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 has yet to really get cookin’ totally on offense.
Here’s a ranking of the top 12 Big Ten quarterbacks based on total QBR ranking after two full weeks of the 2022 season. Stats are courtesy of ESPN.
*Note: To qualify, a player must play a minimum of 20 action plays per team game
12
Spencer Petras, Iowa
Total QBR | 3.4
Total Before Last Week | 1.1
Ranking Last Week | 12
11
Connor Bazelak, Indiana
Total QBR | 54.0
Total Before Last Week | 63.6
Ranking Last Week | 7
10
Tommy DeVito, Illinois
Total QBR | 54.5
Total Before Last Week | 56.9
Ranking Last Week | 8
9
Payton Thorne, Michigan State
Total QBR | 59.6
Total Before Last Week | 68.2
Ranking Last Week | 6
8
Casey Thompson, Nebraska
Total QBR | 65.4
Total Before Last Week | 50.9
Ranking Last Week | 11
7
Graham Mertz, Wisconsin
Total QBR | 68.8
Total Before Last Week | 53.2
Ranking Last Week | 10
6
Ryan Hilinski, Northwestern
Total QBR | 71.2
Total Before Last Week | 85.7
Ranking Last Week | 2
5
Sean Clifford, Penn State
Total QBR | 73.3
Total Before Last Week | 75.4
Ranking Last Week | 3
4
Aidan O'Connell, Purdue
Total QBR | 78.5
Total Before Last Week | 69.4
Ranking Last Week | 5
3
Taulia Tagovailoa, Marylaqnd
Total QBR | 80.5
Total Before Last Week | 55.7
Ranking Last Week | 9
2
Tanner Morgan, Minnesota
Total QBR | 83.0
Total Before Last Week | 74.2
Ranking Last Week | 4
1
C.J. Stroud, Ohio State
Total QBR | 90.1
Total Before Last Week | 89.5
Ranking Last Week | 1
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