Now that we are a few weeks into the 2023 college football season, here’s our updated power rankings of the top 10 college football quarterbacks.
The first four weeks of the 2023 college football season have been pretty amazing, especially considering the revelation that has been Colorado.
Deion Sanders, Travis Hunter, and Sheduer Sanders have taken the college football world by storm. Sanders was in what he called, “Brady Mode” on Saturday night as he engineered a game-winning drive against Colorado State on Saturday night.
In terms of other college football quarterbacks, Caleb Williams didn’t play last week but has been off the charts. Michael Penix has been outstanding and others have been too.
J.J. McCarthy was great through two games but struggled last week, which will drop him out of the top 10 of our college football quarterback rankings for now, but he’s just on the outside. So are Joe Milton of Tennessee, Riley Leonard of Duke, as well as Conner Weigman and Tyler Van Dyke.
It’s a great year for college football quarterbacks and here are our updated power rankings of the top 10 after Week 3 of the college football season.
10. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
Through three weeks of the 2023 college football season, Oklahoma has looked like Oklahoma and twice the Sooners have scored 66 points or more. Dillon Gabriel is a big reason for that. He’s got 11 touchdown passes in three games and is averaging 905 yards per game. He’s also got one touchdown run for good measure.
9. Cameron Ward, Washington State
As if the Pac-12 needed another elite quarterback, Cameron Ward of Washington State has been stellar through three weeks with nine touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Ward is also completing 72.2 percent of his passes and is ranked sixth among all college football quarterbacks with 986 yards passing. The Cougars are also 3-0 and ranked in the top 25 after a win over Wisconsin in Week 2.
8. Jayden Daniels, LSU
Jayden Daniels wasn’t great in the first week of the season against Florida State. He only completed 59.5 percent of his passes despite passing for 345 yards. He also had one touchdown pass in a 45-24 loss.
But since then, Daniels has been on fire. He threw five touchdown passes against Grambling State in Week 2, before passing for 361 yards and two touchdowns against Mississippi State. Even more impressive, Daniels completed 30-of-34 passes. He also has a total of 157 rushing yards and two touchdowns, giving him an average of over 50 yards per game.
7. Bo Nix, Oregon
So far in the 2023 college football season, we have only seen the good Bo Nix for the Oregon Ducks. The competition hasn’t been super strong, outside of a road game against Texas Tech. Hawaii and Portland State aren’t that great, to be honest, however, Nix was stellar in all three games and is completing 77 percent of his passes. He’s averaging just under 300 passing yards per game.
What’s most impressive about Nix is that in the one competitive game this season against Texas Tech, Nix accounted for over 405 total yards. Another test will come this week against Colorado, but after watching the way the Buffs defended Colorado State and TCU, Nix should be licking his chops and will have the chance to steal the spotlight from Shedeur Sanders.
6. Quinn Ewers, Texas
Quinn Ewers would be higher on the list of college football quarterbacks if it wasn’t for a sluggish performance against Wyoming last week. The entire Texas team was a little sluggish and was tied with Wyoming in the fourth quarter before winning by three touchdowns. Ewers completed 11-of-21 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
However, Ewers was special against Alabama. That was the kind of performance you’ve expected to see from the former No. 1 QB recruit. He completed 24-of-38 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns. He’s got eight touchdowns total and zero interceptions.
5. Sam Hartman, Notre Dame
Don’t kill me Notre Dame football fans. Hartman has been spectacular this season and definitely deserves to be ranked among the top five college football quarterbacks so far in the 2023 season. He leads the FBS in touchdown passes with 13 total. He’s also completing 71.1 percent of his passes and is fifth in college football in passing yards (1,062).
Yet, Notre Dame football hasn’t been challenged. You have to give Hartman credit for his 286 yards and four touchdowns against North Carolina State on the road. But he’s only passed for over 300 yards once and does have the advantage (stats-wise) of a fourth game.
Still, we’ll find out if he belongs on Saturday against Ohio State, which will be the first major test for Hartman as the Notre Dame football quarterback.
4. Jordan Travis, Florida State
You can’t judge quarterbacks based solely on the stats and that’s why Jordan Travis is ranked among the top five of our college football quarterback rankings.
In the season-opening game against LSU, Travis completed 74.2 percent of his passes and had four touchdowns, as well as a rushing touchdown in addition to 380 yards of total offense. That’s why people think he’s got first-round pick potential.
In the last two weeks, Travis has thrown four touchdown passes. He was injured against Boston College and still completed 62.5 percent of his throws and two scores.
3. Michael Penix, Washington
Through three weeks of the college football season, Michael Penix has been flawless. He’s thrown for over 400 yards in each game and his worst completion percentage in a game this season is 72.5.
Penix is fifth in passer rating and leads all of college football in passing yards (1,332). He’s also tied for second in touchdown passes (12).
Washington has played Boise State, and Tulsa, and threw for 473 yards and four touchdowns against Michigan State on the road last Saturday.
2. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
It was really tempting to put Shedeur Sanders at No. 1 in our college football quarterback power rankings. He’s been nothing short of spectacular.
The numbers might not be quite as good as Michael Penix, but they are close and Sanders has delivered in the clutch. He led the Buffaloes to a win over 15th-ranked (at the time) TCU on the road, as well as putting up 36 points against a pretty good Nebraska defense.
Sanders saved his best for Colorado State though, putting together a 98-yard drive with less than two minutes to go to tie the game after being down eight. Sanders is second in passing yards in college football with 1,252 yards. He also had 10 touchdown passes and 11 total.
It’s going to be fun to see what he does against Oregon next week. In two weeks, it’s a head-to-head matchup with Caleb Williams, who is still our No. 1.
1. Caleb Williams, USC
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner had a bye week last week. However, he’s done nothing to fall from the top spot among college football quarterbacks.
Williams has accounted for 300 total yards in two of three games and is tied for second in college football with 12 touchdown passes. The USC Trojans have also scored at least 56 points in each of their first three games.
So Williams is still the top college football quarterback after three weeks, but Sanders and Hartman can each make their case this week against Oregon and Ohio State respectively.