SM
SAM'SMODELS
← BACK TO THE BOARD

Minnesota at Purdue

Saturday, October 10 · 8:00 PM ET · Ross-Ade Stadium
Minnesota 4-1 27.4
AT
Purdue 2-3 28.1

01 / THE NUMBER

The model makes this Purdue -0.7. The market has it Minnesota -2.5, a gap of 3.2 points toward Purdue.

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 lineMinnesota -2.5
ModelPurdue -0.7
Difference3.2

02 / PROJECTED SCORE

Minnesota27.4Purdue28.1

03 / WHERE THE MARGIN COMES FROM

Elo / track record5.9Home field4.4Running game0.9Pass consistency0.4Passing game0.3Rush consistency0.1Minnesota ←→ Purdue

Each bar is that input's contribution to the projected margin, in points, pointing toward the team it favours. They sum to 0.1 toward Purdue, before calibration.

04 / HOW THEY RATE · percentile vs all FBS

Offence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Defence
PassingRushingPass cons.Rush cons.Pass ratePace
Minnesota Purdue
Percentile, 0–100Minnesota offPurdue off Minnesota defPurdue def
Passing45836723
Rushing5586043
Pass cons.74915546
Rush cons.23535934
Pass rate87772678
Pace20449384

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 averageMinnesota offPurdue off Minnesota defPurdue def
Pass EPA / dropback+0.119+0.283-0.113-0.008
Rush EPA / carry-0.073+0.098-0.109-0.060
Pass success rate+0.086+0.141-0.032-0.026
Rush success rate+0.015+0.055-0.064-0.030
Pass rate+0.050+0.031+0.030-0.009
Plays per game-2.2-1.5-7.0-5.8

Opponent adjusted and shrunk toward last season — after 5 and 5 games, a rating is still part last year. On defence, negative is good.

06 / ELO

RatingMinnesotaPurdueGap
Elo, years of results15261326 -200

Worth 5.9 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

Minnesota 4-1

vs Eastern Illinois59–7
vs Mississippi State13–38
vs Akron41–7
at Washington27–24
vs Michigan20–14

Purdue 2-3

vs Indiana State44–19
vs Wake Forest36–38
at UCLA38–52
vs Notre Dame10–49
at Illinois24–17