Quarterback play is giving the 2026 season a real jolt through four weeks, and the numbers back it up. Fourteen FBS passers are already sitting above a 180 passer efficiency rating, a jump from 10 at this point last season. With CollegeFootballData.com adding more passing metrics, the picture is sharper than ever, and the top of the board is starting to separate.
The biggest mover this week is Darian Mensah, who climbs back to No. 1 after carving up Central Michigan. He needed just 27 attempts to throw for 338 yards and three touchdowns in a blowout, the kind of stat line that barely leaves a wrinkle.
The challenge gets much tougher now, though: Miami goes to Clemson, where the Tigers should be overmatched, but it’s still the toughest road test Mensah has seen so far. That game should tell us plenty about what his next two months may look like.
Trinidad Chambliss slips to No. 2 after Ole Miss was beaten badly in Gainesville. The loss wasn’t on him alone, and there were definitely a few plays he’d want back, but the overall body of work still stands out. Chambliss is sitting at 8% CPOE and remains one of the country’s most dangerous rushing quarterbacks, which he backed up again with two more rushing touchdowns against Florida.
Julian Sayin holds at No. 3 after Ohio State’s offense blew past Illinois in a way that was so thorough it prompted Bret Bielema to part with his defensive coordinator just four games into the season. Sayin was efficient and explosive, averaging more than 10 yards per attempt while throwing four touchdowns, all of them to Jeremiah Smith.
Smith may be the centerpiece, but Devin McCuin, Brandon Inniss and Nate Roberts are also putting up strong efficiency numbers, just on far fewer targets. If pressure doesn’t get home, Sayin is going to beat you.
CJ Carr keeps rising, moving all the way up to No. 4 after a rough Week 1 against Wisconsin gave way to a much sharper stretch. He’s now firmly among the national leaders in CPOE, EPA-per-dropback and passing success rate, and he’s also started attacking downfield more often.
His ADOT against Purdue was north of 12 yards. Next comes North Carolina, whose defense has been mostly competent so far this season compared to what the Tar Heels were in 2025.
Kamario Taylor stays put at No. 5 after guiding Mississippi State to an impressive comeback win at Mizzou. Even with the victory, this was his worst game of the season by EPA-per-play, and he’s taken seven sacks over the last two weeks.
He’s still elite, but the tape is starting to stack up, and that matters. Alabama coming to Starkville is a major test.
Keelon Russell makes his debut at No. 6, and the rise is impossible to miss. In just a few games as a starter, he’s already producing like one of the sport’s best quarterbacks.
He’ll enter Week 5 ranked fifth nationally in EPA-per-dropback, and everyone ahead of him has multiple seasons under center. The deep ball is the real warning sign for opponents: against P4 teams this year, Russell has a deep-ball CPOE above 28%, and no other quarterback with at least 80 dropbacks is over 20% on deep passes.
Gunner Stockton rounds out the top seven after sliding from No. 4.
His outing against Oklahoma was solid enough, but not enough to keep him in the same spot. Georgia didn’t ask him to do much, with John Mateer effectively gifting the Bulldogs free points, but Stockton’s overall resume has dipped a bit compared with the quarterbacks around him.
He’s hanging onto the edge of the list heading into Week 5.
Just outside the seven, Josh Hoover was the first name off the board. He’s still top-five nationally in EPA-per-dropback, but much of that production has come against weaker opposition. Indiana’s win over Northwestern in Week 4 was more about the run game than Hoover.
Aiden Chiles is another quarterback worth watching in the Big Ten. Northwestern nearly pulled off the upset against Indiana on Friday night, and Chiles continues to flash when he gets a clean pocket. Among P4 qualifiers, he ranks eighth nationally in EPA per dropback.
Jayden Maiava falls out of the top seven for the first time this season after USC’s disappointing loss to Oregon. He remains the front man for a talented, very young offense, but the group around him is crowded now. Maiava wasn’t the main issue against Oregon, though he didn’t help matters either, posting a -4.5% CPOE and falling well short of his usual EPA-per-dropback level.
Aaron Philo also deserves mention after Florida’s win over Ole Miss, even if the running backs grabbed most of the attention with 100-yard games. Philo hasn’t gotten enough credit for how well he’s played.
Jon Sumrall and Buster Faulkner took a swing in Year 1 with a quarterback who was completely unproven, and so far that bet looks smart. Philo has posted above-average EPA and success rate numbers in all four games this season.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Faces A Huge Identity Shift After Nearly 30 Years
Ole Miss is preparing for a major brand change, with the school finalizing an agreement to move its official apparel partnership from Nike to Adidas beginning in June 2027, when its current contract expires. The reported deal, secured by Chancellor Glenn Boyce and Athletics Director Keith Carter, would close the book on a long run with Nike and put the Rebels into a new look as the next apparel cycle approaches.
Neither Ole Miss nor Adidas has officially announced the switch, and the financial terms are still undisclosed, but the move fits into the broader tug-of-war between the two brands for power-program visibility. Adidas had recently lost Miami back to Nike, so landing Ole Miss would give it a notable win in the ongoing competition for major college partners. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Exposed A Bigger Defensive Concern Than Missed Tackles
Will Echoles said the issues that showed up in Ole Miss loss to Florida went beyond missed tackles and into the kind of mental lapses that can unravel a defense in a hurry. The defensive tackle pointed to mistakes in execution and a tendency to chase perfection instead of staying locked into the basics, which helps explain why the Rebels left that game needing more than a simple cleanup job.
Pete Golding has since shifted the practice emphasis back to fundamentals, with the staff pressing the unit to fight through blocks and finish plays with better discipline. Ole Miss now heads into its matchup with Vanderbilt looking for a cleaner standard in tackling and pursuit, and the real question is whether those corrections show up fast enough to steady a defense that knows it has more fixing to do. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss May Need Fresh Faces To Fix Two Growing Problems
The Florida game left Ole Miss with a familiar split-screen feel: enough offensive firepower to see the upside, but enough defensive inconsistency to keep the bigger questions alive. As the Rebels head into a bye week, the conversation turns less to one result and more to how this team can smooth out the rough edges before SEC play tightens the margins even further.
Fresh faces may be part of that answer. Freshman receiver Cunningham has flashed the kind of potential that can widen the passing game, while former five-star talents Cook and Barney still loom as players who could change the ceiling if they start producing more consistently. Joshua Dye and pass rusher Barnes are also names to watch, because Ole Miss needs help in both the run game and up front on defense, and this break offers a chance for those pieces to emerge. [Read more 🡒]