Putting Up Numbers· college football

Boise State’s pass attempts with Sire Gaines and without Sire Gaines

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Boise State was 0.7 pass attempts over with Sire Gaines and 2.1 pass attempts under without Sire Gaines in 2026, 4 games against 3. The plain averages are 29.0 and 30.0, a difference of 1.0. Expected was 4.3 pass attempts lower with Sire Gaines than without Sire Gaines.

Sire Gaines, running back: 418 rushing yards, 75 carries and 10 receptions in 5 games this season.

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

pass attempts a game over expected

A +2.8 difference in pass attempts over expected with Sire Gaines vs without Sire Gaines is about what you’d expect.

A −1.0 difference in pass attempts with Sire Gaines vs without Sire Gaines is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Sire Gaineswithout Sire Gaines
Boise State’s games, 2026, each marked with Sire Gaines or without Sire Gaines
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Sep 5, 2026@OregonL2927.2
Sep 12, 2026vsMemphisW2826.6
Sep 19, 2026vsSSouth DakotaW31—
Sep 26, 2026@Western MichiganW2331.0
Oct 3, 2026vsUtah StateW2132.7
Oct 10, 2026@Fresno StateW3429.3
Oct 24, 2026@Washington StateW2328.1
Oct 31, 2026vsTexas StateW4632.6

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, minus 0.1 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 60% 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.
  • South Dakota 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 for 7 of these 8 games; in the other game a player is counted as in it when the box score has a stat for him.