Putting Up Numbers· college football

Baylor’s passing yards with DJ Lagway and without DJ Lagway

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Baylor was 31.8 yards over with DJ Lagway and 38.1 yards under without DJ Lagway in 2026, 6 games against 1. The plain averages are 280.8 and 293.0, a difference of 12.2. Expected was 42.0 yards lower with DJ Lagway than without DJ Lagway. All 3 away games were with DJ Lagway. All 5 conference games were with DJ Lagway. All 4 second-half games were with DJ Lagway.

DJ Lagway, quarterback: 1,671 passing yards, 242 pass attempts and 129 completions in 6 games this season, 99% of Baylor’s passing yards in those games.

2 games without DJ Lagway is still too small a sample for the statistics to say much, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

passing yards a game over expected

A −12.2 difference in passing yards with DJ Lagway vs without DJ Lagway is about what you’d expect.

The games

with DJ Lagwaywithout DJ Lagway
Baylor’s games, 2026, each marked with DJ Lagway or without DJ Lagway
SideDateGameResultpassing yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsAuburn (neutral)L333251.1
Sep 12, 2026vsPrairie View A&MW333—
Sep 19, 2026vsLouisiana TechW253291.1
Sep 26, 2026vsColoradoW221278.2
Oct 3, 2026@Arizona StateW320254.4
Oct 17, 2026vsTCUL256219.4
Oct 24, 2026@KansasL236225.3
Oct 30, 2026@UCFW319265.9

Method

Read against .

  • Expected is an offense and a defense a team, fit over every 2026 game between two teams in the table with the game being read left out, plus 4.1 for the home team (the edge the fit finds once strength is in), nothing at a neutral site.
  • Each expected number is then fit to the season’s games: a game bears out about 59% of the difference the model predicts.
  • The shuffle keeps the season’s shape: the games are cut in two where one date leaves the least variance, each game is read against its stretch, and the sides are shuffled only inside each stretch.
  • Prairie View A&M has no other game in the table, so that game has no expected number and sits out the second figure.
  • Who played is read from the schools’ box scores’ participation lists, which name every player who entered the game.
  • With him means he was the team’s quarterback that game, at least half of its pass attempts; a game he left early or came into late reads as without him.