Sept. 8, 2026, 7:02 a.m. ET
College football long ago morphed from a game in which the running back was the glamour position to one in which the quarterback is more often than not the feature of an offense. In fact, it’s hard to raise banners and rain down confetti without a dynamic player under center. One of the metrics we like to look at each week in determining how quarterbacks are playing is ESPN’s Total QBR rating. Why?
Because the metric adjusts for all plays and includes the strength of the opponent. This year, the Big Ten has some pretty special players under center. Returning quarterbacks at schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, USC, and Washington make it a much more experienced league under center than what it was last season. We’ve only had one week to observe most quarterbacks in the Big Ten, so we’re not going to go all knee-jerk with this analytic being where it’ll be at the end of the year, let alone in just a few weeks. But still, it’s a good baseline now that every team has had at least a game under its belt. As usual, we go from worst to first.
As an important note, not all teams are represented because a signal-caller has to have enough plays to qualify, and Indiana’s Josh Hoover didn’t have enough action plays. Iowa has two quarterbacks that qualify because of the split duty. No.
18 – Jeremy Hecklinski, Iowa Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 19.7
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Stats Last Week: 7-of-16 (43.8%), 76 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
No. 17 – Dylan Lonergan, Rutgers Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 20.3
Stats Last Week: 16-of-29 (55.2%), 242 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
No.
16 – Malik Washington, Maryland Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 29.3
Stats Last Week: 19-of-31 (61.3%), 186 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 15 – Nico Iamaleava, UCLA Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 52.6
Stats Last Week: 14-of-22 (63.6%), 184 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
No. 14 – Bryce Underwood, Michigan Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 52.9
Stats Last Week: 12-of-22 (54.5%), 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
No. 13 – Demond Williams Jr., Washington Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 66.7
Stats Last Week: 24-of-35 (68.6%), 268 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 12 – Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 73.6
Stats Last Week: 18-of-32 (56.3%), 275 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 11 – Aidan Chiles, Northwestern Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 75.8
Stats Last Week: 14-of-24 (58.3%), 273 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 10 – Colton Joseph, Wisconsin Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 81.8
Stats Last Week: 19-of-30 (63.3%), 217 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
No.
9 – Ryan Browne, Purdue Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 84.8
Stats Last Week: 23-of-29 (79.3%), 317 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 8 – Drake Lindsey, Minnesota Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 86.0
Stats Last Week: 19-of-24 (79.2%), 264 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No.
7 – Hank Brown, Iowa Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 86.0
Stats Last Week: 12-of-20 (60.0%), 129 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 6 – Alessio Milivojevic, Michigan State Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 87.1
Stats Last Week: 26-of-34 (76.5%), 247 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
No. 5 – Dante Moore, Oregon Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 90.7
Stats Last Week: 28-of-37 (75.7%), 378 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No.
4 – Jayden Maiava, USC Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 95.1
Stats Last Week: 23-of-25 (86.2%), 286 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
No. 3 – Rocco Becht, Penn State Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 97.9
Stats Last Week: 13-of-18 (72.2%), 271 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
No. 2 – Julian Sayin, Ohio State Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 98.8
Stats Last Week: 21-of-25 (84.0%), 320 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
No. 1 – Katin Houser, Illinois Inside the Numbers Total QBR: 98.9
Stats Last Week: 13-of-17 (76.5%), 182 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
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