Putting Up Numbers· college football

Virginia Tech’s pass attempts with Ayden Greene and without Ayden Greene

, ,

Against what the season’s ratings expected, Virginia Tech was 0.1 pass attempts under with Ayden Greene and 3.3 pass attempts under without Ayden Greene over its last 25 games, 21 games against 2. The plain averages are 29.4 and 25.5, a difference of 3.9. All 13 home games were with Ayden Greene. Both neutral-site games were with Ayden Greene. All 12 night games were with Ayden Greene.

Ayden Greene, receiver: 981 receiving yards, 60 receptions and 6 receiving touchdowns in 23 of those 25 games.

2 games without Ayden Greene 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 +3.1 difference in pass attempts over expected with Ayden Greene vs without Ayden Greene is about what you’d expect.

A +3.9 difference in pass attempts with Ayden Greene vs without Ayden Greene is about what you’d expect.

The games

with Ayden Greenewithout Ayden Greene
Virginia Tech’s games, last 25 games, each marked with Ayden Greene or without Ayden Greene
SideDateGameResultpass attemptsExpected
Nov 2, 2024@SyracuseL2428.6
Nov 9, 2024vsClemsonL3728.0
Nov 23, 2024@DukeL3228.1
Nov 30, 2024vsVirginiaW2128.6
Jan 3, 2025vsMinnesota (neutral)L1827.2
Aug 31, 2025vsSouth Carolina (neutral)L3524.9
Sep 6, 2025vsVanderbiltL2930.5
Sep 13, 2025vsOld DominionL3925.0
Sep 20, 2025vsWoffordW33—
Sep 27, 2025@NC StateW3430.3
Oct 4, 2025vsWake ForestL2827.6
Oct 11, 2025@Georgia TechL2127.2
Oct 24, 2025vsCaliforniaW1826.3
Nov 1, 2025vsLouisvilleL2427.2
Nov 15, 2025@Florida StateL1825.2
Nov 22, 2025vsMiami (FL)L2429.0
Nov 29, 2025@VirginiaL1626.7
Sep 5, 2026vsVMIW32—
Sep 12, 2026vsOld DominionW4431.6
Sep 19, 2026@MarylandW3932.5
Sep 26, 2026@Boston CollegeW3530.9
Oct 2, 2026vsPittsburghL4135.4
Oct 10, 2026@CaliforniaL3131.8
Oct 17, 2026vsGeorgia TechW2235.5
Oct 24, 2026@ClemsonW3334.6

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 0.4 in 2024, minus 0.3 in 2025, minus 0.1 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 73% in 2024, 73% in 2025, 60% 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.
  • Wofford, VMI 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 9 of these 25 games; in the other 16 a player is counted as in them when the box score has a stat for him.