Pac-12 Football: D.J. Uiagalelei makes big jump in QBR race

Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei made a big jump in this week’s Pac-12 QBR standings

The Pac-12 QBR race has tightened up after Week 7 and there is a new quarterback at the No. 2 spot.

Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei is now ranked second in the Pac-12 in QBR according to ESPN after a five-touchdown performance against Cal this past Saturday. The former five-star prospect only trails Washington’s Michael Penix Jr, 5.1 points behind the Huskies signal caller.

USC’s Caleb Williams remains in the top three, dropping to the third spot this week. Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington State’s Cameron Ward round out the top five. Finally, the only other quarterback with a QBR above 70 is Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders who sits at No. 6 in the rankings heading into Week 7.

Week 6 QBR:

Rank Quarterback Team QBR
No. 1 D.J. Uiagalelei Oregon State 97.9
No. 2 Caleb Williams USC 78.3
No. 3 Noah Fifita Arizona 76.9
No. 4 Fernando Mendoza California 73.9
No. 5 Shedeur Sanders Colorado 61.3
No. 6 Trenton Bourguet Arizona State 50.9
No. 7 Cameron Ward Washington State 32.8
No. 8 Dante Moore UCLA 31.4

Full season QBR:

Rank Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
No. 1 Michael Penix Jr Washington 91.6 91.6 (No. 1)
No. 2 DJ Uiagalelei Oregon State 86.5 80.1 (No. 5)
No. 3 Caleb Williams USC 86.2 88.5 (No. 2)
No. 4 Bo Nix Oregon 82.7 81.6  (No. 4)
No. 5 Cameron Ward Washington State 77.1 86.4 (No. 3)
No. 6 Shedeur Sanders Colorado 70.1 72.3 (No. 6)
No. 7 Jayden de Laura Arizona 48.1 47.5 (No. 8)
No. 8 Nate Johnson Utah 46.8 45.7 (No. 9)
No. 9 Ashton Daniels Stanford 44.4 43.9 (No. 10)
No. 10 Dante Moore UCLA 42.7 49.5 (No. 7)
No. 11 Sam Jackson V Cal 32.8 32.1 (No. 11)
No. 12 Justin Lamson Stanford 22.3 20.7 (No. 12)

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Drake Maye vaults atop ACC QBR standings after standout Syracuse game

After a near-perfect game against Syracuse, top prospect Drake Maye is finally atop the ACC QBR standings.

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)

 

J.J. McCarthy, Kyle McCord continue to lead Big Ten QBR race

J.J. McCarthy and Kyle McCord remain at the top of the Big Ten QBR race after Week 6

The Big Ten QBR race continues to be a two-quarterback race after six weeks of the college football season. At the top of the QBR race is Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, separated by just seven points.

Despite being on a bye, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar moved back into the No. 3 spot in the QBR race at 75.2, jumping Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa and Rutgers‘ Gavin Wimsatt.

Notably, there are only 13 quarterbacks ranked in this week’s rankings as Iowa’s Cade McNamara, who is out for the season, has fallen out of the rankings. The Hawkeyes starting quarterback going forward, Deacon Hill, has not qualified yet for the rankings.

As the Big Ten enters Week 7 of the season, here is how the Big Ten’s quarterbacks rank based on ESPN’s QBR.

Week 6 QBR 

Rank Quarterback Team QBR
No. 1 J.J. McCarthy Michigan 92.0
No. 2 Kyle McCord Ohio State 81.9
No. 3 Taulia Tagovailoa Maryland 67.2
No. 4 Heinrich Haarberg Nebraska 66.0
No. 5 Tanner Mordecai Wisconsin 64.6
No. 6 Luke Altmyer Illinois 37.4
No. 7 Gavin Wimsatt Rutgers 27.2
No. 8 Hudson Card Purdue 27.0
No. 9 Brendan Sullivan Northwestern 25.8
No. 10 Athan Kaliakmanis Minnesota 5.3
No. 11 Deacon Hill Iowa 2.0

Full season QBR

Rank Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
No. 1 J.J. McCarthy Michigan 93.6 94.2 (No. 1)
No. 2 Kyle McCord Ohio State 86.6 87.7(No. 2)
No. 3 Drew Allar Penn State 75.2 74.9 (No. 5)
No. 4 Taulia Tagovailoa Maryland 74.0 76.0 (No. 5)
No. 5 Gavin Wimsatt Rutgers 66.2 76.0 (No. 4)
No. 6 Tanner Mordecai Wisconsin 56.7 51.5 (No. 8)
No. 7 Athan Kaliakmanis Minnesota 55.9 65 (No. 6)
No. 8 Heinrich Haarberg Nebraska 48.5 38.8 (No. 12)
No. 9 Hudson Card Purdue 48.2 54.9 (No. 7)
No. 10 Luke Altmyer Illinois 47.8 50.0 (No. 9)
No. 11 Ben Bryant Northwestern 41.4 41.6 (No. 10)
No. 12 Noah Kim Michigan State 40.4 39.4 (No. 11)
No. 13 Tayven Jackson Indiana 35.8 33.8 (No.12)

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Pac-12 Football: Michael Penix Jr stays on top in QBR race after Week 5

Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. continues to lead the Pac-12 QBR race

The 2023 college football season is nearing the halfway point of the college football season, meaning the award races and statistical races both within conferences and nationally are heating up including the Pac-12 QBR race.

At the top of the QBR rankings is Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. who has been phenomenal to start the season. USC’s Caleb Williams and Washington State’s Cameron Ward are in striking distance of Penix as the college football season heads toward its second half.

But where does Oregon’s Box Nix, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei, or UCLA’s Dante Moore fall in the rankings? With Week 6 in the Pac-12 set to get underway on Friday night, College Sports Wire looks at how the Pac-12’s quarterbacks rank based on ESPN’s QBR metric.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
Michael Penix Jr Washington 91.6 93.7 (No. 1)
Caleb Williams USC 88.5 91.9  (No. 3)
Cameron Ward Washington State 86.4 86.4 (No. 2)
Bo Nix Oregon 81.6 80.6  (No. 4)
DJ Uiagalelei Oregon State 80.1 78.1 (No. 5)
Shedeur Sanders Colorado 72.3 75.1 (No. 6)
Dante Moore UCLA 49.5 52.3 (No. 9)
Jayden de Laura Arizona 47.5 48.8 (No. 10)
Nate Johnson Utah 45.7 59.3 (No. 7)
Ashton Daniels Stanford 43.9 43.6 (No. 11)
Sam Jackson V Cal 32.1 43.5 (No. 12)
Justin Lamson Stanford 20.7 39.5 (No. 11)

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Big Ten QBR Week 6: McCarthy and McCord stay at the top, Allar drops a few spots

The top names in the Big Ten QBR race remain the same afte five weeks.

After five weeks of the 2023 college football season, the Big Ten has seen three schools separate themselves in Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn as true title contenders, with a fourth in Maryland vying to be taken as a legitimate contender as well.

In the Big Ten’s QBR race, the top names remain the same, Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy remains on top with Ohio State’s Kyle McCord not too far behind. However, after Week 5, the next few spots in the race have been jumbled up with a new No. 3 in the race.

Overall, entering Week 6 there are five quarterbacks who are arguably still in the race to take home the QBR crown this season. We already went over two of those in McCarthy and McCord, but what other three quarterbacks still have a chance?

As the 2023 college football season enters Week 6 of the season, here is how the Big Ten’s quarterbacks rank based on ESPN’s QBR metric.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
J.J . McCarthy Michigan 94.2 91.0(No. 1)
Kyle McCord Ohio State 87.7 87.7 (No. 1)
Taulia Tagovailoa Maryland 76.0 70.7 (No. 5)
Gavin Wimsatt Rutgers 76.0 76.2 (No. 4)
Drew Allar Penn State 74.9 82.2 (No. 3)
Athan Kaliakmanis Minnesota 65 57.3 (No. 7)
Hudson Card Purdue 54.9 52.1 (No. 8)
Tanner Mordecai Wisconsin 51.5 48.6 (No. 9)
Luke Altmyer Illinois 50.0 39.0 (No. 6)
Ben Bryant Northwestern 41.6 25.2 (No. 10)
Noah Kim Michigan State 39.4 39.9 (No. 12)
Heinrich Haarberg Nebraska 38.8 40.7 (No. 11)
Tayven Jackson Indiana 33.8 33.5 (No. 13)
Cade McNamara Iowa 28.0 29.5 (No. 14)

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Daniels and Dart strengthen position in SEC QBR standings after epic duel

Jayden Daniels and Jaxson Dart both earned a QBR in the 90s after their legendary duel on Saturday

The SEC bore witness to one of the best quarterback duals of the past several seasons on Saturday, with the conference’s two best healthy quarterbacks going blow for blow in Mississippi.

LSU‘s Jayden Daniels and Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart delivered blow after blow to the other’s defense. The two combined to complete 53 of their 75 passes for 803 yards, each throwing for four touchdowns and rushing for another. They both posted QBRs in the 90s, a 92.7 for Daniels and a 91.2 for Dart. Dart ended up with the final strike, throwing a touchdown to Tre Harris with 39 seconds left for the 55-49 victory.

Elsewhere in the conference, two of the preseason’s less heralded starters tossed their names into the ring as elite SEC passers.

Alabama‘s Jalen Milroe completed 10 of 12 passes for 164 yards against Mississippi State, adding 69 yards and two touchdowns with his legs in the dominant victory.

Missouri’s Brady Cook threw for a season-high 395 yards and four touchdowns. He has thrown 11 touchdowns for the season, the third-most in the country for any quarterback without an interception. In his three games against Power 5 opponents, he’s completed 74 of 101 passes for 1,092 yards and 8 TDs.

Conversely, South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler returned to Earth this week with a frustrating loss to Tennessee. A year after he threw six touchdowns against the Volunteers, Rattler didn’t generate any with his arm on Saturday. He completed 24 of 35 passes for just 169 yards and an interception, but he did run for a touchdown.

Name Team QBR Last Week (Rank)
Connor Weigman Texas A&M 87.5 87.5 (1st)
Jayden Daniels LSU 86.1 82.8 (3rd)
Jaxson Dart Ole Miss 85.2 82.4 (4th)
Jalen Milroe Alabama 80.3 71.7 (7th)
Carson Beck Georgia 79.2 74.8 (5th)
Brady Cook Missouri 78.3 73.7 (6th)
Spencer Rattler South Carolina 73.4 83.0 (2nd)
Max Johnson Texas A&M 71.1 N/A
Payton Thorne Auburn 66.8 57.6 (11th)
Graham Mertz Florida 64.7 66.3 (8th)
Joe Milton Tennessee 56.6 59.2 (10th)
KJ Jefferson Arkansas 53.4 63.4 (9th)
Devin Leary Kentucky 47.6 49.5 (12th)
Will Rogers Mississippi State 41.3 48.1 (13th)
AJ Swann Vanderbilt 34.1 34.3 (14th)

 

Pac-12 Football – QBR Race: Michael Penix Jr. continues to lead the way

Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. continues to pace the Pac-12 QBR race

Through the first four weeks of the 2023 college football season, the Pac-12 has been one of the best conferences in all of college football. In week five, Southern California, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Wahington State, and Oregon State are ranked.

Week five of the 2023 season in the Pac-12 will be a short slate, with just five games scheduled to be played this week. Earlier this week, we previewed the weekly slate by ranking each of the five matchups in the conference.

With Week 5 in the Pac-12 getting underway on Friday night with Utah visiting Oregon State, College Sports Wire looks at how the Pac-12’s quarterbacks rank based on ESPN’s QBR metric.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
Michael Penix Jr Washington 93.7 94.2 (No. 1)
Cameron Ward Washington State 86.4 83.8 (No. 5)
Caleb Williams USC 85.5 91.9 (No. 2)
Bo Nix Oregon 80.6 83.2 (No. 6)
DJ Uiagalelei Oregon State 78.1 84.3 (No. 4)
Shedeur Sanders Colorado 75.1 80.0 (No. 7)
Nate Johnson Utah 59.3 69.9 (No. 8)
Ben Finley California 54.2
Dante Moore UCLA 52.3 83.3 (No. 3)
Jayden de Laura Arizona 48.8 57.7 (No. 9)
Ashton Daniels Stanford 43.6 45.8 (No. 10)
Sam Jackson V California 43.5 39.5 (No. 11)
Justin Lamson Stanford 20.7

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J.J. McCarthy recaptures top spot in Big Ten QBR race

The Big Ten QBR races continues to see a pair of Big Ten East quarterbacks battle it out for the top spot.

After the first four weeks of the 2023 college football season, it’s clear that there are three programs at the top of the Big Ten, with everyone else falling behind. Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State have emerged as legitimate Big Ten contenders

Week five of the season is a quiet week of the Big Ten with very few exciting matchups, especially with the top three. Michigan faces Nebraska, Penn State faces Northwestern, and Ohio State is off with a bye week. We ranked the top five matchups of the week in our weekly Big Ten schedule breakdown. 

With Week 5 of the season almost here, College Sports Wire looks at how the Big Ten’s quarterbacks rank based on ESPN’s QBR metric. In this week’s rankings, the battle between Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy and Ohio State’s Kyle McCord continues.

While we know J.J. McCarthy and Kyle McCord are fighting for the top spot? What quarterbacks in the Big Ten are right behind them? Who were this week’s big risers? Who fell the most? Here’s how the Big Ten starting quarterbacks fall according to their QBR.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
J.J . McCarthy Michigan 91.0 85.7 (No. 2)
Kyle McCord Ohio State 87.7 87.2 (No. 1)
Drew Allar Penn State 82.2 78.1 (No. 3)
Gavin Wimsatt Rutgers 76.2 77.4 (No. 4)
Taulia Tagovailoa Maryland 70.7 66.3 (No. 5)
Luke Altmyer Illinois 62.1 56.6 (No. 6)
Athan Kaliakmanis Minnesota 57.3 49.2 (No. 10)
Hudson Card Purdue 52.1 53.6 (No. 8)
Tanner Mordecai Wisconsin 48.6 39.0 (No. 12)
Ben Bryant Northwestern 41.8 25.2 (No. 14)
Heinrich Haarberg Nebraska 40.7 51.8 (No. 9)
Noah Kim Michigan State 39.9 44.2 (No. 11)
Tayven Jackson Indiana 33.5 55.5 (No. 7)
Cade McNamara Iowa 29.5 30.4 (No. 13)

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Van Dyke starting to lift and separate in ACC QBR race

Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is quietly putting together the best season in one of the deepest quarterback conferences, per ESPN QBR.

Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was getting first-round hype from prominent names like Mel Kiper, Jr. just twelve months ago. After a relatively benign 2022 season, with 10 passing touchdowns and five interceptions in seven full games, his name plummeted down boards behind rising ACC stars like Drake Maye and Jordan Travis.

In the first four games of 2023, Van Dyke has already surpassed his 2022 touchdown total with 11, he’s completing 74.7% of his passes for 10.5 yards per attempt, and he hasn’t thrown. an interception since Week 1. The Hurricanes boast one of the best offenses in the nation, within the top 10 in both total offense and scoring offense.

Can anyone catch Van Dyke as the conference’s top passer? Here’s how the ACC starters stack up, according to QBR.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Rank)
Tyler Van Dyke Miami 91.5 89.6 (1st)
Drake Maye North Carolina 87.3 83.7 (5th)
Jordan Travis Florida State 86.5 87.9 (2nd)
Garrett Shrader Syracuse 82.3 84.0 (4th)
Riley Leonard Duke 80.1 87.6 (3rd)
Jack Plummer Louisville 78.6 72.6 (7th)
Haynes King Georgia Tech 73.2 74.5 (6th)
Anthony Colandrea Virginia 69.8 61.5 (8th)
Thomas Castellanos Boston College 53.7 52.1 (9th)
Brennan Armstrong NC State 51.8 51.4 (10th)
Cade Klubnik Clemson 46.8 43.4 (12th)
Kyron Drones Virginia Tech 46.4 51.0 (11th)
Phil Jurkovec Pittsburgh 41.5 29.1 (14th)
Mitch Griffis Wake Forest 33.4 41.1 (13th)

Weigman remains atop SEC QBR standings after season-ending injury

Conner Weigman, the Texas A&M sophomore slinger, is 4th in ESPN’s QBR for the season, but a foot injury has ended his 2023 season.

For the third consecutive week, every quarterback in the SEC is looking up at Texas A&M‘s Conner Weigman in the QBR standings.

The sophomore star earned his lowest grade of the season against Auburn, only a 26.5, but it wouldn’t be fair to hold such a small sample size against him. He completed 8 of 14 passes for 70 yards before a foot injury in the second quarter ended his afternoon. Only Wednesday, it was revealed the injury would end his season as well.

The Aggies turned to Max Johnson in his wake, who excelled in his own right. His sample size is too small to be included until next week, but he earned a 96.2 after completing 7 of 11 passes for more than 10 yards per attempt.

Behind Weigman, the field has condensed considerably. LSU‘s Jayden Daniels looked like the man who won the SEC West a year ago in Weeks 2 and 3, but he condensed to the field after a rough-and-tumble fight with Arkansas. And after two sterling games and enough of a first half to make Georgia sweat, is Spencer Rattler becoming what was promised?

Here are the QBR standings in the SEC.

Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
Conner Weigman Texas A&M 87.8 92.8 (1st)
Spencer Rattler South Carolina 83.0 74.6 (5th)
Jayden Daniels LSU 82.8 83.1 (3rd)
Jaxson Dart Ole Miss 82.4 85.7 (2nd)
Carson Beck Georgia 74.8 70.6 (7th)
Brady Cook Missouri 73.7 66.4 (8th)
Jalen Milroe Alabama 71.7 76.0 (4th)
Graham Mertz Florida 66.3 65.1 (9th)
KJ Jefferson Arkansas 63.4 55.2(10th)
Joe Milton III Tennessee 59.2 49.5 (13th)
Payton Thorne Auburn 57.6 70.8 (6th)
Devin Leary Kentucky 49.5 55.1 (11th)
Will Rogers Mississippi State 48.1 45.1 (14th)
AJ Swann Vanderbilt 34.3 50.2 (12th)