Putting Up Numbers· college football

Colorado’s penalty yards with Isaac Wilson and without Isaac Wilson

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Colorado was 19.4 yards over with Isaac Wilson and 3.6 yards over without Isaac Wilson in 2026, 5 games against 2. The plain averages are 79.2 and 82.3, a difference of 3.1. Expected was 6.6 yards lower with Isaac Wilson than without Isaac Wilson. Both ranked opponents were with Isaac Wilson. All 5 conference games were with Isaac Wilson. All 3 nonconference games were without Isaac Wilson.

Isaac Wilson, quarterback: 1,164 passing yards, 149 pass attempts and 91 completions in 6 games this season.

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

penalty yards a game over expected

A +15.8 difference in penalty yards over expected with Isaac Wilson vs without Isaac Wilson is about what you’d expect.

A −3.1 difference in penalty yards with Isaac Wilson vs without Isaac Wilson is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Isaac Wilsonwithout Isaac Wilson
Colorado’s games, 2026, each marked with Isaac Wilson or without Isaac Wilson
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Sep 3, 2026@Georgia TechW6070.5
Sep 12, 2026vsWWeber StateW107—
Sep 19, 2026@NorthwesternL8062.3
Sep 26, 2026@BaylorL8257.5
Oct 3, 2026vsTexas TechL8458.5
Oct 17, 2026vsUtahL9360.4
Oct 24, 2026@Oklahoma StateL8462.3
Oct 31, 2026vsKansas StateW5360.6

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 1.3 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 27% of the difference the model predicts.
  • The two sides are the games before and after one date, so the shuffle moves any game between them.
  • Weber State 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.