With two weeks left in the college football regular season, the Heisman Trophy race is both heating up and becoming clearer. Quarterbacks have won the award in seven of the past nine seasons, and it would be foolish to imagine any other position taking the top honors this time around.
As such, now’s a fitting time to look at our QB rankings, sorted by conference, and see what insights we can glean from PFSN’s QB Impact (QBi) Rankings. You can read more about the methodology here. Below are the top 10 quarterbacks in each conference, listed with their QB Impact Score, the accompanying letter grade, and where it ranks nationally this season.
Conferences are sorted by the number of quarterbacks in the top 10 of QBi nationally.
Big Ten QB Rankings
1) Fernando Mendoza, Indiana: 98.7, A+ (1st)
2) Jayden Maiava, USC: 96.2, A (3rd)
3) Julian Sayin, Ohio State: 95.5, A (4th)
4) Luke Altmyer, Illinois: 94.9, A (5th)
5) Demond Williams Jr., Washington: 92.6, A- (10th)
6) Dante Moore, Oregon: 87.0, B (33rd)
7) Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers: 84.9, B (44th)
8) Nico Iamaleava, UCLA: 82.3, B- (55th)
9) Aidan Chiles, Michigan State: 81.8, B- (59th)
10) Drew Allar, Penn State: 79.5, C+ (74th)
Four of the nation’s top five quarterbacks hail from the Big Ten. Two of them, Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin, pilot the top two teams in the College Football Playoff rankings and are the two leaders in Heisman odds. That’s an auspicious sign for a conference that hasn’t produced a Heisman winner since 2006 (not counting winners from USC and Oregon when they were in the Pac-12).
There’s a significant drop-off after the top five quarterbacks in the Big Ten, but UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava is performing better than the public sentiment may indicate after the Bruins’ poor start to the season.
SEC QB Rankings
1) Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt: 97.6, A+ (2nd)
2) Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss: 94.8, A (6th)
3) Gunner Stockton, Georgia: 92.7, A- (9th)
4) Taylen Green, Arkansas: 91.1, A- (14th)
5) Ty Simpson, Alabama: 90.7, A- (17th)
6) Marcel Reed, Texas A&M: 88.5, B+ (23rd)
7) Joey Aguilar, Tennessee: 88.1, B+ (27th)
8) Arch Manning, Texas: 82.0, B- (57th)
9) Beau Pribula, Missouri: 81.6, B- (61st)
10) John Mateer, Oklahoma: 80.6, B- (67th)
Two super seniors who didn’t even start their college careers at the NCAA Division I level sit at No. 1 and No. 2 in the SEC (and top six nationally) in QBi. Both Diego Pavia (who started at the JUCO level) and Trinidad Chambliss (a D2 star last year) are quality passers, but each brings a dual-threat dynamic as well. Taylen Green, whose skillset profiles similarly, retains an A- grade despite his Razorbacks sitting at just 2-8 (with six losses by six points or less).
Meanwhile, some of the most highly regarded SEC quarterbacks entering this season find themselves below a B grade and outside the top 10 in QBi (LaNorris Sellers, Garrett Nussmeier, and DJ Lagway).
ACC QB Rankings
1) Haynes King, Georgia Tech: 93.2, A (8th)
2) Tommy Castellanos, Florida State: 91.3, A- (13th)
3) Darian Mensah, Duke: 90.0, A- (18th)
4) CJ Bailey, NC State: 86.8, B (35th)
5) Chandler Morris, Virginia: 84.7, B (45th)
6) Carson Beck, Miami (FL): 83.9, B (47th)
7) Cade Klubnik, Clemson: 80.8, B- (65th)
8) Kevin Jennings, SMU: 80.6, B- (66th)
9) Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech: 79.3, C+ (76th)
10) Miller Moss, Louisville: 78.4, C+ (88th)
While Darian Mensah has primarily lived up to his billing as one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the transfer portal last offseason, another 2025 transfer (Tommy Castellanos) has also been solid amid FSU’s up-and-down season. Castellanos is in his third year in the ACC, including time at Boston College. However, it’s former transfer Haynes King who has the highest mark in the conference during his third season with Georgia Tech since leaving Texas A&M.
As with the SEC, higher-billed names like Cade Klubnik and Carson Beck haven’t been as effective, though both had solid performances this past weekend.
Big 12 QB Rankings
1) Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati: 92.2, A- (13th)
2) Jalon Daniels, Kansas: 89.0, B+ (20th)
3) Devon Dampier, Utah: 88.3, B+ (24th)
4) Sawyer Robertson, Baylor: 88.1, B+ (26th)
5) Josh Hoover, TCU: 87.8, B+ (30th)
6) Bear Bachmeier, BYU: 87.7, B+ (31st)
7) Conner Weigman, Houston: 87.5, B+ (32nd)
8) Noah Fifita, Arizona: 85.0, B (43rd)
9) Avery Johnson, Kansas State: 84.2, B (46th)
10) Sam Leavitt, Arizona State: 82.6, B- (54th)
The first two names outside the top 10 in Big 12 QBi stand out the most: Texas Tech starter Behren Morton and backup Will Hammond (the latter is out for the season with an injury). The fact that the Red Raiders are still atop the conference standings without stellar play under center is all the more impressive. The top three in Big 12 QBi all offer veteran stability and dual-threat capabilities.
Sawyer Robertson, who leads the nation in passing yards, is No. 4 in the Big 12 in QBi, limited by low rushing yardage and the conference’s second-highest interception total (nine).
Group of Six and FBS Independent QB Rankings
1) Liam Szarka, Air Force: 94.4, A (7th)
2) Blake Horvath, Navy: 92.5, A- (11th)
3) Jake Retzlaff, Tulane: 91.1, A- (15th)
4) Joe Fagnano, UConn: 90.8, A- (16th)
5) Byrum Brown, South Florida: 90.0, B+ (19th)
6) Colton Joseph, Old Dominion: 88.8, B+ (21st)
7) Anthony Colandrea, UNLV: 88.6, B+ (22nd)
8) Lunch Winfield, Louisiana: 88.2, B+ (25th)
9) Brad Jackson, Texas State: 88.0, B+ (28th)
10) CJ Carr, Notre Dame: 87.9, B+ (29th)
We threw the two FBS Independents (Notre Dame and Connecticut) in this section, even if the former doesn’t function as a Group of Six school. Both teams’ quarterbacks were in the top 10 in QBi outside of the power conferences.
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Two military academy quarterbacks headline the Group of Six QBi rankings. Signal callers at these schools have perhaps never been as effective as they are now, as they’ve modernized their offenses to feature more passing from quarterbacks who are also a threat to surpass 1,000 yards on the ground.
Tulane, which was the top-ranked Group of Six conference team in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings update, has benefited from the late-July addition of BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff, who also offers athleticism with his legs.
