*Stats through 11/14
10. Drew Lock, Mizzou (-0.25 WAR)
WHAT??? THE NEW SEC SINGLE-SEASON KING IN PASSING TDS IS BELOW AVERAGE? Yup. A surprise to start off the list, as electric as Drew Lock has been, he just beats up on some bad teams. For starters, the only games against bowl eligible teams Mizzou played all year were Purdue, South Carolina, Auburn and Georgia, all of which they lost. In those four games, Lock averaged 211.75 yards per game and had a TD-INT ratio of 7-6, hardly a world-beater. While Lock has an impressive arm and can stuff the stat sheet against bad teams, he needs to perform better against actual competition.
9. Austin Allen, Arkansas (0.10 WAR)
Despite only playing five games that were accounted for in this metric, Austin Allen played like a pretty fine quarterback. In these starts, Allen was 1-4 with the only win against New Mexico State. Thinking this might be the year that Arkansas got it going, it was not to be. With a pretty average quarterback who then was injured, the Razorbacks couldn’t rebound.
8. Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt (0.34 WAR)
Not a surprise at this point in the list, Shurmur is also the definition of an average quarterback. The veteran can play fine and keep you in games, but chances are, he’s not gonna win it on his own. There were three games were Shurmur threw for 290+ yards: Middle Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Despite Vandy not winning an SEC game, Shurmur is fine and did pretty much what was asked of him.
7. Jake Fromm, Georgia (0.49 WAR)
Speaking of not asking for much, Jake Fromm is not exactly the most integral part of the Georgia offense. On only four occasions this year had Fromm been asked to throw more than 20 times, and only one of those times did he go over 200 yards, and that was against Mizzou’s dreadful defense. The Bulldogs build their game around the run and so Fromm doesn’t put up huge numbers, but in the future, when he is relied upon more, he definitely has the capabilities.
6. Feleipe Franks, Florida (0.51 WAR)
Kind of along the lines of Fromm, Franks just doesn’t do a whole lot. The Florida offense was very poorly designed this season and Franks was one of the victims. He may have the talent to be a much better quarterback with a better offensive design and without the threat of being benched for Luke Del Rio and Malik Zaire.
5. Jake Bentley, South Carolina (0.68 WAR)
You’ve probably heard it a ton this year, but “Jake Bentley should be a high schooler” or something to that avail has been thrown around about 5,000+ times. In his first year as an SEC starter though, he played pretty pretty good. Even when the years weren’t there, Bentley was able to not commit a turnover in five different games and was very efficient, going over 60% completion in seven of the ten games. The Gamecocks seem to have their future leader as the Muschamp offense looks to improve in the future.
4. Stephen Johnson, Kentucky (1.39 WAR)
Owner of the most basic name in the SEC, Stephen Johnson was somewhat effective this season. While being fourth in the SEC seems like a big accomplishment, SEC quarterback play is pretty bad. Johnson has added about a win and a half to what Kentucky would’ve been without him this year, and that’s not bad. His best game was his 17-25 performance with 196 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover; he’s nothing if not efficient.
3. Danny Etling, LSU (1.70 WAR)
Flying under the radar, Danny Etling was actually above average this year, which likely would not have been the case last year. What is super surprising about this was Etling never went over 217 passing yards all year, but once again, the SEC is based around the run game and Etling does what he needs to. After his ninth game, Etling had only two interceptions all season and ten touchdowns. That kind of ratio will get you pretty far among SEC QBs.
2. Jalen Hurts, Alabama (1.78 WAR)
If this model were to account for running stats, Hurts may have a chance at number one, however, he’ll have to settle behind Auburn once again. Alabama QBs gonna be Alabama QBs. While these stats do not count the Iron Bowl, I think that Hurts would likely be in the same spot. I was pretty out on Hurts last year due to his accuracy issues, but I have come around on him a little bit. Hurts’ only turnover in the first ten games of the season was a meaningless one against Arkansas. He just kind of does his thing and gets the job done.
1. Jarrett Stidham, Auburn (2.26 WAR)
Stidham has been sooooo much better than every other QB in the conference. Coming over from the Big 12, maybe we now know whether the difference really is bad SEC QBs compared to bad Big 12 defenses. Stidham has taken the conference by storm this year.. and this doesn’t even include the Bama game! His two most impressive games of the season were his 13-16, 264 yards and two touchdowns against Mississippi State and his 20-27 for 268 yards and three touchdowns against Texas A&M. Stidham did not get picked off in SEC play and his only slip-up all year was in week one against Georgia Southern in his first game at Auburn. Stidham passes every test as the best QB in the SEC and will lead his Tigers into the conference championship game this weekend.