How good are Big 12 quarterbacks?
Remember back in August, before everyone started playing actual games, many experts declared the Big 12 would be a league of quarterbacks, that the best passers would come from within the league Utah and BYU play in.
How has that held up?
Well, if you can digest a steady diet of numbers and rankings from the NCAA, it does stand up. The Big 12 quarterbacks are sprinkled among the top 50 in every way quarterbacks are measured. In some categories, they dominate the numbers.
The QB who appears the most and the highest is Baylor’s talented Sawyer Robertson. He’s prolific, accurate, productive and tossing the ball around at a tremendous rate for the Bears.
Two guys who have surprised this year are Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby, who faces Iowa State this weekend at home, and BYU freshman Bear Bachmeier, who was supposed to be a huge question mark and gamble when senior Jake Retzlaff withdrew from school during the summer.
Judging QBs by statistics is a little tricky. So much depends on what defenses they face and the strengths of schedules. Another factor is if the team is balanced or relies heavily on the pass game, literally firing the ball in the air much of the time.
But accuracy, yards per completion, and quarterback rating and efficiency are statistics that over time will definitely tell you if you’ve got a guy with “it.”
Here are some key categories for QBs and how Big 12 stars stack up in the top 50.
In quarterback ratings, a category different from passing efficiency, Cincy’s Sorsby is No. 6 nationally with an 86.3 rating. The next ranked is TCU’s Josh Hoover at 18th (78.5), followed by Robertson at 22nd (75.5). Iowa State’s Rocco Becht is 24th (78.1), No. 41 is Devon Dampier (Utah) at 72.3, and then BYU’s Bachmeier is at 48 with a 70.5 rating.
Another key category that measures productivity of a quarterback is yards per passing attempt.
Here’s how Big 12 QBs rank nationally in a variety of categories:
Yards per attempt
9. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (9.94)
12. Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati (9.75)
19. Josh Hoover, TCU (9.21)
20. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (9.19)
49. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (8.20)
Yards per completion
5. Behren Morton, Texas Tech (15.43)
8. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (14.8)
15. Brendan Sorsby, Cincy (14.09)
18, Rocco Becht, Iowa State (13.96)
20. Josh Hoover, TCU (13.80)
36. Conner Weigman, Houston (12.91)
38. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (12.88)
Passing touchdowns
1. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (17)
9. Devon Dampier, Utah; Josh Hoover, TCU (11)
21. Brendan Sorsby (10)
37. Noah Fifita, Arizona; Sam Leavitt, ASU (8)
50. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (7)
Passing yards per game
1. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (341.60)
6. Josh Hoover, TCU (310.50)
22. Behren Morton, Texas Tech (266.25)
25. Brendan Sorsby, Cincy (260.73)
31. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (252.40)
42. Noah Fifita, Arizona (240.60)
Passing efficiency
5. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (188.82)
6. Behren Morton, Texas Tech (188.76)
11. Brendan Sorsby, Cincy (181.10)
21. Josh Hoover, TCU (164.91)
29. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (158.96)
34. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (156.46)
40. Bear Bachmeier, BYU (154.83)
(Just ahead of Arch Manning, Texas, 154.05)
Completions per game
4. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (26.60)
17. Devon Dampier, Utah (22.20)
40. Sam Leavitt, ASU (19.80)
46. Noah Fifita, Arizona (19.50)
Passing completion percentage
12. Devon Dampier, Utah (.725)
24. Brendan Sorsby, Cincy (.690)
26. Behren Morton, Texas Tech (.690)
34. Bear Bachmeier, BYU (.678)
37. Nicco Marchiol, West Virginia (.673)
42. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (.667)
43. Josh Hoover, TCU (.667)
Total offense
- Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (1,713)
- Jalon Daniels, Kansas (1,262)
The Utes and Aggies have the week off, but BYU will use general conference weekend to host West Virginia on Friday night.
On paper, BYU is heavily favored over the Mountaineers, who must travel nearly 2,000 miles on a short week of preparation for the Cougars. When this game kicks off at 8:15 p.m., West Virginia player body clocks will be set to after 10 p.m. on the East Coast, and in the fourth quarter, it will be like playing at 2 a.m. in Morgantown.
Head coach Kalani Sitake isn’t taking anything for granted with his visitors. He told players this week to be on high alert and avoid the 14-0 kind of start the Cougars had in Boulder against Colorado last week.
The Cougars will be defending a No. 23 ranking and looking to achieve a 5-0 start to the season on Friday.
This week’s predictions
- BYU 37, West Virginia 14
- Georgia 31, Kentucky 17
- Cincinnati 28, Iowa State 27
- Michigan 33, Wisconsin 21
- Illinois 41, Purdue 17
- Baylor 41, Kansas State 24
- Navy 28, Air Force 21
- Arizona 31, Oklahoma State 24
- Notre Dame 33, Boise State 21
- Penn State 38, UCLA 13
- Texas 28, Florida 10
- Virginia 27, Louisville 21
- Washington 24, Maryland 21
- Texas Tech 38, Houston 21
- TCU 34, Colorado 27
- Kansas 24, UCF 21
Last week: 11-7; overall: 64-18 (.780)