Putting Up Numbers· college football

Nevada’s penalty yards with AJ Bianco and without AJ Bianco

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Nevada was 43.1 yards under with AJ Bianco and 3.0 yards under without AJ Bianco in 2026, 1 game against 5. The plain averages are 58.7 and 48.6, a difference of 10.1. Both opponents outside the major colleges were with AJ Bianco.

AJ Bianco, quarterback: 397 passing yards, 71 pass attempts and 37 completions in 5 games this season.

3 games with AJ Bianco 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 +10.1 difference in penalty yards with AJ Bianco vs without AJ Bianco is about what you’d expect.

The games

with AJ Biancowithout AJ Bianco
Nevada’s games, 2026, each marked with AJ Bianco or without AJ Bianco
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsWestern KentuckyW4052.6
Sep 12, 2026vsMontana StateL86—
Sep 19, 2026@Middle TennesseeL5451.9
Sep 26, 2026vsAir ForceL4147.2
Oct 10, 2026@UTEPW5452.3
Oct 17, 2026@NNorth Dakota StateL75—
Oct 24, 2026vsSan Jose StateW5453.8
Oct 31, 2026@UCLAL1558.1

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 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.
  • Montana State, North Dakota State have no other game in the table, so those games have no expected number and sit 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.