Putting Up Numbers· college football

Ohio State’s pass attempts with Luke Fahey and without Luke Fahey

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Ohio State was 9.8 pass attempts over with Luke Fahey and 1.1 pass attempts under without Luke Fahey in 2026, 1 game against 7. The plain averages are 38.0 and 30.3, a difference of 7.7. All 4 home games were without Luke Fahey. All 3 ranked opponents were without Luke Fahey. Both top-10 opponents were without Luke Fahey.

Luke Fahey, quarterback: 463 passing yards, 51 pass attempts and 30 completions in 4 games this season, 38% of Ohio State’s pass attempts in those games.

One game with Luke Fahey is one game, not a sample, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

pass attempts a game over expected

The games

with Luke Faheywithout Luke Fahey
Ohio State’s games, 2026, each marked with Luke Fahey or without Luke Fahey
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsBall StateW3731.0
Sep 12, 2026@TexasL3232.5
Sep 19, 2026vsKent StateW2831.6
Sep 26, 2026vsIllinoisW3629.7
Oct 3, 2026@IowaW2731.1
Oct 10, 2026vsMarylandW2132.4
Oct 17, 2026@IndianaW3131.1
Oct 31, 2026@USCL3828.2

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 0.1 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 60% of the difference the model predicts.
  • 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.