Putting Up Numbers· college football

Pittsburgh’s passing yards with Holden Geriner and without Holden Geriner

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Pittsburgh was 16.6 yards over with Holden Geriner and 2.0 yards over without Holden Geriner in 2026, 3 games against 5. The plain averages are 244.3 and 295.5, a difference of 51.2. All 3 nonconference games were without Holden Geriner. All 4 first-half games were without Holden Geriner.

Holden Geriner, quarterback: 886 passing yards, 132 pass attempts and 77 completions in 6 games this season, 45% of Pittsburgh’s passing yards in those games.

3 games with Holden Geriner is still too small a sample for the statistics to say much, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

passing yards a game over expected

A +14.5 difference in passing yards over expected with Holden Geriner vs without Holden Geriner is about what you’d expect.

A −51.2 difference in passing yards with Holden Geriner vs without Holden Geriner is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Holden Gerinerwithout Holden Geriner
Pittsburgh’s games, 2026, each marked with Holden Geriner or without Holden Geriner
SideDateGameResultpassing yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsMiami (OH)W480272.6
Sep 12, 2026vsUCFW212247.2
Sep 17, 2026vsSyracuseW123246.4
Sep 26, 2026vsBucknellW574—
Oct 2, 2026@Virginia TechW191248.9
Oct 10, 2026vsNorth CarolinaL219213.4
Oct 17, 2026@Boston CollegeL193173.8
Oct 24, 2026@Miami (FL)L334245.4
Oct 31, 2026vsGeorgia TechW180224.5

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 4.1 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 59% 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.
  • Bucknell 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 8 of these 9 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.