North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has been advertised as an NFL team’s saving grace since his first few weeks as the Tar Heels’ starter.
Through the first few games of the 2023 season, he remained as billed, even throwing a touchdown with his left hand against Pittsburgh. Now, the ESPN QBR standings in his conference have caught up with the eye test.
Maye walked the Syracuse defense up and down the field on Saturday, throwing for 442 yards against a defense that previously had allowed more than 265 yards through the air just once in five games. The sophomore strung together two separate streaks of at least six completions in a row, and he connected on five passes of 20 yards or more. The performance was enough for a QBR of 85.4, Maye’s third-highest of the season.
Here’s how the conference’s signal-callers stack up in ESPN’s eyes.
| Name | Team | QBR | Last Week (Rank) |
| Drake Maye | North Carolina Tar Heels | 85.8 | 86.0 (3rd) |
| Tyler Van Dyke | Miami Hurricanes | 84.5 | 92.0 (1st) |
| Jordan Travis | Florida State Seminoles | 84.3 | 86.0 (2nd) |
| Anthony Colandrea | Virginia Cavaliers | 73.3 | 72.4 (6th) |
| Riley Leonard | Duke Blue Devils | 72.8 | 72.9 (5th) |
| Garrett Shrader | Syracuse Orange | 72.5 | 75.6 (4th) |
| Jack Plummer | Louisville Cardinals | 66.8 | 65.2 (8th) |
| Haynes King | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 65.9 | 66.2 (7th) |
| Cade Klubnik | Clemson Tigers | 60.4 | 58.8 (10th) |
| Kyron Drones | Virginia Tech Hokies | 59.7 | 63.9 (9th) |
| Thomas Castellanos | Boston College Eagles | 56.8 | 51.9 (11th) |
| Brennan Armstrong | NC State Wolfpack | 42.5 | 41.0 (12th) |
| Phil Jurkovec | Pittsburgh Panthers | 38.1 | 37.5 (13th) |
| Mitch Griffis | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 37.3 | 30.7 (14th) |