Welcome to “I Got 5 On It”, each week I’ll be picking five news-worthy subjects based around college football to cover. Ranging from views on Devy prospects, general college football talk, interesting stats, and a little bit of hip-hop music mixed in now and then.
1. Top QB Performers
@FBGChase has done a lot of great work on twitter with ANY/A with NFL passers. That gave me the idea of using this metric to gage college passers weekly. If you are unaware of this metric “An advanced statistic in football that quantifies the contributions of a quarterback’s passing game by including five key passing statistics; passing yards, passing touchdowns, interceptions thrown, times sacked and yards lost to being sacked. This measure rewards passers for scoring with a multiplier on touchdowns and punishes a passer on throwing interceptions. This is all combined into a value on a per pass attempt basis.
It’s calculated as follows:
ANY/A = (pass yards + 20*(pass TD) – 45*(interceptions thrown) – sack yards) / (passing attempts + sacks)”
Here are the top 10 performers from week 8 of the CFB season out of 91 qualifying performances.
*Note – The total on the bottom is the tally of all QBs that attempted at least 10 passes this past weekend.
Dillon Gabriel did the honors of winning the most valuable QB in back-to-back weeks. He didn’t grade out as highly this week compared to last, but Gabriel has worked himself up to the third most valuable passer on the season now. Spencer Rattler had a bounce-back performance against TCU just fractions of a point away from the second-best performance of the weekend. No surprise to see Zach Wilson and Mac Jones once again amongst the top 10 performers. Wilson and Jones have the top two ANY/A on the season. I was excited for the Graham Mertz debut but did not expect it to go that well. Justin Fields just cracked the top 10 from week 8. Fields could have had a much bigger day if the game wasn’t well in hand by the mid-third quarter. tFR TJ Finley got the start for the LSU Tigers. I wasn’t expecting much, but he finished top 15 on the week. Finley looks much improved from his HS film.
Taulia Tagovailoa’s first start didn’t go as planned. He finished the weekend with the worst performance of any QB during the week. His outing ended up being the fourth-worst of the entire year. Michael Penix came in with the 80th best day out of 91 qualifiers. Penix was a top 10 performer last year when healthy. It wasn’t the best weekend for B1G passers. Only four of fourteen starters had an above-average weekend (Mertz, Fields, Milton, and Ramsey). The showings from Tanner Morgan and Michael Penix were surprising after how well they both performed in 2019. The loss of Tyler Johnson will haunt Morgan all season long. After destroying Eastern Kentucky Week 1, Grant Wells of Marshall has failed to finish above the 48th percentile of QBs in three of four games since. What a difference it makes when Wells has to play FBS talent.
2. B1G Eye Catchers
Joe Milton, QB, Michigan: I liked Milton coming out of high school. Big-bodied QB with a rocket arm. Has the great ability to make passes from awkward angles on the run. I underestimated his running ability coming out of HS. While I don’t see Cam Newton-type running skills (whom he’s drawn comparisons to), I see a well-above-average runner. Will need to continue to develop accuracy and touch. Milton failed to complete over 48% of his passes in any season in high school.
Garrett Wilson, WR, Ohio State: Wilson looked like a potential alpha receiver out of the slot for the Buckeyes. I questioned Wilson’s ability to get YAC as a freshman, but he looked much improved after one game in 2020. Wilson looks more dynamic than he did in 2019. He looks every bit of the hype he received as a recruit.
Graham Mertz, QB, Wisconsin: Mertz looked lightyears better than I expected. Being his first meaningful snaps, I expected Mertz to show signs of struggling, nope. Early in the 1st quarter, during a third in long, Mertz hung in the pocket and made it to his third read and made a great pitch and catch over the middle of the field. He looked like a seasoned vet at times. Do his COVID issues now give Jack Coan a chance to get his job back? Let’s hope not, the Badgers coaching staff has to be smarter than that.
3. Marvin Mims Jr.
I’ve written about Mims Jr. numerous times this offseason dating all the way back to last December. Mims set national records as a senior in high school playing against the best competition in the state of Texas. While I really liked Mims, I didn’t expect him to have this big of an impact with the young players that OU already had at the receiver spot. Early in the season, Mims is leading the nation in yards per route run. Somehow, Mims is only running 13 pass routes a game. While Drake Stoops has doubled Mims’ routes ran, Mims has more than doubled Stoops’ production on the field. Even last week during a 4-132-2 performance, Stoops out-snapped him. Mims hauled in 4 passes while only running 10 routes on the afternoon. The Sooners need to find a way to get Mims more involved in the offense. He’s looked like the Sooners’ best receiver on numerous occasions this season, but yet they continue to walk Stoops out there. He’s fourth on the team in the number of routes ran but is first on the team in receiving yards by nearly 100 yards on Austin Stogner and Theo Wease.
4. Tanks Bigsby
Bigsby isn’t the player I expected to break out in the Tiger backfield. I had all my eggs in the DJ Williams basket. After five games, Bigsby leads the SEC in broken tackles. He’s accumulated 31 broken tackles on 74 carries. That gives him an SEC-leading 41.9% broken tackles rate (out of backs with at least 30 attempts in 2020). Bigsby has also been top 5 in the SEC in yards after contact. (All stats are based on the SEC; I don’t have access to these stats for the national level). Bigsby has been one of the most impressive true freshmen to date. Besides being able to run through tacklers, Bigsby has shown the ability to be an asset in the passing game. He’s hauled in 11 catches over the span of two games but hasn’t been involved in the passing game since. With Nix throwing the ball closer to the line of scrimmage more, expect Bigsby to up his reception total.
5. I Got 5 On It
Arkansas (+12.5): According to ANY/A the ‘Backs have been the second most valuable defense in the nation defending the pass. A&M lacks an explosive passing game, and I think Arkansas can keep this offense in check. I expect A&M to win by 7-10 points.
Ohio State (-12): I’m not sure any team in the B1G can stay within 14 points of the Buckeyes right now. Ohio State is just too good. The Nittany Lions are down their top two rushers, and I can’t see Sean Clifford being too effective without a rushing game.
Indiana (-10): When you break down the IU/PSU game, the IU win was a bit lucky. But when you dig deep into the Rut/MSU game, Rutgers was even luckier. They needed 7 turnovers to pull off their upset. I’ll ride with the Hoosiers, they are clearly more talented than this Rutgers team that just won their first conference game since 2017.
Oklahoma (-14.5): I’m expecting a big run to finish off the season for the Sooners. Sooners will beat up on the Red Raiders this weekend as they attempt to roll through the second part of the season to make the B12 Title Game.
Cincinnati (-6.5): Clash of styles. The Bearcats have been the most valuable defensive team facing the pass, while the Tigers have been one of the best passing teams in the nation. I trust the Bearcats defense more than Brady White. White is due for a stinker after being very effective in the Tigers’ first four games.
