Putting Up Numbers· college football

New Mexico’s points allowed with Toa Fa'avae and without Toa Fa'avae

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, New Mexico was 4.2 points under with Toa Fa'avae and 1.4 points under without Toa Fa'avae over its last 25 games, 5 games against 13. The plain averages are 12.6 and 21.2, a difference of 8.6.

Toa Fa'avae, quarterback: 888 passing yards, 101 pass attempts and 58 completions in 9 of those 25 games.

points allowed a game over expected

A −2.8 difference in points allowed over expected with Toa Fa'avae vs without Toa Fa'avae is about what you’d expect.

A −8.6 difference in points allowed with Toa Fa'avae vs without Toa Fa'avae is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Toa Fa'avae and it comes up 7 times in 100.

The games

with Toa Fa'avaewithout Toa Fa'avae
New Mexico’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Toa Fa'avae or without Toa Fa'avae
SideDateGameResultpoints allowedExpected
Nov 2, 2024vsWyomingL4927.4
Nov 8, 2024@San Diego StateW1634.5
Nov 16, 2024vsWashington StateW3541.8
Nov 30, 2024@HawaiiL3831.8
Aug 30, 2025@MichiganL3431.5
Sep 6, 2025vsIdaho StateW22—
Sep 12, 2025@UCLAW1027.2
Sep 27, 2025vsNew Mexico StateW2013.7
Oct 3, 2025@San Jose StateL3519.0
Oct 11, 2025@Boise StateL4124.7
Oct 18, 2025vsNevadaW2214.4
Oct 25, 2025vsUtah StateW1426.6
Nov 1, 2025@UNLVW3529.0
Nov 15, 2025vsColorado StateW1717.7
Nov 22, 2025@Air ForceW329.4
Nov 28, 2025vsSan Diego StateW1721.7
Dec 26, 2025vsMinnesota (neutral)L2023.2
Sep 5, 2026vsCentral MichiganW715.2
Sep 12, 2026vsMMercyhurstW7—
Sep 19, 2026@OklahomaL1426.5
Sep 26, 2026@New Mexico StateW1813.8
Oct 3, 2026vsUTEPW711.2
Oct 17, 2026@HawaiiW1018.0
Oct 24, 2026vsNNorth Dakota StateW16—
Oct 31, 2026@San Jose StateW1616.2

Method

Read against .

  • Expected is an offense and a defense a team, fit over every game of its season between two teams in the table with the game being read left out, minus 1.5 in 2025, minus 1.9 in 2026 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 78% in 2025, 66% in 2026 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.
  • Idaho State, Mercyhurst, 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 for 14 of these 21 games; in the other 7 a player is counted as in them 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.
  • 4 games in 2024 are neither with Toa Fa'avae nor without Toa Fa'avae: Toa Fa'avae had no game for the team that season, and sit out.