Week 10 brings a fresh shakeup to the quarterback board, even if the top of it still looks familiar.
Darian Mensah stays planted at No. 1 after another efficient outing for Miami, and CJ Carr and Gunner Stockton hold their spots right behind him. But the middle and bottom of the list got a little more interesting this week, with Keelon Russell climbing, Devon Dampier breaking in, and Lincoln Kienholz making his first appearance of the season.
The injuries around the country are still part of the backdrop, too. Julian Sayin is expected to be out again this week, while Kamario Taylor and Dante Moore are already done for the year. That has only made the healthy quarterbacks on this list stand out more.
Mensah nearly got dragged into an upset against North Carolina, but his own performance wasn’t the issue. He averaged more than 10 yards per attempt again, threw three touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over.
He also spread it around beyond Malachi Toney, completing 15 passes for 199 yards to non-Toney targets. On the season, he’s still sitting on a CPOE of nearly 16%.
Carr remains at No. 2 as Notre Dame heads into a huge matchup with Miami in South Bend. His profile is still strong overall, with a CPOE of nearly 6% and a quarterback who doesn’t invite much chaos.
The one blemish is his deep passing, where he’s been at -1.5% deep CPOE. Even so, he rarely takes sacks or puts the ball in harm’s way with bad interceptions.
Stockton stays at No. 3 despite a rougher showing last week, though Georgia also didn’t need him to do much in its easy win over Florida. He’s still posting a 7.5% CPOE, and his 4.7% sack rate remains only slightly above average.
Russell is the biggest mover near the top, jumping from No. 7 to No. 4 after sitting out last week on bye. The Alabama freshman has put together an 8% CPOE, a 10-yard ADOT, a rushing success rate of 60% and a SEC-leading 9.3 yards per attempt. The concerns are real, though: his sack rate is near 9%, and he has thrown three interceptions in his last two games.
Chambliss slips one spot to No. 5 after another uneven week. Ole Miss rolled Auburn, but Chambliss still threw an interception, giving him eight on the season and six over his last five games. His 1.7% CPOE last week was modest, and he wasn’t pushing the ball much either, with just a 12% deep-throw rate.
Dampier enters the rankings at No. 6 after helping Utah beat Cincinnati with a 260-yard, three-touchdown performance. He also ran for 5 yards per carry in that game.
For the season, he’s at an 8% CPOE, with no glaring weak spot in the profile. His sack rate is below 4%, his rushing success rate is almost 60%, and when he’s throwing it well, Utah becomes a tough team to handle.
Kienholz rounds out the list at No. 7 and does it as a first-time entrant this season. The former Ohio State transfer is steering the nation’s No. 1 offense in yards per play, and he backed that up against Stanford with 250 passing yards, 7 yards per carry on the ground and three total touchdowns.
For the year, he owns a 6% CPOE and a 54% rushing success rate on a heavy workload. Louisville still needs some help to reach the ACC title game, but if the Cardinals get there, they’ll be a dangerous team.
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Got An Ugly Glimpse Of The Oxford Atmosphere
A tense scene unfolded at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium when a pass interference call against Ole Miss sparked a surge of frustration in the stands. Fans responded by throwing trash and bottles onto the field, forcing the game to stop for several minutes while officials and stadium staff tried to get the situation under control and asked the crowd to back off.
For Georgia fans watching from the other side, it was an ugly look at the Oxford atmosphere in a game that already had plenty of edge. The incident quickly spread beyond the stadium, drawing heavy attention and criticism on social media, and it added an unwelcome flashpoint to a matchup that was supposed to be decided on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Georgias Fast Start Turned Oxford Into An Ugly Scene
A tense moment in Oxford spilled beyond the field when a pass interference penalty against Ole Miss sparked a wave of trash thrown by Rebels fans. The scene forced a temporary stoppage of about six minutes, turning an already heated matchup with Georgia into something uglier and more chaotic than anyone inside the stadium wanted to see.
Ole Miss tried to get ahead of the situation by flashing a warning message on the video board, a reminder that the crowds actions could affect the game in more ways than one. In a matchup with plenty of emotion already baked in, the interruption became its own storyline, one that added an uncomfortable edge to a night the Rebels would have preferred to keep focused on football. [Read more 🡒]
SEC Criticism Of Lane Kiffin Just Got Harder For LSU To Ignore
The post-Alabama chatter around Lane Kiffin has only gotten louder, and not in a way that helps settle anything for LSU. Paul Finebaum took aim at Kiffin after the loss, arguing that the coachs rsum still leaves plenty of doubt when the opponent level rises and pointing to a pattern of success against lesser teams without the kind of breakthrough wins that change the conversation.
For LSU, the timing makes the criticism harder to brush aside. The Tigers are 6-3 in Kiffins first season, and the schedule ahead offers little room to hide, with Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas still looming. If Kiffin is going to quiet the questions about whether he can get LSU to the sports highest level, the next stretch feels like the place where that answer has to start taking shape. [Read more 🡒]