Week 2 was another impressive week for some of the nation’s biggest names at the quarterback position.
This week’s national QB rankings features some significant movement at the top with a new choice at No. 1 and a new entrant into the top 7. The sample size on these quarterbacks grows substantially with each passing week, so expect even more movement in the near future.
Note: I’ll be leaning heavily on available advanced statistics, which recently got better thanks to CollegeFootballData.com’s addition of new passing metrics. Some data points like air yards and pass direction don’t yet have full coverage for the 2025 season, but the data is complete (or close to it) from Week 8 onwards. That gives us a workable sample size for these rankings, but it’s admittedly not bulletproof.
A few helpful definitions to know:
- CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) — actual completion % minus expected completion %, where “expected” is what an average FBS QB would complete given each throw’s depth, direction, down, distance, and field position.
- Dead-end play rate — share of all QB plays (pass attempts + sacks + rushes) that gain 4 yards or fewer without converting a first down or scoring. Measures how wasteful a QB is on a down-to-down basis.
- (Rush) success rate — share of QB rush attempts that gain 50% of the yards-to-go on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, or 100% on 3rd/4th (TDs always count). Sacks and kneel-downs are excluded.
- ADOT (Average Depth of Target) — average air yards per attempt: how far downfield past the line of scrimmage the average throw is aimed, counting incompletions and INTs at their intended target depth. Measures aggressiveness and intent, but not whether the pass was completed.
- Deep-throw rate — share of attempts targeted 15+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
College football quarterback rankings
Here’s my top 7 for this week:
1. Darian Mensah, Miami (Last week: 2)
Darian Mensah claims the top spot this week. The move is mostly due to Julian Sayin’s shortcomings, though Mensah has performed well above expectation this season — albeit against a very soft schedule. Mensah has a ridiculous 30% CPOE and an even-more-absurd 12.5% dead-end play rate. The schedule has been soft, but plenty of other quarterbacks have faced a bad P4 team and an FCS team as Mensah has, but no one else is approaching his level of efficiency to this point in the season.
2. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (Last week: 3)
Trinidad Chambliss rises one spot this week ahead of his upcoming tilt with LSU and Lane Kiffin. Ole Miss had a pretty vanilla offense last week against Charlotte and Chambliss still came away with 225 yards and a couple of touchdown passes on 26 attempts. He remains excellent with his legs, too, posting a 1.6% sack rate and a 63.6% rushing success rate so far this season. I do have some concerns that this ranking will age poorly given that Kiffin will be extremely familiar with all of the blindspots in Chambliss’s game. I would not be surprised if Chambliss gets baited into an extra mistake or 2 against the Tigers.
3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (Last week: 1)
Julian Sayin was underwhelming in a historic collapse over the weekend as the Buckeyes lost 24-23 to Texas. Sayin was really good at getting the ball to Jeremiah Smith, who had 8 catches for 164 yards, but didn’t get much else done. All other Ohio State pass-catchers combined for 114 yards on 9 catches (4 of those receptions went to running back Bo Jackson). Sayin is still elite in my opinion, but it was time to move him off of the No. 1 spot.
4. Gunner Stockton, Georgia (Last week: 6)
Gunner Stockton moves up this week after another ridiculously efficient performance vs. an overmatched opponent. He threw for 234 yards and 5 touchdowns on 13-of-16 passing in a win over Western Kentucky. His CPOE is nearing 20% and he hasn’t thrown an interception or taken a sack yet this season. If I was going to recommend a long-shot Heisman pick at this stage in the season, it would be Stockton. He’s sitting at 4% on Kalshi right now — seemingly a decent price considering he currently has the nation’s No. 2 passer efficiency rating and plays on a Georgia team that’s likely to make the SEC Championship Game again. He’s also an excellent runner — he rushed for 426 yards and 10 touchdowns last season and could leverage that part of his game more often as Georgia’s schedule toughens up.
5. Jayden Maiava, USC (Last week: 4)
Jayden Maiava slips again to make room for Stockton, but he’s had a great start to the season. Maiava has already played 3 games and is averaging 10.1 yards per attempt with a 10-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. His CPOE is an impressive 17.7% to this point in the season. He’s one of the best in the country at sack avoidance and will likely continue to put up big numbers in Lincoln Riley’s offense, though his opposition will get considerably better starting with a Week 4 game against Oregon.
6. CJ Carr, Notre Dame (Last week: 7)
CJ Carr moves up a spot this week. He was essentially perfect in a 52-0 drubbing over Rice. Carr is running a 7.6% CPOE this season and has a long track record of not taking sacks and not throwing interceptions. That profile will carry you a long way at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish will now begin a stretch of 5 consecutive games against P4 opponents this week as they host Michigan State.
7. Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State (Last week: NR)
In last week’s edition, Taylor was one of my honorable mentions and I wrote that he could make an appearance on this list if he played well against Minnesota. Playing well is a considerable understatement to what actually happened — he was dominant against the Golden Gophers. He threw for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns on 22 pass attempts while rushing for another 86 yards. Mississippi State only has 1 SEC win under Jeff Lebby to this point in his tenure, but I believe Taylor will help change that in the not-too-distant future. Of all the first-time starters at QB this season, Taylor has been by far the most impressive.
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On the radar
In no particular order:
Dante Moore, Oregon: Moore slips off the list this week after a really lackluster performance against Oklahoma State. Oregon’s offense in general seems to be out of sync, which may be due to the fact that Moore’s pre-snap stance has seemingly been tipping off opponents to Oregon’s play call. That’s a costly mistake that will surely be corrected — we’ll see what Moore’s numbers look like moving forward.
Austin Simmons, Mizzou: Simmons was probably the first guy off the list for me this week after the show he put on against Kansas in the Border War in Week 2. I think there’s a real chance he’s one of the 5 best quarterbacks in the SEC this season, which would significantly alter Mizzou’s ceiling. I want to see him maintain those numbers over a larger sample against quality opponents.
Arch Manning, Texas: Manning was excellent in the 4th quarter against Ohio State but statistically he remains pretty underwhelming. Across charted games on CollegeFootballData.com dating back to last season, Manning has a negative CPOE and a below-average dead-end play rate. This is a quarterback who is in his 4th season of college and has had access to elite coaching for his entire life. If he has room to grow beyond what he’s producing statistically, he should be showing it soon.
Aaron Philo, Florida: Aaron Philo should probably be getting more love nationally for his start to the season, albeit against FAU and Campbell. He has a 12% CPOE and is pushing the ball downfield with accuracy and effectiveness. I’m also increasingly of the opinion that Buster Faulkner is one of the very best offensive coordinators in the country, and it’s telling that he fought so hard to bring Philo with him to Gainesville back in the offseason.
Devon Dampier, Utah: Dampier might be far-and-away the best quarterback in the Big 12 this season. He averaged over 10 yards per attempt and scored 4 total touchdowns in a blowout win over the Razorbacks in Week 2. He’s running a 15% CPOE on the season plus a 60% rushing success rate.
Josh Hoover, Indiana: The 2026 numbers continue to be elite. The 2025 numbers at TCU were a mixed bag, though. The Hoosiers won’t play any one of substance until at least Oct. 10 when they go on the road to face Nebraska. Until then, I’m going to hesitate to put Hoover in the top 7.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
