The Southeastern Conference prides itself on being the best of the best in college football, and its teams have certainly provided some of the more memorable moments in recent history. Furthermore, the SEC has been home to some of the most awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping feats of quarterback play that we’ve seen across the football landscape.
To celebrate, we’ve compiled the best quarterback performances for every SEC team since our data began in 2019. To eliminate any out-of-conference anomalies, we’ve only included games between SEC teams and have selected the performances based on the highest grades produced by our College QB+ metric.
College QB+ assigns a letter grade to a quarterback’s performance. We arrive at the grade by considering a quarterback’s passing and rushing performance. Certain more stable factors, like clean pocket performance and designed rushing success, are weighted more than less stable ones, like pressure performance and scrambling.
We also add a “clutch” component that gives extra weight to how quarterbacks perform in high-leverage situations. To qualify for the season leaderboard, a QB must average at least 15 plays per game (dropbacks or designed runs) while playing in at least half his team’s games that season. To qualify for the single-game leaderboard, a quarterback must have participated in at least 15 plays that game.
Alabama: Mac Jones vs. Ole Miss (2020)
College QB+ Grade: 93.2 (A)
If any reminder was needed that Mac Jones was just about elite as it gets at the college football level (to anyone outside of Tuscaloosa), let this serve as that gentle nudge.
Forget Bryce Young. Forget Jalen Milroe. Forget Paul Tyson (what do you mean you did already?!), Jones’ one-man demolition job on the Ole Miss Rebels sets the standard for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The first-round NFL Draft selection set the highest-ever grade for an Alabama quarterback against SEC teams, but it was so much more than that. Jones’ 93.2 grade was the best in Week 6 of the 2020 college football season and ranked as the third-best game of the entire year. Securing his place amongst the best in the sport, that game sits 26th of all games since 2019.
Let’s allow the numbers to paint a picture of Jones’ performances on Oct. 10, 2020. Against Ole Miss, Jones completed 87.5% of his 32 pass attempts for 417 yards and two touchdowns in a 63-48 win. It was the second in a three-game stretch where the Heisman Trophy finalist threw for over 400 yards.
In a back-and-forth contest where Jones went toe-to-toe with Matt Corral, the Alabama QB orchestrated touchdown drives on either side of the half (1.38 end-of-half EPA per dropback), and his single-game clutch sum of 3.98 ranks seventh among all Alabama quarterbacks since 2019.
The 2020 Alabama team was talented, but don’t let that take away from Jones’ ability to lead the offense when most needed.
Arkansas: KJ Jefferson vs. Alabama (2021)
College QB+ Grade: 85.7 (B)
With comparisons like “a poor man’s Cam Newton,” it’s hardly surprising that KJ Jefferson is the quarterback who has had the most success for the Arkansas Razorbacks against other SEC teams. His unique for-size athleticism was the hallmark of his CFB career, but it was his alluring arm talent that helped give Alabama a tough go of it in 2021.
While his highest career grade at Arkansas came against BYU in 2022, the 85.7 marker notched against the Crimson Tide was one of just three games by a Razorbacks quarterback to rank in the top 100 games that season. It was also one of just three times that Jefferson finished in the top 10 in any game week.
Turning it on against a team like Alabama deserves merit on its own. Still, the fact that Jefferson went blow for blow with Young, and got the Razorbacks within a touchdown of an upset of the SEC pace-setter (despite the defense giving up 42 points) is something entirely different.
He threw for three touchdowns and 326 yards against a defense that averaged 218.1 per game. According to our College DEF+ metric, that 2021 Alabama unit was the second-highest ranked defense that he faced during his time with Arkansas, and it was the only time he kept a Razorbacks team within a single score of a top-10 ranked team (Alabama was No. 2 in the country).
Auburn: Bo Nix vs. Mississippi State (2021)
College QB+ Grade: 83.5 (B)
After winning the SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2019, Bo Nix became a maligned figure during his time with the Auburn Tigers, from college football fans in general to fans inside The Plains. However, in a case of “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” the future Denver Broncos starting quarterback remains the program’s top performer against SEC teams.
Nix’s 83.5 grade against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in his final game for the Tigers remains the second-highest grade for an Auburn quarterback, regardless of opponent (Payton Thorne recorded an 83.6 grade against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in 2024). Although only the 840th best game since our records began, no other Auburn QB has come close against other SEC teams (Thorne, 79.2 vs. Oklahoma in 2024).
Nix threw for 377 yards against the Bulldogs, a season-high and his only 300+ yard game of the 2021 campaign, while completing 65.9% of his passes. The former Auburn quarterback established a 28-3 lead midway through the first half, recording positive clean pocket EPA (0.47) and pressure EPA (0.66) per dropback while converting 54.5% of his money downs.
Remarkably, an Auburn defense that had been stellar throughout the 2021 season capitulated in the second half, and despite a late Tank Bigsby touchdown run, the Bulldogs escaped with a 43-34 victory, securing bowl eligibility in the process.
Nix never played for the Tigers again and was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year for the Oregon Ducks just two years later.
Florida: Kyle Trask vs. Alabama (2020)
College QB+ Grade: 91.0 (A-)
With their recent struggles, it can be easy to forget how good the 2020 Florida Gators were. However, from a statistical standpoint, Kyle Trask produced one of the greatest seasons of quarterback play we’ve seen this century. He led the nation in pass attempts (437) and touchdowns (43), led the SEC with 356.9 passing yards per game, and tallied 4,283 passing yards.
Trask’s overall season grade of 88.6 (B+) ranked second only to LSU Tigers sensation Joe Burrow, while it sits as a top 25 single-season performance since our data began in 2019. Showcasing his ability to perform against the very best in the business, Trask set the Florida single-game marker against the eventual national champions, Alabama, in the 2020 SEC Championship Game.
On the statistical face of it, nothing that Trask did against the Crimson Tide was out of the ordinary. His 65.0% completion was far from a season-high, his 408 passing yards were just one of five games that broke the 400-yard mark, and he scored 3+ touchdowns in all but two games of the season.
But it was the nature of Trask’s performance, keeping the Gators in the game against an opponent they really had no right going blow for blow with, that helped elevate his 91.0 grade. As he was all season, Trask was money when it counted, converting 72.7% of his third/fourth-down attempts and registering a positive clutch sum (1.22).
Georgia: JT Daniels vs. South Carolina (2021)
College QB+ Grade: 95.2 (A)
JT Daniels is the ultimate “what if” college football storyline. A former five-star high school recruit who set the standard for early excellence at Mater Dei, Daniels could have been one of the greatest CFB quarterbacks ever.
Yet, injuries doomed his career, and he never completed a full season during a six-year stint across USC, Georgia, West Virginia, and Rice.
Still, on his day, Daniels was capable of achieving the outstanding, with 2021 being a microcosm of his career. After leading the Georgia Bulldogs to a win over the Clemson Tigers, an oblique injury led to a week on the sidelines. When he returned to the starting role against the South Carolina Gamecocks, he produced the 95.2 grade performance that leads all UGA quarterbacks.
South Carolina had beaten an FCS outfit and East Carolina to open the season 2-0, but it didn’t prepare them for the Georgia juggernaut. Daniels connected with Jermaine Burton for a 43-yard score midway through the first quarter, and the game was never within a score from there on out. He threw for 303 yards and three scores, completing 74.2% of his 31 pass attempts.
Daniels’ performance isn’t just the highest-graded for a Georgia quarterback against SEC teams. It set the mark for all Bulldogs’ passers, was the top-ranked game of the 2021 season, and the eighth-highest-graded game since 2019.
Daniels is one of just two eligible UGA quarterbacks to complete 100% of their third- or fourth-down attempts. What could have been.
Kentucky: Sawyer Smith vs. Florida (2019)
College QB+ Grade: 87.6 (B+)
Will Levis? Terry Wilson? Devin Leary? Brock Vandagriff? If asked the question of which Kentucky Wildcats QB had the greatest single-game performance against SEC teams since 2019, those are likely to be the responses — likely with a slight questioning rise in intonation.
Yet, the actual correct answer might elicit an even greater exclamation of surprise.
Sawyer Smith took over the starting job early in the 2019 season after Wilson suffered a significant injury, and his performances were far from spectacular. A former running back who transferred to the Wildcats from the Troy Trojans, Smith twice completed less than 40% of his passes as the starter in Lexington while throwing more interceptions than touchdowns.
This prompted PFSN’s Cam Mellor to deem Smith the worst starting quarterback in the FBS at the time, according to the Lexington Herald. After an outing against South Carolina where he completed just 34.4% of his passes for 90 yards and an interception, he never took starting reps again. Yet, for one game against Florida, he was sublime.
Ok, sublime might be pushing it, but Smith outperformed all other Kentucky quarterbacks in their outings against SEC teams. Completing 65.7% of his passes for 267 yards with three total scores, Smith kept the Wildcats close in the contest.
LSU: Joe Burrow vs. Texas A&M (2019)
College QB+ Grade: 94.1 (A)
Who else but Burrow for LSU? While Jayden Daniels also won the Heisman Trophy with the program and Garrett Nussmeier is one of the top returning quarterbacks for the 2025 season based on our College QB+ metric, Burrow is inescapably the best quarterback to ply his trade in Baton Rouge, and a national champion to boot.
Burrow actually holds four of the top five highest-graded games by an LSU quarterback since 2019. Furthermore, his 94.1 grade from the 2019 encounter against the Texas A&M Aggies ranked as the second-best of that season and the 18th overall game since our records began. There have only been two better performances in games between SEC teams in that time.
In a year that was essentially a season-long highlight reel, Burrow’s performance against Texas A&M — 352 yards and three touchdowns, with a 71.9% completion percentage — paled into insignificance when compared with a seven-touchdown outing against the Oklahoma Sooners or a 489-yard, five-score showing against Ole Miss.
With a 1.36 clean EPA per dropback, Burrow was unstoppable when given the time to throw, but even more impressively, his 1.13 pressure EPA per dropback showcases how imperious the LSU quarterback was with Texas A&M’s defense bearing down on him. Completing 100% of his money-down attempts also boosted Burrow’s grade.
Mississippi State: Will Rogers vs. Arkansas (2021)
College QB+ Grade: 89.4 (B+)
Will Rogers absolutely dominates Mississippi State’s annals of our College QB+ single-game database. He holds nine of the top 10 program grades, with only Michael Van Buren Jr. penetrating his stranglehold.
While Rogers’ highest-graded performance came against the Memphis Tigers in 2022 (95.1, A), his best showing battling SEC teams was vs. Arkansas.
When a team loses, as the Bulldogs did against the Razorbacks in 2021, the assumption is that their quarterback didn’t play up to scratch. Contrary to that opinion, Rogers threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns, bringing Mississippi State back from a 13-point deficit in the second quarter and overturning a seven-point gap early in the fourth to give his team a late lead.
Rogers also led the Bulldogs on scoring drives on both sides of halftime. Those transformed a 13-0 lead for Arkansas into a tied game, giving Mississippi State a chance to compete for the win. Furthermore, a quarterback not known for his mobility, Rogers picked up a crucial first down on a 4th-and-2 situation, contributing to a 2.15 rush EPA, the second-best of his career.
Rogers finished the 2021 season with a nation-leading completion percentage (73.9%) and 505 completions, tallying 4,739 passing yards with 36 total touchdowns. His statistical success is often attributed to a friendly QB system under legendary head coach Mike Leach. Still, his performance above expectation speaks to the impact he was able to make on his own.
Missouri: Brady Cook vs. Tennessee (2023)
College QB+ Grade: 89.8 (B+)
The Missouri Tigers might not fully understand the impact Brady Cook has had on their program until the 2025 college football season — their first without the charismatic quarterback as the full-time starter since 2022 — gets underway. Cook has helped the program become a feature among the top SEC teams with several highly graded games over the last two seasons.
Cook owns seven of the top 10 single-game grades for the Tigers since 2019. His 91.4 (A-) against the New Mexico State Aggies was a top-15 game nationally in 2022. Meanwhile, he boasts five games that featured in the top 100 games of the season, including his 2023 outing against the Tennessee Volunteers, which was his best against SEC teams.
The 89.8 grade came as Cook led the Tigers to a dominant 36-7 victory over a Vols team that was ranked one spot higher in the AP Poll at the time. The Missouri quarterback logged a clutch sum of 1.02 and did significant damage when operating out of structure with a 2.67 scramble EPA on four non-designed runs against a strong Tennessee defense.
Cook ended the game with 55 rushing yards and a touchdown while throwing for 275 yards and another score. Averaging 11.5 yards per attempt and completing 75% of his passes, Cook showcased a mastery of the Missouri offense that fueled one of the most successful seasons in the school’s football history.
Oklahoma: Jackson Arnold vs. Alabama (2024)
College QB+ Grade: 80.5 (B-)
With just one season playing in the SEC, Oklahoma hasn’t had a large pool of games or quarterbacks for consideration here. Prior to their transition to the SEC from the Big 12, the only time the Sooners had faced opposition from the conference was in the postseason. As such, there are only 11 games factoring into the discussion.
Nonetheless, Jackson Arnold could use this data to argue his opinion that he deserved more of an opportunity in Norman. Benched in favor of Michael Hawkins Jr. during the 2024 campaign, Arnold had the two highest-graded games against SEC teams, with his performance in an unlikely win setting the standard for John Mateer to beat during the 2025 campaign.
The basic QB statistics don’t flatter Arnold’s contribution to the win over Alabama. He only threw for 68 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per attempt on 11 throws with zero touchdowns. Yet, he completed 81.8% while rushing for 131 yards on 25 carries in the 24-3 win over a seventh-ranked Alabama team, destroying the Crimson Tide’s postseason ambitions in the process.
Bonus: Dillon Gabriel vs. Tulsa (91.9, A-, 2023)
Ole Miss: Matt Corral vs. Vanderbilt (2020)
College QB+ Grade: 92.3 (A-)
For two seasons, Corral terrorized SEC teams in Lane Kiffin’s Rebels’ offense. While his professional career never lived up to the NFL Draft hype, Corral’s grades from the 2020 season far outweighed his replacement, Jaxson Dart, and his competition for the starting role in the 2019 season, John Rhys Plumlee.
Corral is the only Ole Miss quarterback to register a 90+ grade by our College QB+ metric, achieving the milestone four times, three of which were in the 2020 campaign. Even more impressive, the Rebels’ standout achieved all his highest grades against SEC teams, partially a by-product of a conference-only schedule in 2020, but also an indictment of his talent.
Corral’s highest-graded game was against the Vanderbilt Commodores, attracting a 92.3 grade in a commanding 54-21 win. The Ole Miss quarterback completed 91.2% of his 34 attempts, averaging a remarkable 12.1 yards per attempt on his way to 412 passing yards and six touchdowns.
Amazingly, Corral completed all of his attempts on money downs and registered positive clean EPA (0.88) and pressured EPA (1.07) per dropback. While he hardly set the world alight with his performance in the ground game, Corral had a positive rush and scramble EPA.
Although the Vanderbilt game earned his highest grade, Corral’s performance against Alabama drew a more impressive 91.0 (A-) grade when you consider the strength of the Crimson Tide.
South Carolina: Spencer Rattler vs. Tennessee (2022)
College QB+ Grade: 95.7 (A)
Spencer Rattler’s college football career might have never reached the level that his well-documented high school talent promised, but there were games for both the Sooners and Gamecocks where his physical tools helped him blow the doors off opposition defenses. And one of those games ranks as the greatest South Carolina QB showing.
In the second-to-last weekend of the 2022 regular season, the Gamecocks welcomed the Volunteers to Williams-Brice Stadium and sent the fifth-ranked team in the country packing with a sensational 63-38 scoreline.
According to Stats Muse, Rattler set season highs in the game with 438 passing yards and six touchdowns, completing 81.1% of his pass attempts against a top-50 scoring defense.
The South Carolina quarterback was deadly on his 27 clean dropbacks, logging a 1.44 clean EPA per dropback that was one of the best of any Gamecocks passer since 2019 (only bettered by LaNorris Sellers against Missouri in 2024).
Rattler’s 95.7 grade against Tennessee was more than just a program pace-setter. It was the top grade in Week 12 of the 2022 campaign, the second-best of the entire season, and the fifth-overall grade since 2019.
Tennessee Volunteers: Jarrett Guarantano vs. Kentucky (2019)
College QB+ Grade: 86.1 (B)
Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker parlayed stellar college careers with Tennessee into professional opportunities. Still, it’s one of the program’s starters since 2019 who didn’t get selected in the NFL Draft who boasts the team’s highest grade against SEC teams.
Jarrett Guarantano’s 86.1 grade against Kentucky in 2019 is like looking at a snapshot of his career. A talented four-star from a football family, Guarantano’s journey through the CFB landscape was one of overcoming adversity and coming back against the odds — exactly how he led the Volunteers to a close-fought 17-13 win over their SEC opposition.
Having been benched earlier in the 2019 campaign, Guarantano leapt off the pine to overturn a 13-3 halftime deficit. Casually browse the box score, and his 115 passing yards, 30 rushing yards, and two touchdown passes don’t yell program-defining, but Guarantano came up clutch (clutch score of 1.0) when it mattered.
Despite a career that was shaped by interceptions and fumbles, the Tennessee quarterback was as clean as a whistle against Kentucky in 2019, completing 87.5% of his attempts with no turnovers. In the same season, Guarantano logged the second-best grade by a Vols passer with an 85.9 (B) grade against Missouri.
Texas A&M Aggies: Kellen Mond vs. Florida (2020)
College QB+ Grade: 90.5 (A-)
There weren’t many more exciting sights in college football than when Kellen Mond decided to roll out left and, with a flick of the wrist, unleash a deep bomb on the run with devastating accuracy. Given Texas A&M’s struggles toward the end of Jimbo Fisher’s tenure, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good the dual-threat quarterback was when at his best.
2020 Texas A&M and Kellen Mond was special 🥲
pic.twitter.com/Y0fTaB3fDB— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) April 29, 2025
At his best, like in the win over a strong Gators team, Mond earned himself an A grade that ranks as the best for the Aggies against other SEC teams. He owns four of the top five games for Texas A&M quarterbacks since 2019 (all against conference competition). Mond was also responsible for five games that ranked in the top 100 of their respective season.
In a battle for the ages, Mond traded blows with Trask, throwing for 338 yards and three touchdowns while completing 71.4% of his pass attempts. A 51-yard pass to Caleb Chapman with 4:30 left on the clock proved to be a turning point, while the Texas A&M quarterback walked the offense down the field for a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Mond’s clutch sum (1.86) and ability to convert money downs (83.3% conversion) played a significant part in his 90.5 grade.
Texas Longhorns: Quinn Ewers vs. Georgia (2024)
College QB+ Grade: 80.8 (B-)
The Texas Longhorns reached the SEC Championship Game for the first time on their first attempt and embarked on a playoff run in their debut season representing the conference. However, our College QB+ metric demonstrates that the program leaned heavily on the ground game and an elite defense to power their success.
Although Quinn Ewers registered an 87.6 (B+) grade against the Michigan Wolverines, and Arch Manning’s performance against Louisiana-Monroe earned an 86.7 (B) grade, only Manning set a grade over 80 against other SEC teams during the regular season.
It took Ewers until the SEC Championship Game to set a grade over 80 against conference opposition. Despite throwing two interceptions in the overtime defeat to Georgia, Ewers posted a season-high 358 yards in the title game. That was despite facing the sixth-most pressured dropbacks of any eligible Texas quarterback since 2019.
Bonus: Casey Thompson vs. Texas Tech (94.5, A, 2021)
Vanderbilt Commodores: Diego Pavia vs. Alabama (2024)
College QB+ Grade: 90.5 (A-)
Anyone who watched Diego Pavia lead the Commodores to victory over the Crimson Tide in 2024 (and the subsequent ditching of the goalposts in the river) knows that it was the greatest performance by a quarterback in the program’s history.
Now, thanks to College QB+, there is a quantifiable measurement of just how epic it was.
Events like those on Oct. 5, 2024, are why college football is so awesome. No one gave Pavia and Vanderbilt a shot at taking down the then-No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide. Yet, 252 passing yards, 56 rushing yards, 80% pass completion, and two touchdowns later, the Commodores emerged with a 40-35 victory.
Pavia’s close game EPA (1.09) and clutch sum (2.20) in the Alabama win were among the highest by a Vanderbilt quarterback since 2019. He also recorded a positive EPA on both clean (1.22) and pressured (0.54) dropbacks.
Pavia’s 90.5 was the highest College QB+ grade by any quarterback in Week 6 and the 13th-best game of the 2024 season. Meanwhile, Pavia is the only Vanderbilt QB with a performance in the top 100 games since 2019. When he’s on a mission, the Commodores quarterback is unstoppable. Just ask the NCAA.
