Todd McShay didn’t waste time easing into Josh Pate’s preseason Big Ten quarterback rankings. He went straight at the biggest gap on the list: UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava at No. 10 and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood at No. 5.
“With all due respect, Nico at 10 with Bryce at five is bordering on criminal,” McShay wrote. “But to each their own. And FYI, I'm out west, so this isn't some weird 1:42 a.m. post.”
Pate didn’t fire back with the same edge, but he did make his logic clear. McShay was looking at what the quarterbacks have already shown. Pate was betting on what he expects to see in 2026.
“Based on resume thus far, true,” Pate replied. “This is what I expect this year. As we all know, there's no crime in expectation.”
That split explains the whole argument. Pate’s list put Ohio State’s Julian Sayin first, Oregon’s Dante Moore second and USC’s Jayden Maiava third. After that, the rankings get murkier, and the next group - Indiana’s Josh Hoover, Underwood, Penn State’s Rocco Becht and Washington’s Demond Williams - can be arranged a lot of different ways.
The real flashpoint is Iamaleava and Underwood, because the two quarterbacks are being judged on very different timelines. Pate is treating Underwood like a breakout candidate after a freshman year that showed both the promise and the rough edges. McShay, with his scouting background, appears to value the more proven body of work.
Iamaleava’s spot is impossible to separate from what happened after the 2024 season. He helped Tennessee go 10-3 and reach the College Football Playoff, throwing for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns. Then came his breakup with the Vols amid reported NIL negotiations.
Iamaleava later said going back home to California was the real reason and called the other accounts “false reports.”
His move to UCLA didn’t produce a clean reset. The Bruins started 0-3, fired coach DeShaun Foster and finished 3-9.
In 11 games, Iamaleava threw for 1,928 yards with 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. He also completed 64.4% of his passes, led UCLA with 505 rushing yards and four rushing scores, and was responsible for five touchdowns in a 42-37 upset of No.
7 Penn State.
That game, more than anything, showed why the upside still matters.
UCLA has since turned to Bob Chesney, who was hired away from James Madison this offseason, and Derek Carr has joined the staff as a special advisor. Carr, a former NFL quarterback, also grew up in California, like the 21-year-old quarterback he’ll be helping.
Underwood’s case is built on a different kind of promise. The true freshman started all 13 games for Michigan, threw for 2,428 yards and added 392 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He finished with 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, a stat line that makes the growing pains obvious, but simply handling that kind of workload at Michigan meant something.
There’s plenty of overlap between Underwood and Iamaleava. Both have big arms.
Both can hurt defenses with their legs. Both carry more upside than a lot of quarterbacks in the lower half of the Big Ten.
McShay’s issue was that Pate’s ranking seemed too harsh on Iamaleava and too generous to Underwood. Pate’s view was that the ranking is about who is more likely to deliver in 2026, not who has already built the better résumé. Under that lens, Underwood can be the better bet right now while Iamaleava still has the higher ceiling.
That’s where the two sides land: Underwood may be the stronger 2026 pick, but Iamaleava still has the kind of talent that could push him past him anyway, even if UCLA ends up with the lesser team.
In Other News...
Oregon States Frontcourt Plans May Depend On One Familiar Return
Oregon States frontcourt picture could get a little clearer, or a lot more complicated, depending on how one familiar name handles a new bit of eligibility news. The Colorado district court injunction affecting athletes who started in 2022 has opened the door for former Beaver forward Jorge Diaz Graham to return for a fifth season, and coach Justin Joyner is still exploring what that might mean for the roster.
Diaz Graham spent the summer with the Dallas Mavericks in NBA Summer League after going undrafted, so his next move could shape more than just the Beavers depth chart. If he comes back, he would be one of only two returning players from last season, which would give Oregon State a steadier foundation in the frontcourt while Joyner continues piecing together the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Fans May Need A New Definition Of Success
JaMarcus Shephard has spent the opening stretch of his Oregon State tenure setting a clear tone: the Beavers are going to run into adversity, and pretending otherwise would do nobody any favors. Coming off a recent stretch that has left the program searching for footing, the new head coach is already trying to reset the conversation around what progress looks like, especially with the college football world shifting underneath smaller programs that have to fight for every advantage.
The messaging is noticeably different from the one that came before it under Trent Bray, and that matters because Oregon States path forward is about more than just wins and losses in the usual sense. The Beavers are trying to compete in an environment where financial muscle and athletic resources shape nearly everything, which means fans may have to adjust their expectations while Shephard tries to build something sturdier than a quick bounce-back. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Freshmen Could Be Caught In A Pac-12 Debate
JaMarcus Shephard is hoping the Pac-12 takes a fresh look at how many players teams are allowed to bring on the road for league games, especially after the Big Ten raised its travel roster limit from 74 to 80. The conference is still operating with the lower number, but coaches and administrators have begun discussing whether that should change as rosters get more complicated and the margin for error gets tighter.
For Oregon State, the issue lands in a very real way. The Beavers have 16 true freshmen on the roster, along with other players affected by the NCAAs new age-based eligibility model that removes redshirts from the equation. If the Pac-12 does adjust, it could shape how Oregon State manages its youngest players and how much depth it can realistically take into conference games. [Read more 🡒]