that the whole time they’ve only been giving 100 percent at best? I feel cheated.”

Rhoades plans to publish his findings after gathering more data. Despite the revelation, Rhoades says that giving 100 percent is still pretty good.

“I mean, 100 percent is still a lot,” Rhoades said. “They’re still the same athletes they’ve always been, and I’m sure they’ll continue to work hard.”