Putting Up Numbers· college football

San Diego State’s passing yards with Lucky Sutton and without Lucky Sutton

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, San Diego State was 12.0 yards over with Lucky Sutton and 78.1 yards under without Lucky Sutton in 2026, 5 games against 3. The plain averages are 183.8 and 136.3, a difference of 47.5.

Lucky Sutton, running back: 473 rushing yards, 103 carries and 1 reception in 6 games this season.

3 games without Lucky Sutton 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 +90.1 difference in passing yards over expected with Lucky Sutton vs without Lucky Sutton is about what you’d expect.

A +47.5 difference in passing yards with Lucky Sutton vs without Lucky Sutton is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Lucky Suttonwithout Lucky Sutton
San Diego State’s games, 2026, each marked with Lucky Sutton or without Lucky Sutton
SideDateGameResultpassing yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsPPortland StateW157—
Sep 12, 2026@UCLAL45155.0
Sep 19, 2026vsJames MadisonL209205.6
Sep 26, 2026@ToledoL248190.6
Oct 3, 2026vsTexas StateW109252.3
Oct 10, 2026@Oregon StateL91185.4
Oct 17, 2026vsFresno StateW180193.5
Oct 24, 2026@Colorado StateL369170.4
Oct 31, 2026vsWashington StateW104176.5

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.
  • Portland 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 6 of these 9 games; in the other 3 a player is counted as in them when the box score has a stat for him.