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Kansas at Utah

Saturday, October 10 · 10:15 PM ET · Rice-Eccles Stadium
Kansas 2-2 21.7
AT
Utah 4-0 36.4

01 / THE NUMBER

The model makes this Utah -14.8. The market has it Utah -15.5, a gap of 0.7 points toward Kansas.

Tested against closing lines on 1,148 games, this model tracks the market rather than beating it. A large gap is a question worth asking, not a signal to follow.

SPREAD
Vegas lineUtah -15.5
ModelUtah -14.8
Difference0.7

02 / PROJECTED SCORE

Kansas21.7Utah36.4

03 / WHERE THE MARGIN COMES FROM

Elo / track record8.7Home field4.4Running game1.5Pass consistency1.2Passing game1.1Rush consistency0.9Kansas ←→ Utah

Each bar is that input's contribution to the projected margin, in points, pointing toward the team it favours. They sum to 13.0 toward Utah, before calibration.

04 / HOW THEY RATE · percentile vs all FBS

Offence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Defence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Kansas Utah
Percentile, 0–100Kansas offUtah off Kansas defUtah def
Passing77953483
Rushing92919153
Pass cons.55936496
Rush cons.91889167
Pass rate15548736
Pace39215398

Higher is better on both sides — defence is flipped so the shape reads the same way. Percentiles are taken from the opponent-adjusted ratings, so a number earned against a hard schedule ranks above the same number earned against a soft one.

05 / TEAM RATINGS

Per play, vs averageKansas offUtah off Kansas defUtah def
Pass EPA / dropback+0.257+0.425-0.030-0.155
Rush EPA / carry+0.213+0.203-0.249-0.093
Pass success rate+0.062+0.154-0.040-0.082
Rush success rate+0.125+0.112-0.128-0.075
Pass rate-0.074-0.008-0.015+0.021
Plays per game-1.6-2.2-4.2-7.9

Opponent adjusted and shrunk toward last season — after 4 and 4 games, a rating is still part last year. On defence, negative is good.

06 / ELO

RatingKansasUtahGap
Elo, years of results16251918 +293

Worth 8.7 points of this projection. Elo carries what three games of play-by-play can't: years of results, so a team that has been bad for a decade isn't rated average in September.

07 / SEASON SO FAR

Kansas 2-2

vs Long Island University51–6
vs Missouri21–38
vs Arizona State17–24
vs Middle Tennessee55–0

Utah 4-0

vs Idaho66–14
vs Arkansas43–10
vs Utah State33–0
at Iowa State31–17