Putting Up Numbers· college football

San Jose State’s penalty yards with Luke Weaver and without Luke Weaver

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, San Jose State was 8.0 yards under with Luke Weaver and 1.9 yards over without Luke Weaver over its last 25 games, 6 games against 2. The plain averages are 47.3 and 57.0, a difference of 9.7. All 4 home games were with Luke Weaver. All 4 nonconference games were with Luke Weaver.

Luke Weaver, quarterback: 1,810 passing yards, 242 pass attempts and 154 completions in 8 of those 25 games.

2 games without Luke Weaver is still too small a sample for the statistics to say much, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

penalty yards a game over expected

A −9.9 difference in penalty yards over expected with Luke Weaver vs without Luke Weaver is about what you’d expect.

A −9.7 difference in penalty yards with Luke Weaver vs without Luke Weaver is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Luke Weaverwithout Luke Weaver
San Jose State’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Luke Weaver or without Luke Weaver
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Nov 16, 2024vsBoise StateL4255.4
Nov 22, 2024vsUNLVL9553.1
Nov 29, 2024vsStanfordW4560.7
Dec 24, 2024vsSouth Florida (neutral)L3066.3
Aug 29, 2025vsCentral MichiganL3953.7
Sep 6, 2025@TexasL1548.6
Sep 20, 2025vsIdahoW50—
Sep 27, 2025@StanfordL5455.2
Oct 3, 2025vsNew MexicoW8354.7
Oct 11, 2025@WyomingL8057.3
Oct 17, 2025@Utah StateL6555.6
Nov 1, 2025vsHawaiiW4857.8
Nov 8, 2025vsAir ForceL7046.5
Nov 15, 2025@NevadaL6454.9
Nov 22, 2025@San Diego StateL5050.7
Nov 29, 2025vsFresno StateL4057.4
Aug 29, 2026@USCL1553.2
Sep 4, 2026@Eastern MichiganW10051.3
Sep 12, 2026vsCCal PolyW55—
Sep 19, 2026vsFresno StateL4149.8
Oct 3, 2026@HawaiiW6557.0
Oct 9, 2026vsWyomingL1556.3
Oct 17, 2026@UTEPW4053.3
Oct 24, 2026@NevadaL7456.9
Oct 31, 2026vsNew MexicoL4056.4

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, minus 1.3 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 27% 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.
  • Cal Poly 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.
  • 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.
  • 16 games in 2024 and 2025 are neither with Luke Weaver nor without Luke Weaver: Luke Weaver had no game for the team those seasons, and sit out.