Week 14 Quarterback performances in review: Wash, rinse, repeat
At this point we know who these quarterback are...
The College Football regular season has come to an end, and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and the rest of the 2025 NFL Draft quarterback class have more or less established themselves for who they are.
I have a full regular season of Weighted On-Target Percentage data now up, so we have a pretty good idea of who these gunslingers are.
This is the last full week of being able to talk about the full class in a week in review-type article as only three of the bigger names in the class will be playing for a conference championship and into the College Football Playoffs (perhaps two if Georgia doesn’t win the rematch against Texas or if Indiana gets snubbed out of the playoff conversation).
This means the full-season numbers we have on a handful of these quarterbacks are practically set in stone until we hear who will play in a bowl game and who will depart school early to begin training for the NFL Draft.
So what went down in Week 14? Let’s talk about it:
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado vs. Oklahoma State
The Buffs, looking to keep themselves in the hunt for a Big 12 title game to no avail, lit up Oklahoma State. Sanders threw for 438 yards, five touchdowns, and an interception against the Cowboys on the afternoon.
Despite holding onto the ball for longer in the pocket than Sanders should have (methinks they were hunting out Travis Hunter to pad his Heisman case), Sanders was once again efficient with the football. On seven chartable throws of 25 or more yards, Sanders was on-target on six of them.
Other than that, the Buffs had a massive lead early and stuck to their screen and short game the rest of the way out. Sanders, however, was on-target on 82.5 percent of his throws on the day.
QB1 is QB1. Nothing is going to change that this late in the season.
Cam Ward, Miami vs. Syracuse
Cam Ward was more of the same as well in Miami’s loss against Syracuse. Highly efficient ripping RPOs and seam balls over the middle (9-of-9 on the day), but inconsistent when throwing the ball down the field or outside the numbers.
Ward’s efficiency in operating the short game continues to be one of the rougher parts of his game. He needs to learn to take the check and get the ball out on time. This has been the case all season.
The tools are fun, and he is likely QB2 in this weak class by default, but Ward continues to be the kind of quarterback, rough inside of structure who opts to operate on the fringes of an offense while hunting big plays, that NFL general managers will have a hard time banking hefty draft capital and future years of their franchise on.
Ward is a fun, fun college quarterback. But how much of what he is doing is going to translate to the next level?
Drew Allar, Penn State vs. Maryland
Drew Allar had a classic Drew Allar game. Big windows schemed open to receivers, a healthy amount of the offense running through tight end Tyler Warren, but a continued ability to operate the short game at a high level.
Allar continues to take limited shots down the field, and he did not connect on either in this game, taking him to just 8-of-16 throwing 25+ down the field. At the intermediate level, Allar was stellar as well, hitting 7-of-8 at that level of the field.
He sits with the highest Weighted On-Target Percentage in the class right now, but is still a massive seven percent behind Sanders. Much of that has to do with his lack of a deep ball and lack of accuracy when he throws it.
The big-armed Junior will now get the chance to put his talents on display at the highest level: in the Big 10 Championship game and the College Football Playoffs. It would be a shock still if Allar were to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft, but in a weak class and a strong postseason performance, you never know!
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU vs. Oklahoma
This was Garrett Nussmeier’s best game of the season.
For a guy who entered this matchup against Oklahoma on-target on just 14-of-45 throws of 25 or more yards, Nussmeier was slinging the football down the field. He was 3-of-3 down the field in this game. Coming back into the game after taking a big shot as well, Nussmeier displayed a great deal of toughness.
His full-season body of work is a bit rough still, sitting with a Weighted On-Target Percentage of just 57.83. This is second-worst in the class to only Quinn Ewers. Nussmeier needs to go back to school for another year, but he has taken strides down the stretch.
With average tools, Nussmeier has to become more of an anticipatory passer before getting to the NFL level, but he is getting there. He’s not there yet, however.
Jalen Milroe, Alabama vs. Auburn
Another toolsy player who needs to go back to school, Jalen Milroe just has not taken the step forward required to be drafted in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
In the Iron Bowl, however, Milroe came through. He had a fantastic deep ball down the field that was dropped, putting him 1-of-2 on the day when throwing a deep ball. Milroe was efficient to every level of the field in this game.
Who knows? Despite some extremely poor showings against Tennessee, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, some teams could fall in love with the 4.3 speed and big arm of Milroe. That would be a big risk, however, for how well he is actually throwing the football and seeing the field as a passer down the stretch.
Again, Milroe needs to go back to school.
Carson Beck, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech
Beck worked through a great deal of dropped passes. Overall, he threw the ball well over the middle and along the boundary, going a combined 12-of-15 at the intermediate level. He threw for five touchdowns total in this game, leading the Bulldogs back from an early deficit.
He’ll have at least one more game to plead his case.
At the end of the day, Beck operates the short game at a high level (that wasn’t necessarily the case in this game), and that gives him a decent floor. He needs to overcome some of the turnover-worthy bozo plays that have plagued him this season.
Georgia can get hot, and this game was a decent showing from Beck as he looks to rehabilitate his draft stock. Can he get back into the Day 2 conversation?
Kurtis Rourke, Indiana vs. Purdue
Indiana was clearly trying to make a statement to the College Football Playoff committee, running it up on their rival Purdue. And that led to Kurtis Rourke throwing the football down the field at will.
Rourke connected on half of the six shots he took. He was incredibly efficient and on-target at the intermediate level as well, hitting on 10-of-11 there. Rourke did his job in the 66-0 blowout of the Boilermakers. Now it it to be seen if the committee will give the Hoosiers a playoff game to make the most of their magical season.
On the season, Rourke sits about middle of the road in terms of his ball placement and accuracy in this class, but he has put himself in draftable territory after entering the season outside of that. In this house we let fun college players be fun college players without immediately forecasting his NFL Draft status.
And there have been few more fun stories than Rourke and the Hoosiers.
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State
There are always sharks to be jumped when trying to find a quarterback in a weak quarterback class. That has been the case with Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart. He’s really not that guy, however.
The majority of Dart’s production came early in the season against teams like Furman, Middle Tennessee State, and Georgia Southern. However, during his time in SEC play Dart reverted to the mean. His Weighted On-Target Percentage has dipped each week of SEC play. His play was just about average against his rival Mississippi State.
He’s got above average tools, but Dart is frequently a tick late in an offense that gives him a ton of answers pre-snap. He leaves me internally shouting “what is he thinking!?” when charting some of the throws he decides to make.
Could Dart be selected as a Day 3 player and make his rounds in the NFL as a career backup? Absolutely, but this is not a Day 1 player nor a Day 2 player that NFL teams will covet as a sleeper leader of a franchise.
Quinn Ewers, Texas vs. Texas A&M
Quinn Ewers giveth, Quinn Ewers taketh away.
That has been the song of the season for the Longhorns’ quarterback and was the same song against Texas A&M this past weekend. Ewers came out slinging early, but as the game went along he reverted to much of what we have seen all season.
A pick-six was the Aggies’ only touchdown of the game and Ewers gave the ball away a second time in the redzone. Overall, Ewers went 2-of-3 on deep balls, 2-of-2 outside the numbers, and 4-of-7 over the middle. Like the tune of the rest of the season, Ewers opted for the short game and check-down often.
Overall, with at least two games left in his college career, Ewers has to lowest Weighted On-Target Percentage in the class. The first round discussion surrounding Ewers is far in the past, but it is to be seen just how much of his NFL Draft stock he can salvage.