Putting Up Numbers· college football

East Carolina’s third-down conversion rate with Mitch Griffis and without Mitch Griffis

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, East Carolina was 12.5 percentage points under with Mitch Griffis and 2.0 percentage points over without Mitch Griffis over its last 25 games, 5 games against 2. The plain averages are 20.2% and 44.9%, a difference of 24.6%.

Mitch Griffis, quarterback: 753 passing yards, 126 pass attempts and 69 completions in 8 of those 25 games.

3 games without Mitch Griffis 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 −14.5% difference in third-down conversion rate over expected with Mitch Griffis vs without Mitch Griffis is about what you’d expect.

A −24.6% difference in third-down conversion rate with Mitch Griffis vs without Mitch Griffis is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Mitch Griffis and it comes up 9 times in 100.

The games

with Mitch Griffiswithout Mitch Griffis
East Carolina’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Mitch Griffis or without Mitch Griffis
SideDateGameResult3rd downsExpected
Nov 14, 2024@TulsaW35.7%44.9%
Nov 23, 2024@North TexasW46.7%41.8%
Nov 29, 2024vsNavyL26.7%43.0%
Dec 28, 2024vsNC State (neutral)W75.0%33.9%
Aug 28, 2025@NC StateL37.5%44.1%
Sep 6, 2025vsCCampbellW76.5%—
Sep 13, 2025@Coastal CarolinaW56.3%41.8%
Sep 20, 2025vsBYUL40.0%36.4%
Sep 25, 2025vsArmyW58.3%43.3%
Oct 9, 2025@TulaneL52.6%40.6%
Oct 16, 2025vsTulsaW50.0%44.0%
Nov 1, 2025@TempleW50.0%41.0%
Nov 8, 2025vsCharlotteW37.5%45.6%
Nov 15, 2025vsMemphisW50.0%41.8%
Nov 22, 2025@UTSAL14.3%41.6%
Nov 29, 2025@Florida AtlanticW70.6%43.2%
Dec 27, 2025vsPittsburgh (neutral)W13.3%40.5%
Sep 5, 2026@AlabamaL0.0%30.0%
Sep 12, 2026vsAppalachian StateL15.4%34.6%
Sep 19, 2026@Old DominionW23.1%30.1%
Sep 26, 2026vsNNorth Carolina CentralW58.3%—
Oct 10, 2026vsRiceW31.3%38.6%
Oct 15, 2026@UABL45.0%33.7%
Oct 22, 2026@MemphisL29.4%26.3%
Oct 31, 2026vsTempleW33.3%42.6%

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, 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.
  • North Carolina Central 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.
  • 17 games in 2024 and 2025 are neither with Mitch Griffis nor without Mitch Griffis: Mitch Griffis had no game for the team those seasons, and sit out.