Putting Up Numbers· college football

Boise State’s third-down conversion rate with Juelz Goff and without Juelz Goff

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Boise State was 14.8 percentage points over with Juelz Goff and 11.3 percentage points under without Juelz Goff in 2026, 5 games against 2. The plain averages are 58.7% and 42.2%, a difference of 16.5%.

Juelz Goff, running back: 64 rushing yards and 20 carries in 5 games this season.

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

third-down conversion rate a game over expected

A +26.1% difference in third-down conversion rate over expected with Juelz Goff vs without Juelz Goff is unusual: shuffle which games were with Juelz Goff and it comes up 5 times in 100.

A +16.5% difference in third-down conversion rate with Juelz Goff vs without Juelz Goff is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Juelz Goffwithout Juelz Goff
Boise State’s games, 2026, each marked with Juelz Goff or without Juelz Goff
SideDateGameResult3rd downsExpected
Sep 5, 2026@OregonL26.7%40.1%
Sep 12, 2026vsMemphisW46.2%42.5%
Sep 19, 2026vsSSouth DakotaW61.5%—
Sep 26, 2026@Western MichiganW71.4%41.9%
Oct 3, 2026vsUtah StateW61.5%45.6%
Oct 10, 2026@Fresno StateW38.5%47.7%
Oct 24, 2026@Washington StateW58.3%44.6%
Oct 31, 2026vsTexas StateW56.3%45.3%

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 1.4% 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 40% 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.