Putting Up Numbers· college football

Texas Tech’s third-down conversion rate with Will Hammond and without Will Hammond

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Texas Tech was 0.4 percentage points under with Will Hammond and 8.4 percentage points over without Will Hammond over its last 25 games, 10 games against 13. The plain averages are 41.2% and 52.9%, a difference of 11.7%. Both top-10 opponents were without Will Hammond. Both games while in the top 5 were without Will Hammond.

Will Hammond, quarterback: 2,521 passing yards, 349 pass attempts and 228 completions in 17 of those 25 games.

third-down conversion rate a game over expected

A −8.7% difference in third-down conversion rate over expected with Will Hammond vs without Will Hammond is about what you’d expect.

A −11.7% difference in third-down conversion rate with Will Hammond vs without Will Hammond is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Will Hammond and it comes up 8 times in 100.

The games

with Will Hammondwithout Will Hammond
Texas Tech’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Will Hammond or without Will Hammond
SideDateGameResult3rd downsExpected
Nov 23, 2024@Oklahoma StateW63.6%44.6%
Nov 30, 2024vsWest VirginiaW75.0%44.0%
Dec 27, 2024vsArkansas (neutral)L41.7%41.1%
Aug 30, 2025vsAArkansas-Pine BluffW62.5%—
Sep 6, 2025vsKent StateW46.2%56.9%
Sep 13, 2025vsOregon StateW60.0%39.3%
Sep 20, 2025@UtahW52.9%41.8%
Oct 4, 2025@HoustonW50.0%45.5%
Oct 11, 2025vsKansasW42.9%49.3%
Oct 18, 2025@Arizona StateL37.5%44.3%
Oct 25, 2025vsOklahoma StateW56.3%48.0%
Nov 1, 2025@Kansas StateW41.2%44.7%
Nov 8, 2025vsBYUW38.9%41.9%
Nov 15, 2025vsUCFW66.7%43.5%
Nov 29, 2025@West VirginiaW66.7%42.2%
Dec 6, 2025vsBYU (neutral)W42.1%41.1%
Jan 1, 2026vsOregon (neutral)L37.5%43.0%
Sep 5, 2026vsAAbilene ChristianW41.7%—
Sep 12, 2026@Oregon StateW47.1%38.3%
Sep 18, 2026vsHoustonW60.0%36.7%
Sep 26, 2026vsSam HoustonW44.4%38.7%
Oct 3, 2026@ColoradoW25.0%37.1%
Oct 17, 2026vsArizona StateW36.4%36.7%
Oct 24, 2026@CincinnatiL20.0%44.5%
Oct 31, 2026vsArizonaW37.5%40.7%

Method

Read against .

  • Expected is an offense and a defense a team, fit over every game of its season between two teams in the table with the game being read left out, plus 0.6% in 2024, plus 0.7% in 2025, plus 1.4% in 2026 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 50% in 2024, 56% in 2025, 40% in 2026 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.
  • Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Abilene Christian have no other game in the table, so those games have no expected number and sit out the second figure.
  • Who played is read from the schools’ box scores’ participation lists for 22 of these 25 games; in the other 3 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.