luckadjusted
CFB Week 4 · 2026

68 Ventures Bowl · December 17, 2025

Louisiana vs Delaware, 68 Ventures Bowl 2025: who deserved to win?

Delaware beat Louisiana 20–13, and the replays lean its way: with the same day's form, it wins 7 of 10.

Before kickoff Louisiana was a 54% favorite. The biggest swing (Q4, 7:49 left): Louisiana converted 4th & 6, worth 9 points of win probability to Louisiana.

Final

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 13
Delaware Blue Hens 20

December 17, 2025 · Hancock Whitney Stadium · Closing line: Louisiana −1.5

Luck index +26 Delaware lucky · −26 Louisiana

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Louisiana wins 3, Delaware wins 7.

  1. 1 UL 31 DEL 13
  2. 2 UL 31 DEL 24
  3. 3 UL 13 DEL 10
  4. 4 UL 7 DEL 10
  5. 5 UL 24 DEL 30
  6. 6 UL 17 DEL 26
  7. 7 UL 19 DEL 33
  8. 8 UL 20 DEL 38
  9. 9 UL 21 DEL 44
  10. 10 UL 7 DEL 38

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Louisiana wins 26% of them, Delaware 74%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Delaware by 7.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Louisiana by 17+3.8%
Louisiana by 9–167.4%
Louisiana by 1–813.4%
Level after regulation1.7%
Delaware by 1–821.8%
Delaware by 9–1621.3%
Delaware by 17+30.6%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +4.7 points to Louisiana: the final margin was Delaware by 7, without the luck Delaware by 11.7. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance), and what happened.

  • T. Sterner, 39 yds missed · 75% expected
  • T. Sterner, 22 yds made · 93% expected
  • N. Reed, 33 yds made · 81% expected
  • N. Reed, 27 yds made · 88% expected
  • T. Sterner, 39 yds made · 74% expected
  • N. Reed, 52 yds blocked · 49% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

Penalties: Louisiana 1 for 5 yards, Delaware 2 for 29 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count toward luck, pre-snap fouls mostly don’t. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 8:49 Pass Interference on Delaware, 14 yards 0% UL +0.1 pts
Q2 3:57 Offside on Louisiana, 5 yards · pre-snap +1% DEL +0.3 pts
Q4 0:23 Pass Interference on Delaware, 15 yards 0% UL +1.8 pts

When it happened

Delaware’s chance of winning

As low as 36% and as high as 100%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

Our in-game win probability: the score, the value of the possession and the time left, starting from the betting line. Overtime has no clock and is drawn at a fixed width. Shaded above the middle while Delaware was ahead in it, below while Louisiana was.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 10:16 Delaware was stopped on 3rd & 83rd & 4th downs · 35% expectedT. Sterner missed a 39-yard field goalKicks · 75% expected for him +4% DEL DEL: Punt
2 Q2 6:59 Delaware was stopped on 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 33% expected +3% DEL DEL: Turnover on downs
3 Q2 4:53 Delaware was stopped on 4th & 23rd & 4th downs · 66% expectedLouisiana was stopped on 3rd & 123rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +4% UL DEL: Field goal
4 Q2 3:57 Delaware converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 45% expectedDelaware converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 80% expectedOffside on Louisiana, 5 yardsPre-snap flags +6% DEL DEL: Field goal
5 Q3 12:40 Delaware converted 3rd & 153rd & 4th downs · 23% expectedLouisiana was stopped on 3rd & 33rd & 4th downs · 55% expected +6% DEL DEL: Field goal
6 Q4 12:53 Louisiana was stopped on 3rd & 83rd & 4th downs · 33% expectedLouisiana converted 4th & 43rd & 4th downs · 47% expectedLouisiana was stopped on 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 31% expectedN. Reed had a 52-yard field goal blockedKicks · 49% expected for him, 3 of 5 from 45+ before +3% UL UL: Touchdown
7 Q4 7:49 Louisiana converted 4th & 63rd & 4th downs · 31% expectedDelaware converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 80% expectedDelaware was stopped on 3rd & 23rd & 4th downs · 67% expected +9% UL UL: End of game
8 Q4 3:04 Delaware was stopped on 4th & 23rd & 4th downs · 66% expectedLouisiana was stopped on 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 29% expected +6% UL DEL: End of game

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Louisiana 5% · Delaware 95%

Final margin
Delaware by 7
Luck in points
4.7 for Louisiana
Luck-adjusted margin
Delaware by 11.7
Replay with same day's form
Louisiana 26% · Delaware 74% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

None by default: our tests measured no carryover after a lucky break. Slide it up to count a break for more than its own swing. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and expected points from CollegeFootballData.com via cfbfastR; win probability from our own model of the score, the possession and the betting line; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record. College play-by-play has no charting of drops or interception-worthy throws and no injury reports, so those kinds of luck aren’t counted here.

Methodology and validation · All Bowl games 2025 games · Louisiana · Delaware

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