Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! Each week throughout the season, we’ll help you keep the game’s most important position in perspective by ranking the SEC starters 1-16 according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. Previously: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7.
1. Ty Simpson, Alabama
As long as he’s upright, Simpson is emerging as the league’s most valuable player. The challenge is keeping him that way. He got well-acquainted with the turf in Bama’s 27-24 win at Missouri, absorbing 4 sacks and more than his fair share of hits behind an unusually unsettled offensive line for this stage of the season. Only 2 starters, future pros Kadyn Proctor and Parker Brailsford, went the distance at Mizzou, at left tackle and center, respectively. The other 3 stations all remained up for review, with the starters yielding significant snaps to reserves for the 3rd week in a row.
In fairness to the front, the running backs were also responsible for several blown protections on Saturday, including a whiff that led to Simpson fumbling while getting his head driven into the turf on the first play of the second half; he was down for a while after that one, and Missouri converted the short field into a tying touchdown. If anything, though, the o-line shuffle has only reinforced Bama fans’ conviction that the starting unit is overdue for an update — especially at right tackle, where starter Wilkin Formby is in the crosshairs after allowing 2 sacks to the Tigers while splitting reps with the heir apparent, 5-star freshman Michael Carroll.
Damon Wilson is EMBARRASSING Alabama pic.twitter.com/dmCOASXr7J
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) October 11, 2025When not being beaten to a pulp, Simpson has been impeccable, recording a conference-best 92.4 PFF grade on clean drop-backs vs. a dismal 47.1 grade under pressure. (Every quarterback’s production suffers under pressure, of course, but that’s a large enough gap to be notable.) Given time, he made a couple of throws against Mizzou that belong in a gallery. On a team that can’t count on much else from one week to the next, his arm is the one reliable factor keeping the sticks moving, the defense on the sideline and the season afloat. With every step the Tide take toward their long-term goals, the urgency of keeping the Heisman front-runner in one piece is only going to keep going up.
Last week: 1⬌
2. Taylen Green, Arkansas
Green is in the midst of what may go down as one of the great “in a losing effort” campaigns on record. Most recently, he accounted for 319 total yards and 3 touchdowns Saturday in a 34-31 loss at Tennessee, already the 3rd time this season he’s accounted for 300+ in a loss in which the Razorbacks scored at least 31 points. At midseason, he ranks No. 1 or No. 2 nationally in total offense, Total QBR and EPA, all in service of a lame-duck team that will be lucky to win another game. Even including sack totals, Green still is on pace to become the first Arkansas QB to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Last week: 7
3. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
The last time we saw Pavia, he was committing a pair of killer red-zone turnovers in the Commodores’ Week 6 loss at Alabama. His brief surge in the Heisman odds has waned in the meantime. But for some measure of his esteem, check out the point spread for this weekend’s date against LSU in Nashville: As of mid-week, Vandy is holding firm as a 2.5-point favorite, the latest in a series of milestones in Pavia’s tenure. Per CBS Sports, Vanderbilt hasn’t kicked off as the betting favorite against LSU since 1948, or against any ranked opponent since at least 1978, a streak spanning 176 consecutive games.
Last week: 3⬌
4. Gunner Stockton, Georgia
How long can Georgia survive falling into steep holes? Saturday’s come-from-behind, 20-10 win at Auburn was typical: The Bulldogs have faced a double-digit deficit in the first half in 7 of their last 10 games vs. Power 4 opponents (including last year’s Playoff loss to Notre Dame, Stockton’s first career start), and trailed at halftime in 8 of them. Already this season, they’ve fallen behind 21-7 at Tennessee; 14-0 and 21-7 against Alabama; and 10-0 at Auburn in a shockingly one-sided first half. (Auburn fans, of course, will go to their grave insisting it should have been 17-0.) Over the past calendar year, it has been 1 close shave after another.
The problem does not begin or end with the quarterback. But needless to say, that bears little resemblance to the dominant 2021-23 machine that spent essentially 3 consecutive seasons entrenched at No. 1, which rarely failed put games to bed before halftime. In 36 regular-season wins in that span, Georgia trailed in the second half just once, in a 2022 scare at Missouri. Those teams guaranteed a stress-free experience or your money back. This one doesn’t get out of bed for less than a 10-point hole.
Last week: 4⬌
5. Joey Aguilar, Tennessee
Aguilar is faring just fine statistically, but not nearly as well as he ought to be if the Vols were hanging onto the ball. PFF has dinged Tennessee receivers with 17 drops on the season, most in the conference, at a sky-high rate of 12.6%. Eight of those drops have come in the past 2 games, too-close-for-comfort calls against Mississippi State and Arkansas — the most likely reason Aguilar’s stellar PFF grades in those games came out notably better than the conventional box scores.
Last week: 8
6. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
The final score of Ole Miss’ 24-21 win over Washington State was a little bit misleading. The Rebels moved the ball at roughly their typical pace, but left points on the field on each of their first 3 possessions, which ended in a turnover on downs inside the Wazzu 5-yard line; a missed field goal; and a Chambliss fumble in field-goal range, respectively. Sloppy, but not very illuminating. If accounting for 268 total yards and 3 touchdowns in a win is a cause for concern, things are going OK.
@TrinidadChambl1 x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/Ei9npIf7Oo
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 11, 2025The real concern ahead of this week’s trip to Georgia is Chambliss’ first experience in a Hostile-with-a-capital-H SEC environment. His biggest road trip in Division II was an in-state rivalry date at Grand Valley State.
Last week: 5
7. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M
I’m resolved to reserve judgment on Reed until the deep end of the schedule — road tests at LSU, Missouri and Texas loom over the back half — but he has consistently hit his marks in the Aggies’ 6-0 start. One lingering question mark is his downfield arm strength: For the season, Reed is just 10-for-33 passing on attempts of 20+ yards, with 3 interceptions. He’s finished 1-for-5 each of the past 2 weeks against Mississippi State and Florida. Then again, the lone connection in Saturday’s 34-17 win over the Gators was a beauty:
DEEEEEEEP BALLLL pic.twitter.com/ioQnVBDhSq
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 11, 2025If A&M is going to win big, it’s going to be on the strength of the defense and ground game, not Reed’s arm. But if he has just one of those in him every time out, it would go a long way to sustaining the goose egg in the loss column.
Last week: 6
8. John Mateer, Oklahoma
The good news: The injury to Mateer’s throwing hand only cost him 1 game, a routine blowout over Kent State. The bad news: Every other aspect of his performance in a 23-6 loss to Texas, an eye-opener in all the wrong ways. Rather than an MVP, Mateer looked like, well, an overachiever rushing back too soon from an injury against an elite defense. He threw 3 interceptions, took 5 sacks and turned in season-lows by far in passer rating (81.5), QBR (42.8) and overall PFF grade (36.9). The Sooners managed a couple of first-half field goals, but never breached the red zone and didn’t come close to scoring again.
With that, he risks joining the not-so-esteemed fraternity of the September Heisman, the mythical award bestowed on shooting stars whose early-season breakthrough quickly goes bust. (Recall such September Heisman luminaries as Taylor Martinez, Kenny Hill and the immortal Tate Forcier.) Before his injury, Mateer was the betting favorite; a few weeks later, he’s an afterthought as Oklahoma braces for a brutal back half of the schedule featuring 5 teams currently ranked in the AP top 20. On one hand, that leaves plenty of opportunities to resurrect his Heisman campaign if the Sooners can salvage what now looks like an unlikely Playoff run. But then, laying an egg that big in one of the biggest games of the year is rarely a precursor of bigger and better things to come.
Last week: 2
9. Beau Pribula, Missouri
Pribula didn’t exactly turn into a pumpkin in the Mizzou’s loss to Alabama, accounting for 3 touchdowns and a perfectly cromulent 75.8 QBR score. At one point, he juked Bama’s best defender, safety Bray Hubbard, clean off his feet on a 5-yard TD run. Thrust into comeback mode for the first time this season, though, he simply didn’t have the juice as a passer. Pribula’s first attempt of the game was a 26-yard touchdown to his tight end, Brent Norfleet, to cap the opening series; from that point on, he was 15-for-27 passing for 136 yards (5.0 ypc) and 2 interceptions, with roughly half of that production coming on a couple of last-gasp drives as the walls were closing in. The pick that ended the game, in particular, was a dagger on multiple levels.
watch the near side receiver on the Mizzou pick that ended the game
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) 2025-10-11T19:34:47.905ZNot ideal, but it could always be worse. On an alternate timeline, he could have been preparing to take over as the new starting quarterback at Penn State.
Last week: 9⬌
10. Arch Manning, Texas
Win or lose, the magnifying glass on Manning’s every move invites exaggeration and overreaction. In the Longhorns’ losses to Ohio State and Florida, he was condemned an overrated bum. In Saturday’s 23-6 win over Oklahoma, he was risen from the ashes. Based strictly on the vibes, it was easy to get the impression he looked like a different quarterback. In real time, the transformation was … less dramatic. The actual difference, on the field, was a dominant performance by the defense, a productive afternoon from the ground game, and a special teams touchdown that supplied the final margin in the 4th quarter.
That’s not to dismiss the fact that Arch looked sharper and more confident against the Sooners, especially in the second half. He was 6-of-7 on attempts of 10+ air yards, led 4 extended scoring drives (3 of them after halftime), contributed as a runner and finished with a season-high 89.0 QBR score. He moved the sticks 4 times on 3rd down with 7+ yards to go. He didn’t commit a turnover and was only sacked once despite facing pressure on 50% of his drop-backs, per PFF. Finally, he looked like he was in his comfort zone in a game that matters.
But he didn’t arrive there all on his own. Unlike the flop at Florida, where the Longhorns fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter and spent the rest of the game in comeback mode, Texas’ defense dictated the pace against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown, never stranding its young QB in a situation where he felt like it was up to him to Make a Play or else. The ‘Horns quickly abandoned the running game in The Swamp; in the Cotton Bowl, RB Quintrevion Wisner was a workhorse, running 22 times for a season-high 94 yards. Manning’s long completion covered just 24 yards, and his pedestrian 6.1 yards per attempt was nearly 3 full yards below his average YPA in the loss to the Gators. He didn’t feel pressure to singlehandedly win the game with his golden arm, because his team didn’t need him to.
Ironically, the big takeaway from Arch’s first big win as a starter was the same as it was amid the outcry following the losses: Hype notwithstanding, he needs as much patience and support as any other sophomore on the upward slope of the learning curve. Saturday was a blueprint for keeping the season on track while he continues to grow into the role. By the postseason, who knows? Texas still have favorable national title odds. In the meantime, getting him there with his confidence and potential intact is going to be a full team effort.
Last week: 13
11. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
Nussmeier is doing enough right to keep the 5-1 Tigers afloat opposite a vastly improved defense. When it goes wrong, though, it has been ugly. With 2 interceptions in Saturday’s 20-10 win over South Carolina, Nussmeier has thrown 4 INTs in 3 SEC games, all of them unbecoming of a guy who as recently as a few weeks ago was being touted as a potential first-rounder. He served up egregious picks with the offense in scoring position against Florida and Ole Miss, and both of his interceptions against the Gamecocks were delivered confidently from a clean pocket directly into the arms of a waiting safety.
garrett nussmeier interception; south carolina vs lsu pic.twitter.com/GtY0v2WuAI
— ◇ (@F0RGIAT0) October 12, 2025Not what you want to see from a 5th-year senior in his 20th career start, especially entering the make-or-break stretch of the schedule against Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama. No one in Baton Rouge needs to be reminded that this is the same point on the calendar that last year’s 6-1 start went off the rails.
Last week: 11⬌
12. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Sellers was sacked 5 times in Carolina’s loss at LSU, and it was only due to a heroic effort that it wasn’t more. Per PFF, he was under pressure on nearly two-thirds of his 40 drop-backs, an outrageous rate; per the SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic (citing a data analytics company), Sellers traversed a total distance of 894 yards over the course of the game fleeing from LSU rushers. He threw as many passes away (5) as he completed for first downs.
On Sunday, Shane Beamer fired his offensive line coach, telling reporters that the debacle in Baton Rouge was only the anvil the broke the camel’s back: “It had been building for a bit.” With the offense as a whole languishing at the bottom of the conference and not much left for the 3-3 Gamecocks to play for in what was supposed to be a breakthrough year, the looming question is whether the next man out might not be Sellers himself. There’s still half a season to be played, but at this point both his draft stock and his asking price as a potential transfer are plummeting. If there’s still time or willingness to restore either in South Carolina, that window might be closing fast.
Last week: 10
13. DJ Lagway, Florida
Lagway peaked early at Texas A&M, leading a pair of first-quarter scoring drives on which he was a combined 9-for-10 for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was a long way down from there: Florida managed a single field goal over the final 3 quarters as A&M pulled away in a 17-point loss. Reduced to comeback mode, Lagway spent the second half fending for his life seemingly every time he dropped back.
OUR HOUSE. OUR FOOTBALL. pic.twitter.com/y2Z2l0xr4N
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 12, 2025That kinda year. This weekend’s homecoming date against Mississippi State is an opportunity to put the negativity on hold for a couple weeks heading into an open date, before a ritual throttling at the hands of Georgia begins the cycle anew.
Last week: 12
14. Jackson Arnold, Auburn
Am I the only person in America other than the officiating crew itself who thought the refs got the call right on Arnold’s crucial goal-line fumble at the end of the first half against Georgia? Or at least, as right as they could under Rorschach test conditions?
THE REFS RULED THIS A FUMBLE GEORGIA PUNCHES IT OUT AT THE GOAL LINE pic.twitter.com/XdIgYywx5s
— ESPN (@espn) October 12, 2025Besides being a critical moment in the game, this play is a very good example of the futility of the idea that there is some objective Eye in the Sky capable of replacing good old-fashioned human judgment on each and every call. They spent 6 minutes poring over every frame of this play from multiple directions, syncing up the angles, slowing them down to the smallest allowable fraction of a second, and still did not come close to offering a conclusive point of view. Arnold lost control the ball at the exact nanosecond he crossed the imaginary plane extending up from the front end of the stripe. (My editor and I found the broadcast crew’s certainty that the ball crossed the plane mystifying, and unfair to the folks who actually had to make an impossible call.) Georgia had arguably just as compelling a case that it should have been awarded a touchdown going the other way, given that defender Kyron Jones recovered the loose ball — ruled a fumble on the field and upheld on review — and was never down. Choose your own adventure.
I don’t have the time or space here to get into the full spiel about why replay needs to be dramatically curtailed. But if the point is to eliminate or simply minimize controversy, the actual result is closer the opposite. In a way, it’s a victim of its own success: The expectation that deferring to the video means getting every call “right” only makes people more enraged when it turns out no one can discern or agree on what the “right” call even is. Auburn has now been on the wrong end of 2 massive swing plays in a matter of weeks that could have just as easily gone the other way based on the video evidence, which was anything but conclusive in either case. Sometimes the folks in charge just have to make a call and the rest of us have to live with it.
At any rate, Auburn has little room to complain given the wholesale collapse that followed. The Tigers had thoroughly dominated the game up to that point on both sides of the ball, and despite blowing a prime opportunity to extend the margin they were still in the driver’s seat with a 10-0 lead and UGA’s offense backup up inside its own 5-yard line with less than 2 minutes to go in the half. From that point on, they stunk up the joint, allowing the Bulldogs to score 20 unanswered points without a flicker of a response from their own deflated offense. If a call at the end of the first half in a game in which the Tigers held a 2-score lead actually made a difference in the final outcome, that’s on the Tigers.
Last week: 14⬌
15. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State
One running subplot in Starkville over the second half of the season is the quest to snap a 14-games-and-counting SEC losing streak dating back 2 full calendar years. State is likely to be a significant underdog in every remaining game, give or take a Nov. 1 trip to Arkansas. Another will be Shapen’s grip on the job as the losses stack higher. A couple of touted underclassmen, Luke Kromenhoek and Kamario Taylor, are waiting in the wings, and Shapen’s last memorable moment in the Bulldogs’ Week 2 upset over Arizona State is rapidly receding into the rearview.
Last week: 15⬌
16. Cutter Boley, Kentucky
Kentucky has no downfield passing game to speak of, but not for lack of trying. Between Boley and the guy he replaced as QB1, Zach Calzada, the Wildcats lead the conference in attempts of 20+ air yards, per PFF. Actually completing them, of course, is another story. Boley and Calzada are a combined 4-for-36 on those throws for a depressing 3.7 yards per attempt and no touchdowns. Still, unlike many previous Kentucky attacks under Mark Stoops, no one can accuse them of not trying.
Last week: 16⬌
SEC QB Rankings, Week 8: Meet the new Arch Manning, same as old Arch Manning Saturday Down South.
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