Putting Up Numbers· college football

Purdue’s points allowed with Mister Clark and without Mister Clark

, ,

Against what the season’s ratings expected, Purdue was 1.0 points under with Mister Clark and 3.2 points over without Mister Clark in 2026, 1 game against 6. The plain averages are 25.0 and 34.5, a difference of 9.5. All 6 games on a normal week were without Mister Clark.

Mister Clark, defender: 2 games this season.

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

points allowed a game over expected

A −9.5 difference in points allowed with Mister Clark vs without Mister Clark is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Mister Clarkwithout Mister Clark
Purdue’s games, 2026, each marked with Mister Clark or without Mister Clark
SideDateGameResultpoints allowedExpected
Sep 4, 2026vsIndiana StateW19—
Sep 12, 2026vsWake ForestL3833.2
Sep 19, 2026@UCLAL5230.7
Sep 26, 2026vsNotre DameL4935.0
Oct 3, 2026@IllinoisW1735.5
Oct 10, 2026vsMinnesotaW1328.4
Oct 16, 2026vsWashingtonL3825.2
Oct 31, 2026@Penn StateL3132.0

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 1.9 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 66% 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.
  • Indiana 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 4 of these 8 games; in the other 4 a player is counted as in them when the box score has a stat for him.