Putting Up Numbers· college football

UCLA’s pass attempts with Nico Iamaleava and since Nico Iamaleava’s last game

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, UCLA was 4.4 pass attempts under with Nico Iamaleava and 3.9 pass attempts over since Nico Iamaleava’s last game in 2026, 5 games against 3. The plain averages are 24.6 and 31.7, a difference of 7.1. All 3 away games were with Nico Iamaleava. Both night games were with Nico Iamaleava. All 4 games while unranked were with Nico Iamaleava.

Nico Iamaleava, quarterback: 982 passing yards, 116 pass attempts and 72 completions in 5 games this season, 94% of UCLA’s pass attempts in those games.

3 games since Nico Iamaleava’s last game 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 −8.3 difference in pass attempts over expected with Nico Iamaleava vs since Nico Iamaleava’s last game is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Nico Iamaleava and it comes up 11 times in 100.

A −7.1 difference in pass attempts with Nico Iamaleava vs since Nico Iamaleava’s last game is a bit unusual: shuffle which games were with Nico Iamaleava and it comes up 11 times in 100.

The games

with Nico Iamaleavasince Nico Iamaleava’s last game
UCLA’s games, 2026, each marked with Nico Iamaleava or since Nico Iamaleava’s last game
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Sep 5, 2026@CaliforniaW2227.0
Sep 12, 2026vsSan Diego StateW2230.6
Sep 19, 2026vsPurdueW3227.3
Sep 26, 2026@MarylandW2428.9
Oct 10, 2026@OregonW2331.2
Oct 17, 2026vsWisconsinW3429.5
Oct 24, 2026vsMichigan StateW3124.8
Oct 31, 2026vsNevadaW3028.9

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 for 6 of these 8 games; in the other 2 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.