The sands in the hourglass are starting to run out of the 2023 college football season. There’s just a couple of regular seasons left, the conference championships, then bowl season complete with the College Football Playoff.
We are now 11 weeks in and we continue to get more data points with Big Ten quarterbacks to see who is doing the best at the position. That includes Ohio State football’s starter under center, Kyle McCord, who probably had his best work of the 2023 campaign against Michigan State in a game that was pretty much over at halftime.
Just like every other week, there were Big Ten quarterback performances besides what we saw from McCord, and we like to keep track of how they are all doing when stacking them up against one another.
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 gunslingers such as J.J. McCarthy of Michigan, Drew Allar of Penn State, Taulia Tagovailoa of Maryland and Gavin Wimsatt of Rutgers following Week 11 of the college football season? It’ll still be hard to close the gap entirely at the top, but the OSU gunslinger did move closer to No. 1.
Nonetheless, here’s how things stack up with Total QBR after another week of a very wild college football season in the Big Ten.
Not eligible
Not Eligible
Cade McNamara, Iowa – Injured
Deacon Hill, Iowa – Not enough game experience
* To qualify, a player must average 20 action plays per game
No. 13 - Heinrich Haarberg, Nebraska
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 39.8
Total Before Last Week: 44.5
Ranking Last Week: 11 (⇓ two spots)
No. 12 - Noah Kim, Michigan State
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 41.9
Total Before Last Week: 40.6
Ranking Last Week: 15 (⇑ three spots)
No. 11 - Hudson Card, Purdue
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 47.7
Total Before Last Week: 41.9
Ranking Last Week: 13 (⇑ two spots)
No. 10 - Ben Bryant, Northwestern
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 51.0
Total Before Last Week: 40.7
Ranking Last Week: 14 (⇑ four spots)
No. 9 - Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin (injured)
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 54.7
Total Before Last Week: 55.7
Ranking Last Week: 9 (⇔ no change)
No. 8 - Gavin Wimsatt, Rutgers
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 55.8
Total Before Last Week: 58.5
Ranking Last Week: 6 (⇓ two spots)
No. 7 - Athan Kaliakmanis
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 55.8
Total Before Last Week: 57.1
Ranking Last Week: 7 (⇔ no change)
No. 6 - Luke Atlmyer, Illinois
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 56.8
Total Before Last Week: 57.1
Ranking Last Week: 6 (⇔ no change)
No. 5 - Brendan Sorsby, Indiana
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 62.5
Total Before Last Week: 59.9
Ranking Last Week:5 (⇔ no change)
No. 4 - Drew Allar, Penn State
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 72.2
Total Before Last Week: 73.7
Ranking Last Week: 3 (⇓ one spot)
No. 3 - Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 72.4
Total Before Last Week: 71.4
Ranking Last Week: 4 (⇑ one spot)
No. 2 - Kyle McCord, Ohio State
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 84.9
Total Before Last Week: 82.8
Ranking Last Week: 2 (⇔ no change)
No. 1 - J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 92.7
Total Before Last Week: 92.3
Ranking Last Week: 1 (⇔ no change)
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