We are four full weeks into the college football regular season, and we continue to get more data points with Big Ten quarterbacks to see who is doing the best at their position. That includes Ohio State football’s new starter under center, Kyle McCord, who orchestrated one memorable game-winning drive over Notre Dame on Saturday.
The metric we like to use more than any other is ESPN’s Total QBR rating. We find it to be a better indicator of performance because it takes into account many aspects others don’t, including the level of competition.
So what is Total QBR exactly? According to ESPN, Adjusted Total Quarterback Rating “values the quarterback on all play types on a 0-100 scale adjusted for the strength of opposing defenses faced.”
OK, we’re game.
So where are McCord and Big Ten signal-callers such as J.J. McCarthy of Michigan, Drew Allar of Penn State, Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa and Cade McNamara of Iowa following Week 4 of the college football season? It now seems to be a clear race for the top spot between two old rival schools’ quarterbacks.
Here’s how things stack up after another week of the still relatively new college and Big Ten football season.