How Utah's 2026 opponents call plays
A side project by David Hyde, Nektar Insights. Built from CFBD play-by-play, 2020–2025.
Every offensive coordinator has habits: what they call on third and long, inside the 20, or when their team is behind. This site measures those habits from six seasons of play-by-play (2020–2025), for Utah's own play-caller and for each coordinator on Utah's 2026 schedule. The numbers follow the coach, not the school: when a coordinator changes jobs, their history comes with them. Everything here describes what each coach has done. It is not a prediction of what they'll do next.
What the data says so far
- 1
The situation calls the play, not the coach.
Down, distance, score and field position predict a run or pass better than knowing who is calling it. Coaches do have habits, but small ones: about 6 points off the league average in run rate. And habits did not clearly follow coaches to new jobs (0 of 13 in our test).
Scorecard → - 2
The “elite” offenses on Utah’s schedule weren’t.
Before the season this site labelled Arkansas High, Utah State Medium and Iowa State Medium. All 3 averaged negative EPA per play against Utah (Arkansas −0.069, Utah State −0.177, Iowa State −0.096), and Utah won each by 14 or more. The label was the problem: its “elite” line sat below the average coordinator. The middle half of the OCs we track sit within about 0.07 EPA per play of each other. That is only 3 games, all lopsided, so read it as a lesson about labels, not a ranking.
Rankings + preseason board → - 3
This site grades itself.
Our old Exploitability grade gave coaches with no habits at all a C or better 73.8% of the time, so we retired it. Now every forecast is frozen before kickoff, scored on the real 2026 snaps, and bad weeks stay on the page.
Scorecard →
Start with Utah's own play-caller
Kevin McGiven's tendencies, measured the same way as every opponent's. 2026 is his first season at Utah, so his numbers come from his earlier offenses at San José State and Utah State.
Utah's 2026 offensive coordinator
Kevin McGiven
His run/pass habits, efficiency, and how he has called it by situation
Week by week: each opponent's play-caller
Click a card for the full breakdown. Efficiency ranks that coordinator's expected points added per play (how much each play moved the offense toward scoring) among the FBS play-callers in this site's database, not all of FBS. 1st is best. Leans pass means they pass on 55% or more of plays, leans run means they run on 55% or more; no label means balanced.
Idaho
Ian Shoemaker
Arkansas
Tim Cramsey
Utah State
Robert Anae
Iowa State
Tyler Roehl
FCS data
Kansas
Andy Kotelnicki
Colorado
Brennan Marion
Houston
Slade Nagle
Cincinnati
Brad Glenn
BYU
Aaron Roderick
Arizona
Seth Doege
TCU
Gordon Sammis
West Virginia
Rich Rodriguez
New play-callers: how much data we have
These coordinators start new jobs in 2026. Their numbers come from the offenses they ran before, where that history exists. The tags show where it is thin.
Eric Kjar
HC / OC · Weber StateNo college dataBig Sky← Corner Canyon HS (prep) · First college role. 181–39 prep record. Coached Wilson & Dart.
Brennan Marion
OC · ColoradoData gapBig 12← Sacramento State (HC) · Came from a 2025 FCS head-coaching year; tendencies sourced from his UNLV OC stops (2023–24). First Big 12 OC role.
Tyler Roehl
OC · Iowa StateFCS data onlyBig 12← Detroit Lions (NFL) · Most recent stop: Lions TE coach (2025). Tendencies from his NDSU OC years (FCS, 2019–23). First Power 4 OC role.
Tracking coaches with data gaps relevant to future Utah & Weber State matchups
Rankings compare each coordinator only with the other FBS play-callers in this site's database. Data notes: Play-by-play from CFBD API · 2020–2025 · Run/pass classification from play_type field. Personnel/formation data requires PFF or Sports Info Solutions charting.