Putting Up Numbers· college football

Tulane’s penalty yards with Trace Johnson and without Trace Johnson

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, Tulane was 10.5 yards over with Trace Johnson and 7.5 yards under without Trace Johnson over its last 25 games, 3 games against 5. The plain averages are 66.3 and 48.8, a difference of 17.5. 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.

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.

penalty yards a game over expected

A +18.0 difference in penalty yards over expected with Trace Johnson vs without Trace Johnson is about what you’d expect.

A +17.5 difference in penalty yards 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
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Nov 28, 2024vsMemphisL2547.7
Dec 6, 2024@ArmyL4546.2
Dec 20, 2024vsFlorida (neutral)L3345.2
Aug 30, 2025vsNorthwesternW5555.2
Sep 6, 2025@South AlabamaW8757.5
Sep 13, 2025vsDukeW10059.9
Sep 20, 2025@Ole MissL3057.3
Sep 27, 2025@TulsaW10458.9
Oct 9, 2025vsEast CarolinaW9654.3
Oct 18, 2025vsArmyW3551.7
Oct 30, 2025@UTSAL3665.1
Nov 7, 2025@MemphisW7457.9
Nov 15, 2025vsFlorida AtlanticW8464.6
Nov 22, 2025@TempleW8353.7
Nov 29, 2025vsCharlotteW2555.2
Dec 5, 2025vsNorth TexasW4859.1
Dec 20, 2025@Ole MissL3856.6
Sep 5, 2026@DukeL10961.4
Sep 12, 2026vsSouth AlabamaW3054.9
Sep 19, 2026@Kansas StateL2055.9
Sep 26, 2026vsSouthern MissW6058.1
Oct 10, 2026@ArmyL2550.9
Oct 16, 2026vsMemphisW8052.2
Oct 24, 2026vsUTSAL6059.1
Oct 30, 2026@CharlotteW5956.1

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 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.