Quarterback play continues to be a bright spot across the country as the 2026 season marches on.
Through 4 weeks, 14 FBS quarterbacks have a passer efficiency rating above 180. That’s up significantly from 10 such quarterbacks who qualified through the first 4 weeks in 2025.
Note: I’ll be leaning heavily on available advanced statistics, which recently got better thanks to CollegeFootballData.com’s addition of new passing metrics. 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.
As we do each week in this space, let’s break down the nation’s 7 best quarterbacks:
1. Darian Mensah, Miami (Last week: 2)
Darian Mensah moves back up to No. 1 this week after another hilariously dominant game against subpar competition. He threw for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 27 pass attempts in a blowout win over Central Michigan. He gets Clemson on the road this week in a game that Miami is a massive favorite in. The Tigers should be out-matched, but going on the road to Clemson will still be Mensah’s toughest test of the year to date, so we should learn quite a bit about what his next 2 months could look like on Saturday night.
2. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (Last week: 1)
I had to move Chambliss down a spot this week after his Ole Miss Rebels were handily beaten in Gainesville over the weekend. The loss wasn’t Chambliss’s fault necessarily, though there are some moments I’m sure he’d like to have back. Overall, though, Chambliss has an 8% CPOE and is one of the best running quarterbacks in the nation (he had 2 more rushing touchdowns against the Gators).
3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (Last week: 3)
Sayin sticks at No. 3 this week after he and Jeremiah Smith beat Illinois so badly that Bret Bielema parted ways with his defensive coordinator just 4 games into the season. Sayin averaged over 10 yards per attempt and threw 4 touchdown passes, all of which went to Smith. While Ohio State’s offense certainly goes through Smith more than any other player, I’ll point out that Devin McCuin, Brandon Inniss and Nate Roberts are also putting up impressive efficiency numbers (albeit at a much lower volume of targets). If you don’t get pressure against Sayin, he’s going to beat you.
4. CJ Carr, Notre Dame (Last week: 7)
After a slow start to the season in Week 1 vs. Wisconsin, CJ Carr has rounded into form. He’s now firmly among the elites nationally in CPOE, EPA-per-dropback and passing success rate, among other leading indicators. He’s also been pushing the ball downfield more in recent weeks — his ADOT in the win over Purdue was north of 12 yards. In Week 5, Carr will face a North Carolina defense that’s been mostly competent so far this season (at least relative to what the Tar Heels were in 2025).
5. Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State (Last week: 5)
Kamario Taylor led Mississippi State to an impressive comeback win at Mizzou this past week, but I still can’t quite justify moving him up this list any further. This was his worst game of the season by EPA-per-play and he’s now taken a whopping 7 sacks over the past 2 weeks. Taylor is still elite but I’m interested to see how he adjusts now that there’s more tape on how he wants to attack defenses. A huge test awaits this weekend with Alabama coming to Starkville.
6. Keelon Russell, Alabama (Last week: Not Ranked)
Keelon Russell’s trajectory is impossible to ignore at this point. Just a few games into his first season as a starter, Russell has already begun to match production with some of the sport’s best signal-callers. He’ll enter Week 5 ranked 5th nationally in EPA-per-dropback — everyone above him has multiple seasons as a starter. It’s clear teams will have to take away the deep ball if they want to have a chance to stop Russell. Against P4 opposition this year, Russell has a deep-ball CPOE of over 28%. No one else with 80+ dropbacks is even over 20% CPOE on deep passes so far this season.
7. Gunner Stockton, Georgia (Last week: 4)
I’m dropping Gunner Stockton a few spots this week because of a somewhat lackluster performance against Oklahoma. That wasn’t all his fault — Georgia didn’t need him to do much because John Mateer kept handing the Bulldogs free points. Still, Stockton’s body of work has slipped a little bit compared to his peers, so he’s on the edge of dropping out of the top 7 depending on what happens in Week 5.
On the radar
In no particular order:
Josh Hoover, Indiana: Hoover was the first guy off the list for me this week. He’s still in the top 5 nationally in EPA-per-dropback, but most of that damage came against lackluster opposition. Indiana beat a better-than-expected Northwestern team in Week 4, but Hoover wasn’t the difference-maker — IU’s running game was.
Aiden Chiles, Northwestern: Speaking of Northwestern, Chiles is someone to watch out for in the Big Ten. The Wildcats almost upset Indiana on Friday night and I wouldn’t be surprised if they slay a dragon this season. Chiles is clearly excellent when he’s dealt a clean pocket. Among P4 qualifiers, Chiles is 8th nationally in EPA per dropback.
Jayden Maiava, USC: Maiava fell out of the top 7 this week for the first time this season following USC’s disappointing loss to Oregon. He’s still the leader of a strong (and very young) offense, but the list of good candidates is just too crowded for him this week. Maiava wasn’t the biggest issue vs. Oregon, but he didn’t have a great game either. He posted a -4.5% CPOE and was well below his standard from an EPA-per-dropback standpoint.
Aaron Philo, Florida: Philo didn’t get much of the credit for UF’s win over Ole Miss this week given that he had 2 running backs go for 100+ yards. Still, I’m not sure folks realize how good Philo is. It took guts for Jon Sumrall and Buster Faulkner to go into Year 1 of this project with a quarterback who was completely unproven, but that bet seems to be paying off. Philo has posted above-average EPA and success rate figures in all 4 games so far this season.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
