Ranking Big Ten QBs via PFF grade through Week 4 college football

Some teams in the Big Ten are offensive-minded, such as Maryland and Ohio State. Michigan football is becoming increasingly offensive-minded, but is still, in many ways, a defensive team. Other teams are all defense, with essentially no offense, such as Iowa and Rutgers. Other teams, like Northwestern, are bad at both.

Now we have four weeks of data and established starters with most teams moving into conference play. PFF has graded the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten through Week 4, and while there will certainly continue to be more movement as the competition grows thicker, certain passers are establishing themselves among the conference’s best.

Here is how they’ve graded out according to PFF and how they rank against each other.

14
Ryan Hilinski – Northwestern

Photo: Isaiah Hole

PFF Grade: 55.3

Context

It’s all gone downhill from Week 0 for Ryan Hilinski. While he has the most yards thrown of any Big Ten quarterback (1,223), he is averaging just 6.5 yards per attempt and has five touchdowns and three interceptions.

13
Spencer Petras – Iowa

Photo: Isaiah Hole

PFF Grade: 57.7

Context

Petras rose from being the worst quarterback in the conference to the second-worst. He has the lowest completion percentage (50.5%), lowest yards per attempt (5.5), least amount of passing yards for a Big Ten starter (524), the least amount of passing touchdowns (1), and two interceptions.

The Iowa offense is still abysmal, and Petras has continued to regress from his previous years of play.

12
Evan Simon – Rutgers

Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

PFF Grade: 62.3

Context

The good news in Week 4 is that Simon threw for 300 yards against Iowa. The bad news is that turnovers marred what could have been a stellar performance. Simon is completing 61.8% of his passes and has three touchdowns to two…