Putting Up Numbers· college football

Old Dominion’s total yards with Maurki James and without Maurki James

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Old Dominion was 51.4 yards under with Maurki James and 63.3 yards over without Maurki James in 2026, 7 games against 1. The plain averages are 259.3 and 319.0, a difference of 59.7. 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.

total yards a game over expected

A −59.7 difference in total yards 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
SideDateGameResulttotal yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsNNorfolk StateW323—
Sep 12, 2026@Virginia TechL315251.7
Sep 19, 2026vsEast CarolinaL295289.2
Sep 26, 2026vsJames MadisonL247330.8
Oct 3, 2026@Georgia StateL146338.3
Oct 10, 2026@Appalachian StateW313316.3
Oct 15, 2026vsGeorgia SouthernL264274.3
Oct 24, 2026@Louisiana TechL141296.3
Oct 31, 2026vsMarshallL409329.5

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 12.1 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 67% 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.