Quarterback injuries have been a big story for a couple of weeks, but we’ve got even more of them to worry about this week. Players like NC State’s Devin Leary and Kansas’s Jalon Daniels mean a lot to the line and coaches in college football don’t have to be as forthcoming with injury information as the guys in the pros. As a result, we’ve had some surprise starters and a lot of uncertainty with the lines.
A lot of bad teams have been changing their quarterbacks as well in hopes of sparking some kind of turnaround. You never really know how a backup is going to perform. San Diego State only scored 16 points against the lowly Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, but the Aztecs have a new leading passer in Jalen Mayden. He’s played one game and has half of the pass attempts of Braxton Burmeister, but has outgained him through the air by 59 yards. That’s just one example from this past week.
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In the era of college football free agency and the transfer portal, there are more moving parts than ever before. It was reported last week that multiple SMU players were going to sit out and preserve a year of eligibility by redshirting. I’ve also heard about the same thing happening at Colorado. Players at other schools will be doing this as well. It may be harder than ever before to handicap college football, especially by doing power ratings.
I still like using them as a guide and to try and get out in front of the market with some lines that I think will move, but I will be focused on overhauling my process for next season and also fixing my in-season updating process. Being adaptable is arguably the most important trait in this business. It takes time and it takes humility to be able to look at your process and assess how well it is working. Right now, the QB injuries are making it tough to get a true evaluation, as there are so many teams that are moving targets because they have those injuries or are playing teams that are missing key pieces.
Trying to get a little better, sharper and smarter each day is the goal and that’s what I’ll continue to look to do the rest of the way.
Here are my Week 7 Power Ratings:
