Putting Up Numbers· college football

USC’s pass attempts with Trent Mosley and without Trent Mosley

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Against what the season’s ratings expected, USC was 0.3 pass attempts over with Trent Mosley and 4.4 pass attempts over without Trent Mosley in 2026, 6 games against 3. The plain averages are 33.7 and 36.0, a difference of 2.3. All 4 night games were with Trent Mosley. All 3 nonconference games were with Trent Mosley.

Trent Mosley, receiver: 512 receiving yards, 32 receptions and 6 receiving touchdowns in 6 games this season.

3 games without Trent Mosley 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 −4.1 difference in pass attempts over expected with Trent Mosley vs without Trent Mosley is about what you’d expect.

A −2.3 difference in pass attempts with Trent Mosley vs without Trent Mosley is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Trent Mosleywithout Trent Mosley
USC’s games, 2026, each marked with Trent Mosley or without Trent Mosley
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Aug 29, 2026vsSan Jose StateW3633.0
Sep 4, 2026vsFresno StateW3136.6
Sep 12, 2026vsLouisianaW3034.9
Sep 19, 2026@RutgersW3232.7
Sep 26, 2026vsOregonL4231.2
Oct 3, 2026vsWashingtonW3430.9
Oct 10, 2026@Penn StateW3330.7
Oct 24, 2026@WisconsinL5030.5
Oct 31, 2026vsOhio StateW2234.9

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 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 8 of these 9 games; in the other game a player is counted as in it when the box score has a stat for him.