Wallace tops Mariota, Winston and Marshall with week 2 performance

Bo Wallace throwing the ball against Vandy. (Photo credit: Bentley Breland)

What do Oregon QB Marcus Mariota, Oklahoma QB Trevor Knight, Florida State QB Jameis Winston, and Auburn QB Nick Marshall all have in common? The answer may surprise you.

They all finished behind Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace in ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) of FBS (Div. 1-A) quarterbacks for Week 2. (Click here for the complete Total QBR rankings for Week 2.)

Though Wallace spent the last week under fire for his first-half performance in the Boise State game, he answered those critics with an outstanding game against the Commodores. (Click here for stats.) And as a result, if you look at the numbers for the past week, you see Bo ahead of Mariota, Winston, Marshall…..and Dak Prescott of Mississippi State. (Prescott’s week 2 performance earned him a spot at No. 44.)

What is the Total QBR System?

While many have heard about the ratings used to measure quarterbacks, they may not realize the metrics changed in 2013 to better represent who the top signal callers are. This new system is called the Total QBR or QBR.

The scale of QBR is from zero to 100, where 50 is considered average. Unlike the NCAA Passer Efficiency, which uses only box score statistics, Total QBR factors in what a quarterback does on a play-by-play level, meaning this system accounts for things such as down, distance, field position, as well as the clock and score.

The ESPN Total QBR website explains the intricacies of the system this way: “A 4-yard gain on third-and-3 is a good play, whereas a 4-yard gain on third-and-13 isn’t. A 20-yard touchdown pass when his team is tied in the second quarter means more than a 20-yard touchdown pass when a quarterback is down 30 points late in the fourth quarter. The Total QBR accounts for those things using analysis that turn traditional productivity into points on the scoreboard and wins in the standings.”

Further, the Total QBR also accounts for a quarterback’s ability to scramble, his ability to run on designed rush plays and, how well he avoids sacks. It also looks at how the quarterback performs with respect to both drawing and committing penalties, as well as considers the all-important fumbles.

Another important aspect of the Total QRB is that it offers two sets of numbers: one that adjusts for defenses faced – often called Opponent-Adjusted QBR or Adjusted QBR – and one that doesn’t adjust for defense, often called Raw QBR or Unadjusted QBR.

Who are the top 10 quarterbacks for Week 2?

So how did Wallace stack up against the other top quarterbacks last week? The rankings of the top ten for Week 2 are as follows:

1. Anthony Jennings, LSU98.7
2. Seth Russell, Baylor98.3
3. Gary Nova, Rutgers94.5
4. Kenny Hill, A&M92.6
5. Jared Goff, Cal90.0
6. Bo Wallace, Ole Miss89.5
7. Marcus Mariota, Oregon88.0
8. Everett Golson, Notre Dame88.0
9. Trevor Knight, Oklahoma87.2
10. Taysom Hill, BYU84.5

Wallace’s performance against Vanderbilt has him keeping company with some of the nation’s elite quarterbacks.

Overall QBR for the season: Wallace is on the move

It can’t be easy to put a three-interception outing behind you, but that is exactly what Wallace did following the Boise State game.

After that first game of the season, Bo was sitting at No. 66 overall with a rating of 54.7. (MSU’s Prescott, by comparison, was ranked No. 79 with an adjusted QBR of 42.2–even though his team spanked Southern Mississippi 49-0.)

However, following Wallace’s impressive performance against Vandy, he has jumped 35 spots to No. 31 in the overall Season QBR with an adjusted QBR of 72.2. With a few more top-10 outings, his national ranking should continue to climb.

(For those of you scoring at home, Prescott’s overall Season QBR is 57.0, which places him at No. 64 in the nation for quarterbacks.)

Monday morning quarterbacking–by the quarterback

At Ole Miss’ weekly press conference held Monday, Bo was asked whether his game was as clean as he thought after having watched the game film. He answered:

“It was in the passing game. In the run game, there was one in the red zone that if I wanted to score, I could have if I would have just pulled it.  That’s somewhere we have to get touchdowns, not just points.”

What a difference a week makes

From the first offensive series against Vandy, Wallace set the tone for the Rebels by looking every bit like the experienced quarterback he is. In its initial drive, Ole Miss marched down the field and scored, with Wallace completing 5 of 6 passes. Though Wallace left the game in the third quarter so his backups could get some work in, he did so with several noteworthy accomplishments on the day:

• Finished 23-30 for 320 yards, a 77% completion rate, with one touchdown and zero interceptions
• Only one passing touchdown shy of Jevan Snead (46) for second place on the Rebels’ all-time list
• Eclipsed 300 yards in both games this year and nine times in his career, one shy of Eli Manning’s school record of 10
• Tied Kent Austin for second place in school history with 566 career pass completions

He also left the game with a significantly higher Total QBR than when he started.

It’s a true credit to the Pulaski, Tennessee native that he was able to put the naysayers and detractors behind him and concentrate on leading his Rebels in their quest for an SEC West title.

Check beck next week as we watch Bo Wallace move up the Total QBR chart!