Now, allow me to turn it on its head and agree with
@OrangeAfroMan I speak of variance as if it's bad, but variance can be either good or bad. In the NFL, where there's more parity and less chance of being excluded from the playoffs by a single loss, it makes sense to run a higher variance system if the rewards are greater. And from what I can see, "success rate" tends to be higher passing than rushing in the NFL, so it *should* be a more successful system overall.
So let's say you're an NFL team with 9-7 talent. Running a higher variance system [heavy passing] might cause you to lose a game you shouldn't, but because success rate is higher for passes than rushes, it might net you two or three additional wins relative to what you "should" have. So you have the opportunity to boost your record from 9-7 to 10-6 or 11-5, which might move you from wild card weekend to division winner, get you better HFA opportunities in the playoffs, etc.
Likewise let's say you're a college team with 7-5 or 8-4 talent. You're not likely to be in the hunt for the CFP. A single loss won't derail your season. But if you can rack up 2-3 wins over "average" expectation, you might be in a higher-tier bowl game, you might be playing in your CCG, etc. So it makes sense to play the risk-reward game.
The areas where it's harder to do this, though, is when you're a legitimate CFP contender. Variance can kill you, because a single loss (particularly a bad upset) can eliminate you from the CFP.
In 2018, Ohio State came to West Lafayette. Dwayne Haskins threw 73 passes to only 25 team rushes. Still, Ohio State outgained Purdue 546 to 539. Ohio State had 31 first downs to Purdue's 24. Ohio State was 50% on 3rd down to Purdue's 40%. And Purdue won 49-20.
The big difference in that game is that their variance came at the wrong time--they had 4 drives (IIRC) stall inside Purdue's 10. Those drives finished with only 6 points, as they had a missed field goal and turnover on downs. On any other day those 4 drives against a team like Purdue would have probably led to 17-20 points (or more). Wisconsin would have done so if they'd gotten down there...