Matchup analysis
Our model projects Western Illinois 28, Charleston Southern 26 at Buccaneer Field in Week 9. That is a genuine toss-up: Western Illinois wins about 56% of the time by our estimate, with a projected margin of 2.1 points and 53.7 combined points. Tags: coin flip.
Western Illinois is 4-4 against the 95th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 34.5 and allowing 25.1 points per game (+9.4 per game). Charleston Southern is 4-4 against the 61st-toughest schedule so far, scoring 23.4 and allowing 20.8 points per game (+2.6 per game).
College football is noisy: even a well-rated projection misses the final margin by about 14 points on average. Based on how real results have scattered around our numbers, the final margin should land somewhere between Western Illinois by 25 and Charleston Southern by 20 about 80% of the time.
Charleston Southern gets about 2.1 points for playing at home. Western Illinois is still favoured on the road, so the ratings gap is bigger than the value of playing at home. The game is on ESPN+.
Market lines
Market lines · Source: The Odds API, ESPN, Action Network · Updated Oct 29, 9:25 AM UTC. Shown for information; not an input to our projections.
No market line has been posted for this game yet.
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Western Illinois vs Charleston Southern: stat comparison
| Stat | Western Illinois | Charleston Southern |
|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 34.5 | 23.4 |
| Points allowed per game | 25.1 | 20.8 |
| Yards per play | 6.51 | 4.95 |
| Yards per play allowed | 5.32 | 4.84 |
| Rushing yards per game | 224.6 | 140.0 |
| Net passing yards per game | 231.0 | 137.6 |
| Rushing yards allowed per game | 139.1 | 136.5 |
| Net passing yards allowed per game | 199.9 | 211.0 |
| Turnovers per game | 0.88 | 1.00 |
| Takeaways per game | 1.25 | 1.25 |
| Sacks per game | 2.00 | 1.75 |
| Sacks allowed per game | 1.75 | 3.63 |
| Stat | Western Illinois | Charleston Southern |
|---|---|---|
| EPA per play | +0.11 | -0.07 |
| EPA per play allowed | +0.03 | +0.03 |
| Success rate | 43.8% | 40.3% |
| Success rate allowed | 39.4% | 38.0% |
| Explosive play rate | 13.8% | 11.0% |
| Explosive plays allowed | 12.5% | 9.6% |
| Havoc rate | 13.5% | 14.3% |
| Havoc allowed | 11.5% | 18.9% |
| Points per scoring opportunity | 3.79 | 2.55 |
| Points per opportunity allowed | 3.52 | 3.11 |
| Average starting field position | opp 8 | opp 19 |
| Opponents' starting field position | opp 7 | opp 16 |
| Offensive plays per game (pace) | 70.0 | 56.1 |
| Stat | Western Illinois | Charleston Southern |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing EPA per play | +0.20 | -0.07 |
| Passing EPA per play | +0.03 | -0.09 |
| Rushing EPA allowed | +0.09 | +0.03 |
| Passing EPA allowed | -0.04 | +0.02 |
| Rushing success rate | 46.9% | 41.8% |
| Passing success rate | 39.3% | 36.1% |
| Run stuff rate | 14.3% | 26.1% |
| Passing-down success rate | 31.3% | 28.8% |
| Passing-down success allowed | 30.9% | 28.8% |
| Third-down conversion rate | 40.0% | 31.0% |
| Third-down rate allowed | 37.1% | 38.8% |
| Red-zone touchdown rate | 44.2% | 44.6% |
| Red-zone TD rate allowed | 49.4% | 53.2% |
# = rank among 138 FBS teams. Efficiency numbers exclude garbage time. Per-play numbers of teams with a weak schedule are pulled toward their opponent-adjusted values (fully at one standard deviation below an average schedule). Source: play-by-play (cfbfastR / sportsdataverse), aggregated by us.
More: Western Illinois schedule · Charleston Southern schedule · all Week 9 projections
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Projections are statistical estimates for entertainment and analysis only. They are not betting advice and nothing here guarantees any result.
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