Putting Up Numbers· college football

UCF’s penalty yards with Duane Thomas Jr. and without Duane Thomas Jr.

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, UCF was 0.4 yards over with Duane Thomas Jr. and 4.7 yards under without Duane Thomas Jr. over its last 25 games, 13 games against 5. The plain averages are 54.8 and 50.7, a difference of 4.1. Both top-10 opponents were with Duane Thomas Jr.. All 3 games after a bye were with Duane Thomas Jr..

Duane Thomas Jr., receiver: 572 receiving yards and 60 receptions in 14 of those 25 games.

penalty yards a game over expected

A +5.1 difference in penalty yards over expected with Duane Thomas Jr. vs without Duane Thomas Jr. is about what you’d expect.

A +4.1 difference in penalty yards with Duane Thomas Jr. vs without Duane Thomas Jr. is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Duane Thomas Jr. and it comes up 18 times in 100.

The games

with Duane Thomas Jr.without Duane Thomas Jr.
UCF’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Duane Thomas Jr. or without Duane Thomas Jr.
SideDateGameResultpenalty yardsExpected
Oct 26, 2024vsBYUL5552.7
Nov 2, 2024vsArizonaW4049.0
Nov 9, 2024@Arizona StateL8053.3
Nov 23, 2024@West VirginiaL5855.8
Nov 29, 2024vsUtahL5746.7
Aug 28, 2025vsJacksonville StateW8054.2
Sep 6, 2025vsNNorth Carolina A&TW55—
Sep 20, 2025vsNorth CarolinaW4057.2
Sep 27, 2025@Kansas StateL4549.6
Oct 4, 2025vsKansasL4552.4
Oct 11, 2025@CincinnatiL7547.8
Oct 18, 2025vsWest VirginiaW7056.8
Nov 1, 2025@BaylorL5064.3
Nov 7, 2025vsHoustonL7560.8
Nov 15, 2025@Texas TechL4552.3
Nov 22, 2025vsOklahoma StateW7251.6
Nov 29, 2025@BYUL3455.9
Sep 3, 2026vsBBethune-CookmanW55—
Sep 12, 2026@PittsburghL5056.9
Sep 19, 2026vsGeorgia StateW4852.6
Sep 26, 2026vsTCUW4550.7
Oct 3, 2026@HoustonL7352.9
Oct 10, 2026@Oklahoma StateL3359.5
Oct 24, 2026vsBYUW4051.4
Oct 30, 2026vsBaylorL4152.6

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, minus 2.1 in 2025, minus 1.3 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 45% in 2025, 27% 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.
  • North Carolina A&T, Bethune-Cookman 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 15 of these 20 games; in the other 5 a player is counted as in them when the box score has a stat for him.
  • 5 games in 2024 are neither with Duane Thomas Jr. nor without Duane Thomas Jr.: Duane Thomas Jr. had no game for the team that season, and sit out.