DISCLAIMER: I DID NOT CREATE THIS, I DESERVE LITTLE TO ABSOLUTELY ZERO CREDIT FOR THIS. I SAW IT. I LINKED IT.
Now,
That is a spreadsheet that u/MrRager1994 put together and posted on Reddit, it's extremely thorough and kinda neat to pick apart. You can toggle between stats against Top 25, Top 10, and Top 5 competition. There are a couple of surprising conclusions to be drawn, some conclusions aren't so surprising.
My observations
- Braxton Miller had the highest QBR against top 25 opponents, Troy Smith had the highest rating against top 10, but JT Barrett had the highest QBR against top 5 competition.
- None of our last four quarterbacks averaged more than 200 yards passing against the top 25
- JT Barrett had the highest completion pct against top 25, top 10, and top 5
- For all of the great moments that Terrelle Pryor gave us, statistically he was awful to say the least against all ranked opponents
- Looking at this it's relatively easy to say that had Troy Smith simply not played against Florida in his last game, he would have had the highest statistical averages for a season of any of these four and most likely of any OSU QB ever.
- JT has by far the highest win total and winning pct. against ranked opposition.
So yeah, I know we've all seen this movie before. And let loose the cyclical argument that progresses along the lines of: JT sucks -> but records -> but lack of elite passing skills -> but lack of development of Zone6 -> but leadership -> but no National Championship -> but records.
For the record, I would have liked to have seen Cardale included in this sheet, but I think we all know that would have just been a small sample outlier. No QB will ever sustain the success that he experienced for 3 games against the toughest competition in the country.
All of that being said, I would finally like to apologize to the Mod Gods for starting yet another "JT Legacy" thread. I am a bad person, and I feel bad about myself.