The marathon of Week One is in the books, and now we have just a small bit of data to help inform our decisions on the trends and tendencies that teams have developed for the 2023 season. That being said, the first few weeks of the season are always quite volatile. We want to tread lightly on how much we use from Week One and balance it with some historical data as well. Let’s jump into it.
Friday – Josh McCray (Illinois) More Than 52.5 Rushing Yards
We’ll start off with Illinois in the Friday Night games against Kansas this week. Josh McCray had eleven carries for 30 yards and a touchdown against Toledo in Week One. There’s an expectation that they will lean on McCray and Reggie Love a bit more this week. He had 32.35% of the carries but only 17.75% of the production, and his 2.7 yards per carry was not his finest performance. However, we know from McCray’s freshman year that he’s capable of being much more efficient with his opportunities (as he had 4.9 YPC in 2021). I think this Kansas defense poses a nice bounce-back spot for McCray to wear down a defense that had a cakewalk in Week One against Missouri State.
Saturday – Michael Pratt (Tulane) More Than 32.5 Rushing Yards
