Putting Up Numbers· college football

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

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, San Diego State was 16.9 yards over with Lucky Sutton and 81.2 yards under without Lucky Sutton in 2026, 5 games against 3. The plain averages are 356.2 and 262.3, a difference of 93.8.

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.

total yards a game over expected

A +98.1 difference in total yards over expected with Lucky Sutton vs without Lucky Sutton is about what you’d expect.

A +93.8 difference in total 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
SideDateGameResulttotal yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsPPortland StateW394—
Sep 12, 2026@UCLAL189247.1
Sep 19, 2026vsJames MadisonL401329.5
Sep 26, 2026@ToledoL296343.5
Oct 3, 2026vsTexas StateW239368.3
Oct 10, 2026@Oregon StateL147332.8
Oct 17, 2026vsFresno StateW386340.9
Oct 24, 2026@Colorado StateL565385.5
Oct 31, 2026vsWashington StateW307341.4

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 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.