6. GEORGIA: JAKE FROMM
He hasn’t been tasked with much through the first six weeks of the season but when his team has needed him, Fromm has delivered. He connected on many sharp passes during the team’s victory over Notre Dame and he’s just been an accurate passer who takes what the defense gives him so far. He’s avoiding negatively-graded plays at an extremely high rate while putting forth positively-graded attempts at another absurd rate in its own regard. Fromm has the nation’s second-highest passer rating without play action at 132.0 as that is a critical factor towards success not only at the collegiate level but at the NFL level as well. Not shockingly, he has top-20 figures in adjusted completion percentage and passer ratings both under pressure and when kept clean from pressure.
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5. TEXAS: SAM EHLINGER
The top five wouldn’t be complete without Ehlinger as he’s currently thrown for 10 big-time throws (15th) while limiting himself to just four turnover-worthy passes. He’s averaging a deeper depth of target than year’s past and still sitting with a strong 75.4% adjusted completion percentage. His offensive line is playing well ahead of expectations and giving him a clean pocket on 75.6% of his dropbacks. He’s rewarded the Longhorns with the country’s 14th-best passer rating when kept clean, throwing for 1,191 yards and 16 touchdowns, the latter tying for third-most in the nation.
4. OHIO STATE: JUSTIN FIELDS
The nation’s third highest-graded passer on throws targeted at least 10 yards downfield, Fields has been dominant as a downfield thrower this year in Columbus. He’s completing a ridiculously-high amount of passes on such attempts and has a national-best 15 big-time throws on 10+ yard attempts. He’s finding his receivers well enough downfield on such attempts (22.3 aDOT) that they haven’t needed to do too much with the ball after the catch and his 15 touchdown passes on downfield attempts ranks second in the country. This all goes without mentioning his incredible skill set with the ball in his hands on the ground. He’s run for 204 yards on just 26 designed carries and 360 yards total on the ground with eight touchdowns and 14 more first-down carries and 10 broken tackles in the process. He’s got the Buckeyes rolling and it’s been incredibly fun to watch.
3. ALABAMA: TUA TAGOVAILOA
Tua currently leads the nation with a ridiculous stat line of 23 touchdowns against no interceptions as he’s completing 76.4% of his passes for 11.6 yards per attempt. He’s leading the country in passer rating from a clean pocket (156.7) after he led the country a year ago in the same regard. Similarly, he led the nation in passer rating on throws without a play fake, much like he’s doing again this year, proving just how stable those metrics are from year to year. He leads the country with 20 touchdowns from a clean pocket and is third in total yards but has needed at least 12 fewer passes than those ahead of him in yards. When he’s on, he’s perhaps the best thrower of the football in the country and the November 9 matchup between LSU and Alabama will give us a quarterback dual we haven’t seen in some time.
2. OKLAHOMA: JALEN HURTS
Hurts has been turned into perhaps the nation’s most-feared deep passer, something that seemed more than unlikely during his time at Alabama. Head coach Lincoln Riley has unleashed a skill set in Hurts previously untapped and previously unseen. Hurts has the fifth-most yards on deep passes (533) but is by far averaging the most yards per attempt on such throws at 21.3. He’s currently in possession of a 78.7% adjusted completion percentage that ranks 16th in the country and he has yet to have a pass dropped in 2019. He’s firing on all cylinders and a big-time matchup between the Sooners and Texas Longhorns is likely the only thing standing between Hurts and an invitation to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
1. LSU: JOE BURROW
No quarterback has a higher overall or passing grade on passes targeted at least 10 yards downfield as Burrow has dominated the first six weeks of college football. On such throws, Burrow has completed 57-of-77 attempts for 1,285 yards and 16 touchdowns, all of which lead the country. He’s the nation’s most exciting downfield thrower to the intermediate range of the field and outside the numbers as he’s found his big receivers outside the numbers better than anyone else. Much like we saw from Tagovailoa in 2018, Burrow currently ranks in the top five in terms of passer rating from the following categories: under pressure (1st), kept clean (5th), with play-action (4th), without play-action (4th) and on deep passes (2nd). To boot, he’s the national leader in adjusted completion percentage (84.9%) among the 87 quarterbacks with at least 115 attempts.
PFF Rankings: College starting quarterback rankings through Week 6 | College Football and NFL Draft | PFF