Ranking The Big Ten Quarterbacks Top To Bottom Heading Into Week Five

By HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation


There has been much debate so far this season as to which QB is the best in the Big Ten.

Is it Big Ten preseason POY Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State?

Or could it be true freshmen Tate Forcier from Michigan?

Or veteran Daryll Clark from Penn State?

How about less-heralded guys like Adam Weber from Minnesota, Ricky Stanzi from Iowa, Mike Kafka from Northwestern, or Ben Chappell from Indiana?

I'm going to rank them 1-11, using two different methods.

Method No. 1—Statistically
(ranked 1-11 by stats/QB Rating)

1. Scott Tolzien—Wisconsin

67% pass completion, 884 pass yards, 8 pass TD, 2 INT, 164 QB Rating


2. Tate Forcier—Michigan

62% pass completion, 671 pass yards, 127 rush yards, 7 pass TD, 2 rush TD, 2 INT, 149 QB Rating


3. Kirk Cousins—Michigan State

61% pass completion, 850 pass yards, 7 pass TD, 2 INT, 148 QB Rating


4. Mike Kafka—Northwestern

72% pass completion, 1049 pass yards, 5 pass TD, 1 rush TD, 3 INT, 146 QB Rating


5. Daryll Clark—Penn State

60% pass completion, 958 pass yards, 9 pass TD, 6 INT, 136 QB Rating


6. Terrelle Pryor—Ohio State

58% pass completion, 695 pass yards, 235 rush yards, 5 pass TD, 2 rush TD, 4 INT, 134 QB Rating


7. Joey Elliot—Purdue

60% pass completion, 963 pass yards, 74 rush yards, 7 pass TD, 2 rush TD, 2 INT, 127 QB Rating


8. Ben Chappell—Indiana

65% pass completion, 944 pass yards, 3 pass TD, 1 rush TD, 4 INT, 127 QB Rating


9. Adam Weber—Minnesota

58% pass completion, 879 pass yards, 5 pass TD, 5 INT, 120 QB Rating


10. Ricky Stanzi—Iowa

56% pass completion, 779 pass yards, 5 pass TD, 5 INT, 113 QB Rating


11. Juice Williams—Illinois

59% pass completion, 256 pass yards, 94 rush yards, 0 pass TD, 0 rush TD, 3 INT, 88 QB Rating


Statistics can be misleading however, especially given the level of competition some of these QB's have faced, so here's my other (possibly more reliable) angle.

Method No. 2—Realistically
(based on stats and my personal s.o.s. per team through week four)

1. Kirk Cousins

2. Terrelle Pryor

3. Daryll Clark

4. Joey Elliot

5. Tate Forcier

6. Mike Kafka

7. Adam Weber

8. Scott Tolzien

9. Ricky Stanzi

10. Ben Chappell

11. Juice Williams


I won't claim that these "realistically" rankings are perfect, as much as they are subjective, but if I had these 11 quarterbacks to choose from to start my own team, this is the order I'd pick them in, as of right now.

Ultimately, these rankings are very fluid. A week or two from now, they could be drastically different, or they could be unchanged. Feel free to post your own thoughts.


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Ohio State-Indiana Week Five Preview: Free History Lesson Included

Final Score of the game was Ohio State 33, Indiana 14.

OSU missed two FG's, and IU scored a touchdown on the last play of the game after calling a timeout with seconds left, so it realistically should have been 39-7.

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By HD Handshoe
Founder—BlockONation


In the words of Eminem's song Slim Shady, "Will the real Indiana (and Michigan for that matter) please stand up?

The untested Michigan Wolverines are now 4-0 while the surprising Indiana Hoosiers are 3-1, their only loss coming to the Wolverines, but more on that in a bit.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are 3-1, and probably should be 4-0, but we won't dwell on the past mistakes that led to the loss against USC, but rather, we will look ahead.

Ohio State won easily vs. Illinois as I predicted. I specifically said I was not expecting another shutout, but definitely a win. My prediction was 38-13. The actual final score was 30-0.

Meh, close enough.

This Buckeye "D" is much better than I imagined, and I already thought they were very good.

This week, Ohio State will play their first true road game of the season (the Toledo Rockets were the home team in Cleveland two weeks ago) as they will travel to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Hoosiers.

Last week, Indiana nearly pulled out a win vs. Michigan in the Big House.

Unfortunately for them, the officials gave the game away on a terrible call when there clearly appeared to be a simultaneous catch and possession by an IU receiver and a UM defensive back, but the officials ruled it an interception.

After a home cooked booth review, the call was upheld (how convenient) and UM escaped with a shady 36-33 "win".

IU coach Bill Lynch was livid, and rightfully so.



While I don't mean to totally disrespect Indiana, they really aren't a good football program (their three wins were all pretty close over FCS or small FBS foes Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan, and Akron), the closeness of this game shows me the Wolverines are vastly overrated, and that Ohio State "should" win over IU by a minimum of three to four scores this week.

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10/03/2009—Game Five—7PM
TV: Big Ten Network

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Here is the recent and all-time history between OSU and IU.

• Ohio State leads the all-time head-to-head series (65-12-5)

• Ohio State is 17-2-1 vs. IU last 20 meetings (dating back to 1985).

• Last Ohio State loss at IU was in 1988 by a score of 41-7 (That year, IU was 8-3-1 and OSU was 4-6-1).

• Since 1991, Ohio State is 16-0 vs. IU.

• Tressel is 6-0 vs. IU, outscoring them 222-57, or an average game score of 37-10.

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A third straight shutout win could become a reality, but either way, I fully expect the Buckeyes to win, and win big.

Maybe Indiana will prove me wrong.

Maybe they are far better than I believe they are, and they actually keep it close against the Bucks—Or even pull off the huge upset win...?

NAH...I'm not a crackhead.

Final score prediction:

Ohio State 44
Indiana 16


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