Big Ten Quarterback Comparision

I thought I might take a moment to compare the Big Ten quarterbacks’ stats so far this year.  This comes after Juice William’s loss of stature at Illinois.  Who are the best quarterbacks thus far, and what maybe stands out about them?

Here are the passing stats for all the starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten.  There are more than 11 because if a team was ostensibly using a 2 QB system (Michigan, Michigan State) I included both.  I also included Eddie McGee since he is now the Starter at Illinois, and has at least some stats to take a gander at (stats courtesy of ESPN.com).

Interestingly MSU’s backup, Keith Nichol, drifts to the top mostly due to his yards per attempt average (which is also tops in the league).  More so that than, look at the top 6 names on that list.

• Keith Nichol: Backup at MSU.

• Scott Tolzien: Starter at Wisconsin.

• Tate Forcier: Freshman Starter at Michigan.

• Kirk Cousins: Starter at MSU.

• Joey Elliott: Starter at Purdue.

• Mike Kafka: Starter at Northwestern.

At the beginning of the year how many of these names would you say would  be leading the Big Ten in any statistical catagory?  Maybe the last 3 – MSU, Purdue and Northwestern having reasonably prolific offenses and quarterbacks with some not-so-negligible experience.  You never would have said Tolzien given that he’s from Wisconsin (when has Wisconsin ever lead the league in QB rating?)  And Forcier was a longshot given his status as a Freshman, even with Dick Rod’s particular style of offense.

Some of the Names you might have expected to top the list include Terrelle Pryor (7th), Daryll Clark (8th) and Juice Williams (13th).  Juice is so bad he’s worse than his own backup, though, in all fairness, Eddie McGee hasn’t had to play against the defensive starters of most teams so far this season.

So what are some reasons for all of this?  Well, clearly Terrelle Pryor we know about with how much we’ve talked about his progress at learning to be a passing Quarterback.  He’s likely suffering a Sophomore Slump in the best definition of the term, given that it is a hard transition to make.

Daryll Clark is definitely missing his top 3 Wide Receivers from last year, and is likely hurting for a decent offensive line, now that they’ve lost the majority of it from last year.

Juice Williams was…well…probably overhyped.  Either that or he has massively regressed from where he was two years ago.  His production has been abysmal, even including his rushing stats (which are embarrassing for a run-type quarterback).

And, for sheer amusement value, Denard “Shoelace” Robinson has thrown one-third of all his receptions to the wrong team.  That’s always a fun little stat to include at parties.  There’s no question who the starting Quarterback at Michigan should be, and Dick Rod’s experiment with a change of pace quarterback seems to be biting him in the butt, even with Robinson’s “Better than Juice Williams” running stats of 32 carries, 170 yards and 3 TDs.  Any defense worth its salt just knows that it’s either going to see a run or an interception when he steps out onto the field.

As for the upper 6, you have to wonder how much of their stats have been compilied because they’ve been playing less-than-spectacular defenses.  At least we’ll know if Tolzien’s the real deal this Saturday, and Forcier will be facing a stern Iowa defense as well.  As for Cousins, Nichol (vs. Illinois), Elliott (vs. Minnesota) and Kafka (vs. 0-5 Miami (OH) ) we may have to wait a while longer in order to see how things stack up.