Putting Up Numbers· college football

Old Dominion’s points of margin with Maurki James and without Maurki James

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Old Dominion was 3.4 points under with Maurki James and 2.7 points under without Maurki James in 2026, 7 games against 1. The plain averages are -14.4 and -1.0, a difference of 13.4. All 6 conference games were with Maurki James. All 5 second-half games were with Maurki James.

Maurki James, running back: 103 rushing yards, 33 carries and 4 receptions in 7 games this season.

2 games without Maurki James is still too small a sample for the statistics to say much, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

points of margin a game over expected

A −13.4 difference in points of margin with Maurki James vs without Maurki James is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Maurki Jameswithout Maurki James
Old Dominion’s games, 2026, each marked with Maurki James or without Maurki James
SideDateGameResultpoints of marginExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsNNorfolk StateW21—
Sep 12, 2026@Virginia TechL-23-20.3
Sep 19, 2026vsEast CarolinaL-3-7.3
Sep 26, 2026vsJames MadisonL-26-14.8
Oct 3, 2026@Georgia StateL-32-8.5
Oct 10, 2026@Appalachian StateW7-15.6
Oct 15, 2026vsGeorgia SouthernL-8-12.4
Oct 24, 2026@Louisiana TechL-26-21.0
Oct 31, 2026vsMarshallL-132.3

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 3.7 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 79% 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.
  • Norfolk 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 7 of these 9 games; in the other 2 a player is counted as in them when the box score has a stat for him.