College football is a quarterback-driven game and has been for a long time now.
Gone are the days of being a game manager with handoffs and short passes when needed. It hasn’t been that way for a long, long time now.
You simply can’t go special places anymore without having a dynamic player under center and Ohio State has a good one in C.J. Stroud.
However, he’s not the only good quarterback in the Big Ten.
Though Stroud is one of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy, there are still other signal-callers in the league that can spin it when called upon.
One of the best metrics we like to look at when it comes to a quarterback’s performance is Total QBR, and we’re going to take a look at it each week upon the completion of games.
Where is Stroud after this week? What about other quarterbacks in the league?
You might be surprised, especially after OSU had some perceived struggles against Notre Dame.
Here’s a ranking of the top 12 Big Ten quarterbacks based on total QBR ranking this early in the season. Stats are courtesy of ESPN.
12. Spencer Petras, Iowa Total QBR 1.1
11. Casey Thompson, Nebraska Total QBR 50.9
10. Graham Mertz, Wisconsin Total QBR 53.2
9. Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland Total QBR 55.7
8. Tommy DeVito, Illinois Total QBR 56.9
7. Conner Bazelak, Indiana Total QBR 63.6
6. Payton Thorne, Michigan State Total QBR 68.2
5. Aidan O'Connell, Purdue Total QBR 69.4
4. Tanner Morgan, Minnesota Total QBR 74.2
3. Sean Clifford, Penn State Total QBR 75.4
2. Ryan Hillinski, Northwestern Total QBR 85.7
1. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State Total QBR 89.5