Ranking the SEC quarterbacks after Week 2
The criticism of the SEC throughout the spring and summer months was obvious. The league’s detractors shouted it from the rooftops. Even the conference’s supporters quietly agreed. It was hushed, whispered tones, but still agreement.
It is a sad admittance, but one that needs to be made before the season gets too deep.
The SEC is not the best conference for quarterbacks in college football.
It isn’t the worst, either. But there were plenty of games in Week 2’s slate that confirmed, certainly, the best quarterbacks in the country do not belong in the Southeastern Conference. Not top to bottom, anyway.
Take, for example, at Auburn. The man most thought would be the second- or third-best in the league, through two weeks, has yet to even crack the top 10.
Through those two weeks, here are the top 10 so far. The previous week’s ranking is in parenthesis.
10. Maty Mauk, Missouri (9)
Game management is a Mauk specialty. He is known for it. Coach Gary Pinkel knows it’s true. Everyone knows it’s true. But when the entiriety of the offense is struggling to score points against Arkansas State, game management might not be enough. Unless Mauk improves, or a the running game develops a quicker pace, Missouri will not make a third straight trip to the SEC title game.
Last week: 16-36-2, 148 yards, 3 touchdowns
Season: 28-58-3, 329 yards, 5 touchdowns
9. Greyson Lambert, Georgia (10)
Lambert didn’t mess up Georgia’s chances of winning Saturday. That’s something, anyway. The junior continues to be less-than-inspiring running the signals for the Bulldogs. It also doesn’t seem to matter. Georgia dispatched Vanderbilt in the conference opener for both by 17 points. Whatever works in Athens.
Last week: 11-21-0, 116 yards, 0 touchdowns
Season: 19-33-0, 257 yards, 2 touchdowns
8. Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee (2)
Dobbs had the largest movement in either direction from any quarterback last week. Don’t expect him to stay at No. 8 for long, though. It’s just that Oklahoma made him look confused. Dobbs led the Volunteers on scoring drives three of their first five series, but none of those drives were longer than 55 yards. In fact, not a single Tennessee drive was longer than 55 yards the whole game. There are things to fix.
Last week: 13-31-1, 125 yards, 1 touchdown; 14 rushes, 12 yards, 1 touchdown
Season: 28-53-1, 330 yards, 3 touchdowns; 26 rushes, 101 yards, 2 touchdowns
7. Jake Coker, Alabama (8)
There wasn’t quite as much sizzle from Jake Coker against Middle Tennessee State as he had against Wisconsin. Not that there was a ton to begin with, but flashes were there against the Badgers. That’s not a knock on Coker, though. The Crimson Tide’s second game didn’t feel like one in which fireworks would ever be necessary. Coker’s improvement was modest, if at all. He was and is capable.
Last week: 15-26-1, 214 yards, 1 touchdown
Season: 30-47-1, 427 yards, 2 touchdowns
6 and 5. Treon Harris, Florida (6) and Will Grier, Florida (5)
Sticking the two Gators quarterbacks side-by-side is even more apropos this week. Grier, the starter, played more of the game against East Carolina than did Harris. Harris was moderately more impressive. Neither is dominating. Neither is taking the job and running away. That would be the preference in Gainesville. But for now, given expectations, they’re OK doing what they’re doing.
Harris last week: 5-8-0, 54 yards, 0 touchdowns
Harris season: 19-27-0, 269 yards, 2 touchdowns
Grier last week: 10-17-1, 151 yards, 2 touchdowns
Grier season: 26-35-1, 317 yards, 4 touchdowns
4. Brandon Allen, Arkansas (1)
For the second consecutive week the Razorbacks fifth-year senior set a career-high in passing yardage. He actually threw for more yards than any Bret Bielema-coached quarterback ever. That includes Russell Wilson. Allen also didn’t throw a touchdown with his 400-plus yards. Arkansas was 1 of 5 in the red zone against Toledo and lost to the Mid-American Conference favorites. Thus, the drop.
Last week: 32-53-1, 412 yards, 0 touchdowns
Season: 46-71-1, 720 yards, 4 touchdowns
3. Kyle Allen, Texas A&M (7)
There is not a lot of flair to Kyle Allen’s game. Or maybe it just looks that way given his back-up, Kyler Murray, is loaded with it. Allen calmly collected three touchdown passes on 10 completions against Ball State on Saturday and a modest 126 yards. Given his coaches, the numbers will increase. For now, the Aggies are simply happy with the wins.
Last week: 10-13-0, 126 yards, 3 touchdowns
Season: 25-39-1, 324 yards, 5 touchdowns
2. Dak Prescott, Mississippi State (3)
Prescott was putting together a comeback for the ages, an instant-classic type of game. Until the end. His delay-of-game penalty on the Bulldogs’ final drive was a costly one. It might (or might not have) cost Mississippi State a win against LSU. Instead, coach Dan Mullen’s team missed a 50-plus-yard field goal and the Tigers escaped Starkville. Prescott finished with 335 yards passing against one of the league’s best defenses. It’s been said Prescott will have to will Mississippi State out of the expected SEC West cellar. Mostly it looked like that will be possible. Mostly.
Last week: 34-52-0, 335 yards, 1 touchdown
Season: 56-90-0, 572 yards, 3 touchdowns
1. Chad Kelly, Ole Miss (4)
Talent has never been the question with Chad Kelly. Fortunately for him this list is all about talent. And he’s at the top. Yes, the Rebels have played two bad football teams in Tennessee-Martin and Fresno State. But a 72 percent completion percentage, more than 550 yards and 6 touchdowns through those two games are bonkers totals. Figure, too, Ole Miss has scored more than 70 points each time out. It’s a pace that cannot be continued, but it’s fun right now.
Last week: 20-25-0, 346 yards, 4 touchdowns
Season: 9-15-1, 557 yards, 6 touchdowns
How is Jeremy Johnson not #1???? Is everyone officially off of the bandwagon or if he starts playing well is every single writer going to say that they called it?
The media’s woody for him was absolutely absurd. I’m glad it’s back to “Bleh, Auburn barely wins. They suck.” At least now the team can focus on just football and not the hype.
Eh, are you joking? Jeremy Johnson sucks.. dude threw what 6 picks in 2 games?
Can no fans in the SEC detect sarcasm???
Sarcasm…..noted
Please use the sarcasm font.
5 INTs and almost cost his team both games? He shouldn’t be in the top 14, since several teams (including Texas A&M and Alabama) have backups who are better than Johnson!
Depending on what happens this weekend, I might agree with you about not even being top 14. I certainly hope things improve but if they don’t, I would think that even Auburn has a better backup than Johnson (Sean White).
5. Patrick Towles
Yeah… Towles and Orth played better than #9 and #6…
Come on, man, I’m not necessarily going to lobby for Towles, but if the best you can say about #9 is “The junior continues to be less-than-inspiring running the signals” then there has to be a spot for someone else.
Truth!
You forgot Mauk’s 75 rushing yards, picking up the slack from Hansbrough being out. Game management indeed.
Mauk has five touchdowns, Allen matches that; Kelly beats that by one. He’s interception man, but generally fixes his own mistakes. As tough as it is to watch some times, I can’t imagine what’s in that kid that makes him fight like that.
Also forgot that Mauk doesn’t catch the passes, he only throws them. And the receivers were responsible for what seemed like a dozen drops or more, and some of the interceptions are also more on the receivers than Mauk, but lets just forget about the receivers being somewhat to blame. Mauk really hasn’t looked that bad yet, he just hasn’t managed to look good because of the inexperience around him.
Mauk isn’t impressive.. stop. There is hardly a good QB in the SEC right now
All Dak needs is time. If the O-line had given him sufficient protection during the first half we would have won.
If we’re playing “Ifs”, if LSU didnt have two holding penalties they would have been 14 on top of State and Dak would have needed more than sufficient protection to come back from that
It’s a little bit easier to break a long run if you hold the guy in position to make a tackle. If.
Thing is those holds came away from the play. Dupree was 10 yds past the db that got held on his 90yd TD. A lineman threw a cut block on a 300lb tackle afer Harris was 10yds clear. That game should’ve been a LSU blow out.
There were several possible bad calls both ways. Without the O line the first half, Dak had no chance. The second half they showed up and we had a chance to win. Also LSU had great play calling in the first half and chitty in the second half. LF is a beast and was the difference. This week games between UM/Bama and LSU/Auburn should be games that can go either way.
it wouldn’t hurt to point out that kyle allen got those numbers in less than 2 quarters and often with good starting position thanks to special teams or defense, so yeah his stats are going to be somewhat modest. however, he looked a lot better and more confident than last week, and that’s what really matters.
Pretty sure Kyle Allen would be giving Kelly’s stats a run for their money if he was able to monopolize the same share of snaps Kelly received in the 1st 2 games. Nonetheless, I think I would rather have 2 five star QB’s battling it out for PT. Good problem to have.
Certainly not a northern miss fan, but it seems Kelly and Allen have right about the same number of attempts on the season? Level of competition may have something to do with it… like all such articles, time will tell and everything now is just to fill space.
Allen has probably took more snaps than Kelly. In the first game OM played all three QBs and OM played 4 QBs.
First game Allen took about 75% of the snaps, last week he only took about 40%… he was done early in the second quarter and A&M played backups at QB and RB the final 40 minutes.
No Patrick Towles?! Seriously?! Terrible 2nd half in week 1, but 21-29 and a TD at SC, clutch when he had to be and UK won. Come on, he should be above Mauk at the very least…
You’ll see soon enough, though.
It was a rushing touchdown, right? Mauk threw three touchdown passes and rushed for 75 yards. This is not the week for that comparison.
I know what Mauk did, but come on man. He’s not impressed at all this year.
Not to mention the Florida due at #6. If this were based only on stats, maybe.
Mauk is 16-4 as a starter I believe, and he put the team on his shoulders to pull out an ugly win. Not to mention had the receivers not dropped a bunch of catchable balls, he might have had more like a 66% completion rate, thrown a pick or two less, and the game wouldn’t have been so close. I realize that is speculation, but Mauk is playing better than the stat line suggests right now. He makes a bad decisions occasionally and throws into double+ coverages, but he finds a way to win. He doesn’t look that impressive because he isn’t getting any help. Also I doubt you’ve actually fully watched a Mizzou game yet this season because of how piss poor the television coverage has been so far. SECN Alt and ESPN3 are things you almost have to go looking for to watch it.
Mauk will hardly ever impress. Sorry
Mauk is throwing the ball more accurately most of the time. Why he morphs into interception-man on certain plays is beyond the science of psychology to understand. Here’s what the SEC sportswriters don’t get. He is a very good running quarterback. This wins games. Mauk’s % this year is some qb coaching but it is more receiver coaching. It is imperative that Lock plays more as the season goes along. His accuracy will make Mauk more effective on the ground and in the air, and Mauk is going to get a little winded at times this year.
It’s because he is the Bo Wallace of 2015.
So that means he will beat state again?
No that means he sucks.
Sit down Dak you just got roasted
Once again an opinionated article written that is a joke, can’t you just rate the QB’s by their numbers which tells the real story. There are QB’s not on this list that should be and some that shouldn’t. IMO……..lol just like yours!!!!! Please redo this based on numbers so it’s in line with reality not opinion, that’s what we as fans want to see.
Damn Perry Orth did better in one half than the rest of these guys did on a game and he’s not on this list?
13-20 179 yards 65.0% comp 8.95 y/a
I wish he would have thrown 52 times like Prescott or that we would have played teams like Tennessee Martin and Fresno State..
Not sure where he ranks, but I’m pretty sure his performances land him in the Top-10 thus far… Patrick Towles. Has the 7th best passer rating through two games. 37-63-449 3TD – 2INT.
I agree. Towles definitely deserves a spot in the top 10.
Regardless of where the various Qbs are ranked, a lot of the statistics are not yet very meaningful. A&M’s Allen has been held back because A&M hasn’t yet really run most of their offense. They haven’t needed to show their hand, so they are avoiding showing the whole playbook until they need to. They won’t show much this week, either. Once they start conference play, things will open up.
The biggest surprise to me isn’t Johnson’s absence, but Brandon Allen’s productivity. He was supposed to be nothing but a game manager, but because they lost a running back and have trailed often this season, he is throwing more than anyone expected and doing it very well.
Kelly is very good and we all knew what Prescott can do. Mauk is a known quantity (which probably hurts him because he doesn’t have a stellar reputation in big games). Coker was a big unknown, Allen only had five starts under this belt, Dobbs was mostly hype and potential until he showed something because like Allen, he didn’t have a lot of starts. The Florida guys were unknown as well, so much of this is based on performance to date against less than top notch opposition.
Wrong Allen. Kyler Allen will be on this list soon.
Kyle, Kyler, Kylest.
No Patrick Towles? Haha..that’s all I can say..what a joke this little site has become. First they pick Kentucky to be terrible this year and finish with only 4 wins and now they don’t even include the 6’5, 240-pound Towles, that Mel Kiper calls the 2nd-best QB in the conference, in their list of top-10 SEC QB’s (which isn’t exactly loaded at the position).
What a joke this pathetic little site has become. They’re loaded with ‘writers’ who are fans of South Carolina and Florida who Kentucky has now passed up who are grasping at straws to bring Kentucky down with every breath. Pathetic, pathetic little site. Don’t worry. Towles will beat your little team soon enough, Eric Bolin.
Damn..arent there 14 teams in the SEC? Why not just rank them 1-14..I guess the other 4 must really suck..
Patrick towles should be number 5 on this list. The fact that you didn’t even put him in the top 10 is mind boggling.