College football long ago morphed from a game in which the running back was the glamour position to one in which the quarterback is more often than not the feature of an offense. In fact, it's hard to raise banners and rain down confetti without a dynamic player under center.
One of the metrics we like to look at each week in determining how quarterbacks are playing is ESPN's Total QBR rating. Why? Because the metric adjusts for all plays and includes the strength of the opponent. This year, the Big Ten has some pretty special players under center. Returning quarterbacks at schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, USC, and Washington make it a much more experienced league under center than what it was last season.
We've had just two weeks to
observe most quarterbacks in the Big Ten, so we're not going to go all knee-jerk with this analytic being where it'll be at the end of the year, let alone in just a few weeks. But still, it's starting to take shape with more than one game under each quarterback's belt.
As usual, we go from worst to first. As an important note, not all teams are represented because a signal-caller has to have enough plays to qualify, and Indiana's Josh Hoover didn't have enough action plays through two games. Meanwhile, Rutgers has two quarterbacks that qualify because of split duty.
No. 18 - Dylan Lonergan, Rutgers (No. 17 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 11.7 (down from 20.3 last week)
Stats Last Week: Did not play
Stats for the Year: 16-of-29 (55.2%), 242 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
No. 17 - AJ Surace, Rutgers (Not ranked last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 31.7 (Total QBR not available last week)
Stats Last Week: 18-of-27 (66.7%), 230 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT
Stats for the Year: 24-of-36 (66.7%), 307 yards, 4 TD, 4 INT
No. 16 - Nico Iamaleava, UCLA (No. 15 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 32.6 (down from 52.6 last week)
Stats Last Week: 14-of-22 (63.6%), 151 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 28-of-44 (63.6%), 335 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
No. 15 - Demond Williams Jr., Washington (No. 13 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 41.3 (Down from 66.7 last week)
Stats Last Week: 26-of-41 (63.4%), 249 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 50-of-76 (65.8%), 517 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 14 - Hank Brown, Iowa (No. 7 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 47.2 (down from 86.0 last week)
Stats Last Week: 21-of-30 (70.0%), 191 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 33-of-50 (66.0%), 320 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 13 - Malik Washington, Maryland (No. 15 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 48.0 (up from 29.3 last week)
Stats Last Week: 34-of-41 (82.9%), 347 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 53-of-72 (73.6%), 533 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 12 - Colton Joseph, Wisconsin (No. 10 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 52.0 (down from 81.8 last week)
Stats Last Week: 12-of-22 (54.6%), 173 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 31-of-52 (59.6%), 390 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
No. 11 - Dante Moore, Oregon (No. 5 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 53.3 (down from 90.7 last week)
Stats Last Week: 14-of-29 (48.3%), 191 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 42-of-66 (59.6%), 569 yards, 5 TD, 0 INT
No. 10 - Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska (No. 12 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 54.0 (down from 73.6 last week)
Stats Last Week: 20-of-24 (83.3%), 222 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 38-of-56 (67.9%), 497 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT
No. 9 - Bryce Underwood, Michigan (No. 14 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 59.1 (up from 52.9 last week)
Stats Last Week: 9-of-17 (52.9%), 111 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 21-of-39 (53.8%), 281 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
No. 8 - Aidan Chiles, Northwestern (No. 8 last week)⇔
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 62.1 (down from 75.8 last week)
Stats Last Week: Didn't play
Stats for the Year: 14-of-24 (58.3%), 273 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 7 - Drake Lindsey, Minnesota (No. 8 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 63.7 (down from 86.0 last week)
Stats Last Week: 31-of-48 (64.6%), 279 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 50-of-72 (69.4%), 543 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 6 - Ryan Browne, Purdue (No. 9 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 72.6 (down from 84.8 last week)
Stats Last Week: 32-of-42 (76.2%), 329 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 55-of-71 (77.5%), 646 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
No. 5 - Alessio Milivojevic, Michigan State (No. 6 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 81.4 (down from 87.1 last week)
Stats Last Week: 12-of-20 (60.0%), 170 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 38-of-54 (70.4%), 417 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 4 - Rocco Becht, Penn State (No. 3 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 86.3 (down from 97.9 last week)
Stats Last Week: 21-of-27 (77.8%), 268 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Stats for the Year: 34-of-45 (75.6%), 539 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 3 - Katin Houser, Illinois (No. 1 last week)⇩
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 90.0 (down from 98.9 last week)
Stats Last Week: 24-of-35 (68.6%), 271 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 37-of-52 (71.2%), 453 yards, 6 TD, 1 INT
No. 2 - Jayden Maiava, USC (No. 4 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 90.8 (down from 95.1 last week)
Stats Last Week: 19-of-29 (65.5%), 261 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 67-of-83 (80.7%), 896 yards, 10 TD, 1 INT
No. 1 - Julian Sayin, Ohio State (No. 2 last week)⇧
Inside the Numbers
Total QBR: 93.9 (down from 98.8 last week)
Stats Last Week: 17-of-32 (53.1%), 278 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Stats for the Year: 38-of-57 (66.7%), 598 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ranking Big Ten quarterbacks by ESPN's Total QBR following Week 2
