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College QBs' Performance Against Top Teams

Every half-decent college QB can put up stats against the creampuff teams that they will face on their schedule, but the ability to perform against the best teams in the country is what separates the elite from the good or average.

By Joe Mahoney
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

So how do you define "best teams"? I choose to use the AP ranking of the opponent at the end of the season (not necessarily when the QB's team faced that opponent). So I have compiled the stats of the top 15 college QBs (by consensus rankings) against FBS teams who ended the season ranked in the top 25. Off the bat, you will see that Carson Wentz never faced a top FBS team. In fact, he only played one game against an FBS team during his career (a victory over Iowa State). Here are the performances of the other top QBs in this draft against teams that were ranked at the end of the season. You'll quickly see the general trend is that they all played worse against good teams than they did against other teams (that stands to reason) with two notable exceptions.

Jared Goff
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/14/2013 12 Ohio St. Turf L 34-52 53 31 58.5 371 7.0 3 1 132
9/28/2013 @ 9 Oregon Turf L 16-55 7 3 42.9 11 1.6 0 0 56
10/12/2013 @ 16 UCLA Grass L 10-37 43 26 60.5 215 5.0 0 1 98
10/26/2013 @ 25 Washington Turf L 17-41 54 32 59.3 336 6.2 1 0 118
11/9/2013 19 Southern California Turf L 28-62 49 35 71.4 260 5.3 3 0 136
11/23/2013 @ 11 Stanford Grass L 13-63 19 10 52.6 194 10.2 1 0 156
9/20/2014 @ 19 Arizona Turf L 45-49 30 18 60.0 380 12.7 3 1 193
10/18/2014 10 UCLA Turf L 34-36 41 25 61.0 303 7.4 2 1 134
10/24/2014 + 2 Oregon Grass L 41-59 52 32 61.5 360 6.9 2 0 132
11/13/2014 @ 20 Southern California Grass L 30-38 46 29 63.0 279 6.1 3 0 136
10/10/2015 @ 17 Utah Turf L 24-30 47 25 53.2 340 7.2 2 5 107
11/7/2015 @ 19 Oregon Turf L 28-44 41 18 43.9 329 8.0 2 1 123
11/21/2015 @ 3 Stanford Grass L 22-35 54 37 68.5 386 7.1 2 0 141
TOTALS 0-13 536 321 59.9% 290 7.0 24 10 128

Jared Goff's Cal Bears were 0-13 against ranked teams with him as a starter, but with one exception the losses were mostly not his fault.

Paxton Lynch
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/7/2013 23 Duke Turf L 14-28 24 14 58.3 148 6.2 0 0 110
10/5/2013 10 UCF Turf L 17-24 38 20 52.6 279 7.3 0 2 104
9/6/2014 @ 10 UCLA Grass L 35-42 41 27 65.9 305 7.4 1 0 136
9/27/2014 @ 17 Mississippi Turf L 3-24 31 13 41.9 81 2.6 0 1 57
10/17/2015 10 Mississippi Turf W 37-24 54 39 72.2 384 7.1 3 1 147
11/7/2015 18 Navy Turf L 20-45 42 26 61.9 305 7.3 1 1 126
11/14/2015 @ 8 Houston Grass L 34-35 31 20 64.5 278 9.0 2 1 155
12/30/2015 + Auburn Turf L 10-31 37 16 43.2 108 2.9 0 1 62
TOTALS 1-7 298 175 58.7% 236 6.2 7 7 112

Lynch was only 1-7 with 7 TDs and 7 INTs with 3 of those TDs coming in one game against Ole Miss in 2015. His play against Ole Miss in 2014 and his game against Auburn (who was ranked in the coaches poll but not the AP - hence the inclusion) were both abysmal.

Connor Cook
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/21/2013 @ 20 Notre Dame Grass L 13-17 32 16 50.0 135 4.2 1 0 96
12/7/2013 + 12 Ohio St. Turf W 34-24 40 24 60.0 304 7.6 3 1 144
1/1/2014 + 11 Stanford Grass W 24-20 36 22 61.1 332 9.2 2 1 151
9/6/2014 @ 2 Oregon Turf L 27-46 47 29 61.7 343 7.3 2 2 129
11/8/2014 1 Ohio St. Grass L 37-49 45 25 55.6 358 8.0 2 0 137
1/1/2015 + 7 Baylor Turf W 42-41 42 24 57.1 314 7.5 2 2 126
9/12/2015 19 Oregon Grass W 31-28 32 20 62.5 192 6.0 2 1 127
10/17/2015 @ 12 Michigan Turf W 27-23 39 18 46.2 328 8.4 1 0 125
12/5/2015 + 9 Iowa Turf W 16-13 32 16 50.0 191 6.0 0 1 94
12/31/2015 + 1 Alabama Turf L 0-38 39 19 48.7 210 5.4 0 2 84
TOTALS 6-4 384 213 55.5% 271 7.0 15 10 121

After 0-13 and 1-7, 6-4 looks pretty darn good. That final game against Bama was about as ugly as it gets for QB play (outside of Manning at home against KC in 2015).

Christian Hackenberg
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/14/2013 10 UCF Grass L 31-34 28 21 75 262 9.4 1 0 165
10/26/2013 @ 12 Ohio St. Turf L 14-63 23 12 52.2 112 4.9 1 2 90
11/30/2013 @ 22 Wisconsin Turf W 31-24 30 21 70 339 11.3 4 0 209
10/25/2014 1 Ohio St. Grass L 24-31 49 31 63.3 224 4.6 1 2 100
11/29/2014 5 Michigan St. Grass L 10-34 45 21 46.7 195 4.3 0 1 79
10/17/2015 @ 4 Ohio St. Turf L 10-38 13 7 53.8 120 9.2 1 0 157
11/7/2015 @ 23 Northwestern Grass L 21-23 40 21 52.5 205 5.1 0 1 91
11/21/2015 12 Michigan Grass L 16-28 31 13 41.9 137 4.4 1 0 90
11/28/2015 @ 6 Michigan St. Grass L 16-55 39 22 56.4 257 6.6 2 2 118
TOTALS 1-8 298 169 56.7% 206 6.6 11 8 122

See more about Hack down below in the comparative table.

Cardale Jones
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
12/6/2014 + 13 Wisconsin Turf W 59-0 17 12 70.6 257 15.1 3 0 256
1/1/2015 + 4 Alabama Turf W 42-35 35 18 51.4 243 6.9 1 1 113
1/12/2015 + 2 Oregon Turf W 42-20 23 16 69.6 242 10.5 1 1 164
TOTALS 3-0 75 46 63.9% 247 10.8 5 2 178
Dak Prescott
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
8/31/2013 + 17 Oklahoma St. Grass L 3-21 17 7 41.2 89 5.2 0 1 73
9/14/2013 @ 2 Auburn Grass L 20-24 28 15 53.6 213 7.6 0 0 117
10/5/2013 14 LSU Grass L 26-59 20 9 45 106 5.3 0 1 80
11/2/2013 @ 4 South Carolina Grass L 16-34 43 28 65.1 235 5.5 0 3 97
11/9/2013 @ 18 Texas A&M Grass L 41-51 26 14 53.8 149 5.7 2 1 120
10/11/2014 22 Auburn Grass W 38-23 34 18 52.9 246 7.2 1 2 112
11/15/2014 @ 4 Alabama Grass L 20-25 48 27 56.3 290 6.0 2 3 108
11/29/2014 @ 17 Mississippi Turf L 17-31 37 22 59.5 282 7.6 1 0 132
12/31/2014 + 8 Georgia Tech Grass L 34-49 51 33 64.7 453 8.9 3 1 155
9/12/2015 16 LSU Grass L 19-21 52 34 65.4 335 6.4 1 0 126
11/14/2015 1 Alabama Grass L 6-31 43 22 51.2 300 7.0 0 1 105
11/28/2015 10 Mississippi Grass L 27-38 42 31 73.8 254 6.0 2 1 136
TOTALS 1-11 441 260 59.0% 246 6.5 12 14 113
Jacoby Brissett
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/27/2014 5 Florida St. Grass L 41-56 48 32 66.7 359 7.5 3 0 150
10/4/2014 @ 15 Clemson Grass L 0-41 18 4 22.2 35 1.9 0 0 39
10/18/2014 @ 24 Louisville Turf L 18-30 32 18 56.3 223 7.0 2 1 129
11/8/2014 8 Georgia Tech Grass L 23-56 35 18 51.4 213 6.1 1 2 101
10/31/2015 2 Clemson Grass L 41-56 41 24 58.5 254 6.2 3 0 135
11/14/2015 @ 14 Florida St. Grass L 17-34 47 27 57.4 209 4.4 1 0 102
11/28/2015 15 North Carolina Grass L 34-45 37 17 45.9 206 5.6 2 1 105
TOTALS 0-7 258 140 54.3% 214 5.5 12 4 109
Brandon Doughty
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
11/28/2014 @ 23 Marshall Turf W 67-66 50 34 68 491 9.8 8 2 195
10/24/2015 @ 16 LSU Grass L 20-48 61 37 60.7 325 5.3 3 1 118
TOTALS 1-1 111 71 64.0% 289 6.1 11 3 157
Kevin Hogan
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
11/17/2012 @ 2 Oregon Turf W 17-14 36 25 69.4 211 5.9 1 1 122
9/21/2013 21 Arizona St. Grass W 42-28 17 11 64.7 151 8.9 2 1 166
10/5/2013 25 Washington Grass W 31-28 20 12 60 105 5.3 1 1 111
10/19/2013 16 UCLA Grass W 24-10 25 18 72 227 9.1 1 1 153
11/7/2013 9 Oregon Grass W 26-20 13 7 53.8 103 7.9 0 0 120
11/16/2013 @ 19 Southern California Grass L 17-20 25 14 56 127 5.1 0 2 83
11/30/2013 20 Notre Dame Grass W 27-20 18 12 66.7 158 8.8 1 2 137
12/7/2013 @ 21 Arizona St. Grass W 38-14 18 12 66.7 277 15.4 1 0 214
1/1/2014 + 3 Michigan St. Grass L 20-24 18 10 55.6 143 7.9 0 1 111
9/6/2014 20 Southern California Grass L 10-13 30 22 73.3 285 9.5 0 0 153
10/18/2014 @ 12 Arizona St. Grass L 10-26 39 19 48.7 212 5.4 0 0 94
11/1/2014 @ 2 Oregon Turf L 16-45 29 21 72.4 237 8.2 0 1 134
11/15/2014 21 Utah Grass L 17-20 27 17 63 104 3.9 2 0 120
11/28/2014 @ 10 UCLA Grass W 31-10 19 16 84.2 234 12.3 2 0 222
9/5/2015 @ 23 Northwestern Grass L 6-16 35 20 57.1 155 4.4 0 1 89
11/14/2015 19 Oregon Grass L 36-38 37 28 75.7 304 8.2 2 1 157
11/28/2015 11 Notre Dame Grass W 38-36 21 17 81 269 12.8 4 0 251
1/1/2016 + 9 Iowa Grass W 45-16 21 12 57.1 223 10.6 3 1 184
TOTALS 10-8 448 293 65.4% 196 8.3 20 13 146
Brandon Allen
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/28/2013 18 Texas A&M Turf L 33-45 36 17 47.2 282 7.8 3 2 129
10/12/2013 4 South Carolina Turf L 7-52 12 4 33.3 30 2.5 0 1 38
10/19/2013 @ 7 Alabama Grass L 0-52 25 7 28.0 91 3.6 0 2 43
11/2/2013 2 Auburn Turf L 17-35 22 10 45.5 112 5.1 1 0 103
11/29/2013 @ 14 LSU Grass L 27-31 29 19 65.5 178 6.1 2 1 133
8/30/2014 @ 22 Auburn Grass L 21-45 31 18 58.1 175 5.6 2 1 120
10/11/2014 4 Alabama Turf L 13-14 40 21 52.5 246 6.2 1 1 107
10/18/2014 9 Georgia Turf L 32-45 45 28 62.2 296 6.6 3 2 131
11/1/2014 @ 11 Mississippi St. Grass L 10-17 43 22 51.2 238 5.5 0 1 93
11/22/2014 17 Mississippi Turf W 30-0 10 5 50.0 87 8.7 1 0 156
11/28/2014 @ 14 Missouri Turf L 14-21 30 13 43.3 133 4.4 2 0 103
10/3/2015 @ 22 Tennessee Grass W 24-20 24 11 45.8 219 9.1 1 0 136
10/10/2015 @ 1 Alabama Grass L 14-27 32 15 46.9 176 5.5 2 1 107
11/7/2015 @ 10 Mississippi Turf W 53-52 45 33 73.3 442 9.8 6 0 200
11/14/2015 @ 16 LSU Grass W 31-14 16 9 56.3 141 8.8 1 1 138
TOTALS 4-11 440 232 52.7% 190 6.4 25 13 116
Cody Kessler
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/28/2013 @ 21 Arizona St. Grass L 41-62 29 20 69 295 10.2 2 2 163
10/19/2013 @ 20 Notre Dame Grass L 10-14 34 20 58.8 201 5.9 0 1 103
11/16/2013 11 Stanford Grass W 20-17 37 25 67.6 288 7.8 1 0 142
11/30/2013 16 UCLA Grass L 14-35 28 17 60.7 174 6.2 1 0 125
10/4/2014 12 Arizona St. Grass L 34-38 45 28 62.2 273 6.1 0 0 113
10/11/2014 @ 19 Arizona Turf W 28-26 30 20 66.7 185 6.2 1 1 123
10/25/2014 @ 21 Utah Turf L 21-24 32 24 75 264 8.3 2 1 159
11/22/2014 @ 10 UCLA Grass L 20-38 34 22 64.7 214 6.3 1 1 121
9/19/2015 3 Stanford Grass L 31-41 32 25 78.1 272 8.5 3 0 180
10/17/2015 @ 11 Notre Dame Grass L 31-41 46 30 65.2 365 7.9 2 2 138
10/24/2015 17 Utah Grass W 42-24 28 21 75 264 9.4 1 0 166
11/21/2015 @ 19 Oregon Turf L 28-48 41 30 73.2 238 5.8 2 0 138
12/5/2015 + 3 Stanford Grass L 22-41 37 22 59.5 187 5.1 1 0 111
12/30/2015 + 21 Wisconsin Grass L 21-23 32 18 56.3 221 6.9 1 1 118
TOTALS 3-11 485 322 66.4% 246 7.2 18 9 136
Nate Sudfeld
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/21/2013 5 Missouri Turf L 28-45 39 21 53.8 229 5.9 1 3 96
10/12/2013 @ 3 Michigan St. Grass L 28-42 30 14 46.7 137 4.6 0 0 85
11/16/2013 @ 22 Wisconsin Turf L 3-51 22 9 40.9 99 4.5 0 1 70
11/23/2013 @ 12 Ohio St. Turf L 14-42 41 25 61 224 5.5 2 0 123
9/20/2014 @ 14 Missouri Turf W 31-27 33 18 54.5 252 7.6 1 0 129
9/19/2015 24 Western Ky. Turf W 38-35 27 20 74.1 355 13.1 3 0 221
10/3/2015 4 Ohio St. Turf L 27-34 21 10 47.6 134 6.4 0 0 101
10/24/2015 @ 6 Michigan St. Grass L 26-52 37 23 62.2 308 8.3 3 1 153
11/7/2015 9 Iowa Turf L 27-35 37 16 43.2 180 4.9 1 1 88
11/14/2015 12 Michigan Turf L 41-48 34 20 58.8 220 6.5 1 0 123
TOTALS 2-8 321 176 54.8% 214 6.7 12 6 119
Jake Coker
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/5/2015 + 21 Wisconsin Turf W 35-17 21 15 71.4 213 10.1 1 0 172
9/19/2015 10 Mississippi Grass L 37-43 45 21 46.7 201 4.5 3 2 97
10/24/2015 22 Tennessee Grass W 19-14 27 21 77.8 247 9.1 0 1 147
11/7/2015 16 LSU Grass W 30-16 24 18 75.0 184 7.7 0 0 139
12/5/2015 + 25 Florida Turf W 29-15 26 18 69.2 204 7.8 2 0 161
12/31/2015 + 6 Michigan St. Turf W 38-0 30 25 83.3 286 9.5 2 0 185
1/11/2016 + 2 Clemson Grass W 45-40 25 16 64.0 335 13.4 2 0 203
TOTALS 6-1 198 134 67.7% 239 8.9 10 3 158
Vernon Adams, Jr.
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/12/2015 @ 6 Michigan St. Grass L 28-31 39 22 56.4 309 7.9 1 2 121
9/26/2015 17 Utah Turf L 20-62 7 2 28.6 26 3.7 1 0 107
11/14/2015 @ 3 Stanford Grass W 38-36 12 10 83.3 205 17.1 2 0 282
1/2/2016 + 7 TCU Turf L 41-47 19 13 68.4 197 10.4 1 0 173
TOTALS 1-3 77 47 61.0% 184 9.8 5 2 171
Jeff Driskel
Date Opponent Surface Result Att Comp Pct. Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
9/8/2012 @ 5 Texas A&M Grass W 20-17 16 13 81.3 162 10.1 0 0 166
10/6/2012 14 LSU Grass W 14-6 12 8 66.7 61 5.1 0 0 109
10/13/2012 @ 23 Vanderbilt Grass W 31-17 20 11 55.0 77 3.9 0 0 87
10/20/2012 8 South Carolina Grass W 44-11 16 11 68.8 93 5.8 4 0 200
10/27/2012 + 5 Georgia Grass L 9-17 27 15 55.6 191 7.1 0 2 100
11/24/2012 @ 10 Florida St. Grass W 37-26 23 15 65.2 147 6.4 1 0 133
1/2/2013 + 13 Louisville Turf L 23-33 29 16 55.2 175 6 1 2 103
9/20/2014 @ 4 Alabama Grass L 21-42 28 9 32.1 93 3.3 1 2 58
10/18/2014 14 Missouri Grass L 13-42 19 7 36.8 50 2.6 0 2 38
9/10/2015 @ 24 Western Ky. Turf L 38-41 48 28 58.3 357 7.4 2 1 130
TOTALS 5-5 238 133 55.9% 141 5.8 9 9 113

So after all of that data, I'm going to make it easy for you and combine the totals (and averages) into one table for comparing the QBs.

Name Results (W-L) Att Comp Pct. Average Yards Yards/Att TD Int Rating
Jared Goff 0-13 536 321 59.9% 290 7.0 24 10 128
Carson Wentz
Paxton Lynch 1-7 298 175 58.7% 236 6.2 7 7 112
Connor Cook 6-4 384 213 55.5% 271 7.0 15 10 121
Christian Hackenberg 1-8 298 169 56.7% 206 6.6 11 8 122
Cardale Jones 3-0 75 46 63.9% 247 10.8 5 2 178
Dak Prescott 1-11 441 260 59.0% 246 6.5 12 14 113
Jacoby Brissett 0-7 258 140 54.3% 214 5.5 12 4 109
Brandon Doughty 1-1 111 71 64.0% 289 6.1 11 3 157
Kevin Hogan 10-8 448 293 65.4% 196 8.3 20 13 146
Brandon Allen 4-11 440 232 52.7% 190 6.4 25 13 116
Cody Kessler 3-11 485 322 66.4% 246 7.2 18 9 136
Nate Sudfeld 2-8 321 176 54.8% 214 6.7 12 6 119
Jake Coker 6-1 198 134 67.7% 239 8.9 10 3 158
Vernon Adams, Jr. 1-3 77 47 61.0% 184 9.8 5 2 171
Jeff Driskel 5-5 238 133 55.9% 141 5.8 9 9 113

So we see above that only Cook, Jones, Hogan and Coker had winning records against "ranked" teams. But how did these QBs performance against ranked teams compare to their career average performance? That's contained in the table below.

Name Career Comp% Change in Comp% Career Y/A Change in Y/A Career QB Rating Change in QB Rating
Jared Goff 62.3% -2.4% 7.8 -0.8 144.0 -16.3
Paxton Lynch 62.9% -4.2% 7.4 -1.2 137.0 -24.8
Connor Cook 57.5% -2.0% 7.9 -0.9 139.8 -18.5
Christian Hackenberg 56.1% 0.6% 6.8 -0.2 121.4 0.7
Cardale Jones 61.7% 2.2% 8.6 2.2 147.4 30.2
Dak Prescott 62.8% -3.8% 8.0 -1.5 146.0 -32.6
Jacoby Brissett 59.9% -5.6% 6.9 -1.4 133.4 -24.8
Brandon Doughty 68.6% -4.6% 8.6 -2.5 161.0 -4.2
Kevin Hogan 65.9% -0.5% 8.5 -0.2 154.6 -8.9
Brandon Allen 57.4% -4.7% 7.3 -0.9 134.8 -19.0
Cody Kessler 67.5% -1.1% 8.2 -1.0 156.4 -20.7
Nate Sudfeld 60.3% -5.5% 8.0 -1.3 144.1 -25.2
Jake Coker 66.6% 1.1% 7.8 1.1 146.6 11.3
Vernon Adams, Jr. 64.9% -3.9% 10.2 -0.4 179.1 -8.4
Jeff Driskel 60.7% -4.8% 7.4 -1.6 134.1 -21.5

Interestingly while Hackenberg didn't play very well normally, he played equally crappy (and not crappier) against ranked teams. This was not the norm. Most of these guys played worse against ranked teams than they did against everyone else. The two exceptions are Coker and Jones (in only 3 games). Both of those guys actually played better than their career norms against ranked teams. With Jones it was a marked improvement, but the caveat is that his three games against ranked teams made up a significant percentage of his total career starts at QB. So you have to take that data with a grain of salt.

Now before you make the argument that W/L record is a horrible way to evaluate a QB, I will agree. It is. That's why I have the other stats included above and that is also the purpose of the final table. While Goff was 0-13 against ranked opponents, he played pretty close to his career norms in those games. Compare his numbers with Prescott or Sudfeld to see what happens when a QB meets defenses that he can't handle. You also need to be careful with the numbers for Doughty since he only had two career games against ranked teams and one of them was that crazy game against Marshall where he threw for nearly 500 yards and eight touchdowns.

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