Putting Up Numbers· college football

Tulane’s pass attempts with Trace Johnson and without Trace Johnson

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Tulane was 3.1 pass attempts over with Trace Johnson and 2.5 pass attempts under without Trace Johnson over its last 25 games, 3 games against 5. The plain averages are 34.0 and 26.6, a difference of 7.4. All 4 nonconference games were without Trace Johnson.

Trace Johnson, quarterback: 749 passing yards, 106 pass attempts and 65 completions in 4 of those 25 games, 81% of Tulane’s pass attempts in those games.

3 games with Trace Johnson is still too small a sample for the statistics to say much, but maybe you can find something if you squint.

pass attempts a game over expected

A +5.5 difference in pass attempts over expected with Trace Johnson vs without Trace Johnson is about what you’d expect.

A +7.4 difference in pass attempts with Trace Johnson vs without Trace Johnson is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Trace Johnsonwithout Trace Johnson
Tulane’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Trace Johnson or without Trace Johnson
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Nov 28, 2024vsMemphisL3326.9
Dec 6, 2024@ArmyL2524.4
Dec 20, 2024vsFlorida (neutral)L3025.2
Aug 30, 2025vsNorthwesternW3127.5
Sep 6, 2025@South AlabamaW2727.8
Sep 13, 2025vsDukeW2532.4
Sep 20, 2025@Ole MissL2931.9
Sep 27, 2025@TulsaW3229.5
Oct 9, 2025vsEast CarolinaW3732.7
Oct 18, 2025vsArmyW2927.2
Oct 30, 2025@UTSAL3630.5
Nov 7, 2025@MemphisW2431.2
Nov 15, 2025vsFlorida AtlanticW2730.2
Nov 22, 2025@TempleW2928.9
Nov 29, 2025vsCharlotteW3932.1
Dec 5, 2025vsNorth TexasW2233.0
Dec 20, 2025@Ole MissL3731.0
Sep 5, 2026@DukeL3028.1
Sep 12, 2026vsSouth AlabamaW2231.7
Sep 19, 2026@Kansas StateL2624.4
Sep 26, 2026vsSouthern MissW2930.1
Oct 10, 2026@ArmyL2631.0
Oct 16, 2026vsMemphisW2230.4
Oct 24, 2026vsUTSAL4431.0
Oct 30, 2026@CharlotteW3631.4

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 0.1 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 60% of the difference the model predicts.
  • The two sides are the games before and after one date, so the shuffle moves any game between them.
  • Who played is read from the schools’ box scores’ participation lists, which name every player who entered the game.
  • 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.
  • 17 games in 2024 and 2025 are neither with Trace Johnson nor without Trace Johnson: Trace Johnson had no game for the team those seasons, and sit out.