Putting Up Numbers· college football

Texas’ total yards with Hollywood Smothers and without Hollywood Smothers

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Texas was 10.0 yards under with Hollywood Smothers and 8.0 yards over without Hollywood Smothers in 2026, 6 games against 2. The plain averages are 364.5 and 347.5, a difference of 17.0. Expected was 35.0 yards higher with Hollywood Smothers than without Hollywood Smothers. All 5 unranked opponents were with Hollywood Smothers. All 3 nonconference games were with Hollywood Smothers.

Hollywood Smothers, running back: 283 rushing yards, 69 carries and 11 receptions in 6 games this season.

2 games without Hollywood Smothers 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 −18.0 difference in total yards over expected with Hollywood Smothers vs without Hollywood Smothers is about what you’d expect.

A +17.0 difference in total yards with Hollywood Smothers vs without Hollywood Smothers is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Hollywood Smotherswithout Hollywood Smothers
Texas’ games, 2026, each marked with Hollywood Smothers or without Hollywood Smothers
SideDateGameResulttotal yardsExpected
Sep 5, 2026vsTexas StateW516407.3
Sep 12, 2026vsOhio StateW337330.7
Sep 19, 2026vsUTSAW400425.3
Sep 26, 2026@TennesseeW274307.8
Oct 10, 2026vsOklahoma (neutral)L382304.2
Oct 17, 2026vsFloridaL272381.9
Oct 24, 2026vsOle MissW421371.2
Oct 31, 2026vsMississippi StateW280397.6

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.
  • Who played is read from the schools’ box scores’ participation lists for 7 of these 8 games; in the other game a player is counted as in it when the box score has a stat for him.