Putting Up Numbers· college football

Ohio State’s penalty yards with Julian Sayin and without Julian Sayin

, ,

Against what the season’s ratings expected, Ohio State was 6.0 yards under with Julian Sayin and 6.0 yards over without Julian Sayin over its last 25 games, 20 games against 4. The plain averages are 43.0 and 54.5, a difference of 11.5. All 11 home games were with Julian Sayin. All 16 games on a normal week were with Julian Sayin.

Julian Sayin, quarterback: 5,617 passing yards, 583 pass attempts and 432 completions in 21 of those 25 games.

penalty yards a game over expected

A −11.9 difference in penalty yards over expected with Julian Sayin vs without Julian Sayin is about what you’d expect.

A −11.5 difference in penalty yards with Julian Sayin vs without Julian Sayin is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Julian Sayinwithout Julian Sayin
Ohio State’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Julian Sayin or without Julian Sayin
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Jan 1, 2025vsOregon (neutral)W1450.0
Jan 10, 2025vsTexas (neutral)W7542.9
Jan 20, 2025vsNotre Dame (neutral)W5848.4
Aug 30, 2025vsTexasW1546.4
Sep 6, 2025vsGrambling StateW15—
Sep 13, 2025vsOhioW5045.2
Sep 27, 2025@WashingtonW6047.5
Oct 4, 2025vsMinnesotaW3553.7
Oct 11, 2025@IllinoisW5952.7
Oct 18, 2025@WisconsinW3047.3
Nov 1, 2025vsPenn StateW3041.8
Nov 8, 2025@PurdueW6348.2
Nov 15, 2025vsUCLAW2047.7
Nov 22, 2025vsRutgersW6047.8
Nov 29, 2025@MichiganW7245.5
Dec 6, 2025vsIndiana (neutral)L2045.8
Dec 31, 2025vsMiami (FL) (neutral)L1544.7
Sep 5, 2026vsBall StateW8152.9
Sep 12, 2026@TexasL3554.5
Sep 19, 2026vsKent StateW1963.7
Sep 26, 2026vsIllinoisW5956.3
Oct 3, 2026@IowaW4956.4
Oct 10, 2026vsMarylandW6557.5
Oct 17, 2026@IndianaW5050.5
Oct 31, 2026@USCL7152.7

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 0.8 in 2024, minus 2.1 in 2025, minus 1.3 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 44% in 2024, 45% in 2025, 27% in 2026 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.
  • Grambling State 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 for 21 of these 25 games; in the other 4 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.