Stock Up & Stock Down: 10 College football QBs with big Week 1 games

Here are ten quarterbacks whom have stocks rising and falling like Walmart prices after a crazy opening weekend of college football.

More: Sunday Morning Quarterback: Alabama vs. FSU was a meaningless game

After a week of football, stocks are up and down for quarterbacks across the country. We’ve seen FBS teams struggle against FCS opponents, and quarterbacks struggle in showcase match-ups too

Some first-year starters looked good and some grad transfers folded. Here are 10 guys that were impacted one way or another by their performances this weekend.

Stock Rising: Malik Rosier

Malik Rosier was on my list of reasons not to leave your couch on Saturday and I stick to my guns with that decision. Rosier threw for 217 yards with a 60 percent completion percentage and 3 touchdowns. More importantly he didn’t turn the ball over and allowed no sacks. A stark difference between having to max protect Brad Kaaya against everyone Miami played and Rosier not needing the added protection.

Rosier then added 41 yards on the ground as well in a 41-13 win over Bethune Cookman. He opened the game with a beautiful inside zone read pull and trotted 23 yards for a first down. That alone will keep opposing defenses honest and take a six man box down to five as they worry about the quarterback running.

Stock Falling: Feleipe Franks and Malik Zaire

Felipe Franks failed to lead the Florida Gators offense to a touchdown scoring drive. Unforuntately it was only a field goal. Florida lost 33-17, but 14 of those points came on defensive touchdowns.

Gator defensive coordinator Randy Shannon has to be frustrated as his defense did a great job of sending Wilton Speight to the bench, and John O’Korn to the bench, too. No matter how strong the Gator defense looked there was no growth from the offense. Now, take into consideration that Antonio Callaway and Jordan Scarlett were both suspended. That’s the firepower Franks and Zaire were expecting in their debut and it was left to back-ups at running back and wide receiver.

Related Story: The Gators shouldn't quit on Franks yet

Franks will be fine when everyone returns from suspension as Malik Zaire has proven it’s not his job and he will be a viable back-up to Franks in a bad situation. Zaire threw for just over 100 yards and fumbled in the end zone for a Michigan touchdown. Both passers were sacked or hurried far too often to get a real offense going. Jim McElwain needs to get the offense going when there’s no excuses or his seat will be mighty hot down in Gainesville.

Stock Rising: Kelly Bryant

Clemson fans were grumbling about Dabo Swinney‘s choice of Bryant over Hunter Johnson. Johnson is the freshman early-enrollee quarterback with the hype machine behind him. Everyone loves the new freshman but Bryant quieted the Tiger faithful somewhat on Saturday.

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Bryant went 16 of 22 passing for 236 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 77 yards and another score, too. Bryant, a junior, put Clemson on his back against Kent State Saturday in a 56-3 victory. Kent State is in the bottom 10 of the FBS according to the S&P+ but they’re not as bad as a mid-level FCS program.

Those are positive stats for a first-time starter working to keep the wheels rolling after a national championship. He does have Hunter Renfrow and Deon Cain to work with and Clemson has been reloading, obviously, having been in the title game in consecutive years and starting 2017 at No. 5.

Stock Falling: Josh Allen

Heading into week 1, Wyoming Quarterback Josh Allen was seen as the next Carson Wentz. Both are small school passers from a small town; Bismark, ND for Wentz and a farm in Firebaugh, CA for Allen. Allen spent 2016 throwing for 3,200+ yards and 28 touchdowns..The 6-foot-5, 240 pounder was expected to have that early first round type of season. Instead, Allen and Wyoming were shut down, held to only a second quarter field goal by Iowa.

Related Story: Josh Allen's rough outing should hurt draft stock

The Hawkeyes definitely play their brand of football. They held the ball, relied on time of possession and defense and kept the ball away from stars like Allen. That formula was good enough to hold him to 23 of 40 passing for 174 yards and two interceptions in the opener. Insult to injury, Wyoming was 5-of-18 on third down conversions and sacked Allen three times. NFL future top 10’s don’t have bad games like this against average teams.

Stock Rising: Zach Abey

Navy Quarterback Zach Abey took over as the leader of the triple option after a spring month that left much to be desired by Coach Ken Niumatalolo. Coach Ken wanted more consistency and a stronger knowledge of the reads required to run the option.

Abey took over as Navy starter after Will Worth went down late in the season. He started against Army for his first start, and then in a bowl game as his second. That’s a lot of pressure on a young man learning the game. He was a third stringer until Tago Smith blew his knee out in week one.

Related Story: Kiffin's debut a dud vs Navy

Abey put a smile on Coach Ken’s face on Friday night, breaking an American Conference quarterback rushing record and dominating the FAU Owls. Navy rolled to a 42-19 win and Abey ran for 235 yards and two scores adding another touchdown through the air.

For a guy that was a question mark heading into the season as the starter he came out of week one with the clear role as the starting quarterback.

Stock Falling: Brandon Harris

Brandon Harris, the grad transfer from LSU, came to UNC to become the starter. With Mitch Trubisky in the NFL playing for the Chicago Bears it seemed all but his job to lose. Against the Cal Bears he lost it.

Harris was a measly 7-of-16 for 60 yards and two interceptions before being pulled for freshman Chazz Surratt who finished 18-for-28 for 161 yards and an interception.

Harris showed why he couldn’t hack it in Baton Rouge and had to get out of LSU. He was replaced by little-known Danny Etling, a Purdue transfer. That’s usually a sign of what’s to come for a quarterback when you’re beaten out by Purdue’s leftovers.

Harris could and should be relegated to back-up duty like other grad transfer Zaire. Coach Fedora has to figure out his situation quickly because UNC hosts the Louisville Cardinals next Saturday.

Stock Rising: Brandon Wimbush

Brandon Wimbush showed that patience really is a virtue, not just a Guns N’ Roses song. Wimbush waited out Malik Zaire (grad transfer: Florida) and Deshone Kizer (NFL) to become the clear-cut Fighting Irish starter.

Notre Dame started off 2016 with a loss to Texas in the opener, and losses to Michigan State and Duke in games three and four. That’s three losses in four games to teams that didn’t make a bowl game.

If the Irish struggled against Temple, you could only imagine Kelly’s seat getting hotter and his face getting redder. But Wimbush led the Irish to a 49-16 win over the Owls. Wimbush finished 17 of 30 passing for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw an interception, but offset that with him running for 106 yards and another touchdown.

Wimbush proved he’s the man moving forward for the Irish and that’s really important for Brian Kelly’s future in South bend.

Push: Wilton Speight

Speight fits the Denny Green infamous quote, “Exactly what we thought they were!” kept in circulation by the Coors Light commercials. No one should expect Speight to carry a team on his own. He needs a solid offensive line, a running game that can keep him in third and short and receivers that can get open because he’s rarely fitting a ball into a tight spot.

The Michigan starter came out like a player that couldn’t be pulled. He threw back to back interceptions returned for touchdowns before being yanked by Jim Harbaugh for John O’Korn. Speight then came back in and performed like a guy that needed to earn his job.

Speight and the Wolverines finished the game with 20 unanswered points for a 33-17 victory. Michigan started to max protect helping both Speight and the new offensive line against Florida’s speedy front seven. This allowed him time to throw and he began making some tougher throws including a deep fade over two defenders.

Stock Rising: Jalen Hurts

Sure the stats aren’t eye-popping, but Jalen Hurts got the job done against a Florida State defense that has “Top 4” written all over it. The Tide smothered the Seminoles 24-7.

Hurts has had three offensive coordinators entering into his sophomore season, all three wanting different terminology and different means to an end from the elusive quarterback. Hurts delivered the win. That’s the primary objective of every passer, make sure his or her team wins the game.

Hurts finished 10 of 18 for 95 yards and a touchdown. The key stat is that he didn’t turn the ball over against the FSU pass rush and all-world hybrid player Derwin James. Jalen added 55 yards rushing and let Damien Harris and Bo Scarborough combine for over 100 yards and a touchdown in the win. For the Bama crazies that wanted a freshman quarterback to beat out Hurts think again, as long as he beats a top three team convincingly like this he isn’t going anywhere.

Stock Falling: Deondre Francois

Hurts’ opposition on Saturday did not fare as well. Francois While Hurts effectively managed the game and avoided turnovers, Francois did the opposite. He’s is a good quarterback, and I’m behind his hype machine 100%. But he finished 19 of 33 passing with two interceptions to only one touchdown.

Francois was sacked three times. Those came as a result of a mixture of holding the ball too long, taking too many hits and vulnerable protection schemes. He took 34 sacks last year, and that doesn’t bode well for whomever is behind center for FSU for the remainder of the season.

Francois finished with nine rushing attempts for a loss of nine yards, including those three sacks. This shows a quarterback less able to run and pick up those necessary first downs. He could do from that quarterback sweep singlewing play FSU used so well in 2016.

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Hopefully Jimbo Fisher and Offensive Line Coach Rick Trickett can figure out how to keep him from being battered around for another season. He’s a tough kid and his knee injury is currently inconclusive, but true freshman James Blackman will get major reps going forward  if last night was any indicator.