Putting Up Numbers· college football

Mississippi State’s third-down conversion rate with Kamario Taylor and since Kamario Taylor’s last game

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Mississippi State was 6.5 percentage points over with Kamario Taylor and 8.7 percentage points under since Kamario Taylor’s last game in 2026, 5 games against 3. The plain averages are 47.0% and 29.7%, a difference of 17.3%. Both nonconference games were with Kamario Taylor. All 4 first-half games were with Kamario Taylor.

Kamario Taylor, quarterback: 1,460 passing yards, 159 pass attempts and 104 completions in 6 games this season.

3 games since Kamario Taylor’s last game 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 +15.2% difference in third-down conversion rate over expected with Kamario Taylor vs since Kamario Taylor’s last game is about what you’d expect.

A +17.3% difference in third-down conversion rate with Kamario Taylor vs since Kamario Taylor’s last game is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Kamario Taylor and it comes up 10 times in 100.

The games

with Kamario Taylorsince Kamario Taylor’s last game
Mississippi State’s games, 2026, each marked with Kamario Taylor or since Kamario Taylor’s last game
SideDateGameResult3rd downsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsLouisiana MonroeW45.5%45.5%
Sep 12, 2026@MinnesotaW60.0%33.5%
Sep 19, 2026@South CarolinaW45.5%42.7%
Sep 26, 2026vsMissouriW42.9%42.0%
Oct 3, 2026vsAlabamaL41.2%38.5%
Oct 17, 2026@LSUL46.7%37.0%
Oct 24, 2026vsOklahomaL9.1%40.2%
Oct 31, 2026@TexasL33.3%37.9%

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 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 two sides are the games before and after one date, so the shuffle moves any game between them.
  • 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.
  • 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.