In both the NFL and college football, it was a week to celebrate quarterbacks. It was also a week to lament the play of bad ones.
Nowhere was that more evident than on two campuses just 150 miles away from each other.
Saturday's much-hyped showdown between Florida State and Notre Dame actually lived up to its advance billing thanks in large part to the play of a pair of signal-callers who came in with a combined career record of 35-1. Jameis Winston, after an uneven first half, returned to Heisman-winning form in a near perfect second half that showed off his remarkable talent at the position. Everett Golsonhad the Irish one play away from winning the game, lofting several perfect throws throughout the contest to continue to show off why his one year away from the program led to some tremendous growth as a quarterback.
Those two traditional powers are, once again, right in the thick of the national title hunt this season. It wasn't all that long ago that they were barely scratching the surface, however, and much of the reason for their success can be traced back to the two quarterbacks taking over. FSU had turned in good seasons in the years after its remarkable run atop college football ended in 2000 but, lacking a transcendent talent at the position, often failed to live up to expectations. The same can be said for the Irish, who outside of a solid stint by Brady Quinn, have been wandering the desert in search of a great player at the position for nearly two decades.
The contrast between those two finding the right fit at the most important spot on the field and the situation at Florida and a host of other schools is stark. The Gators appear bound for a bowl-less season again, and on Saturday they lost a game by 29 points despite giving up 119 total yards on defense. They turned the ball over six times and stater Jeff Driskel went just 7-of-19 for 50 yards. He has regressed remarkably ever since taking the job a few seasons ago. That the team's best options are starting at quarterback at two ACC schools (Jacoby Brissett at North Carolina State and Tyler Murphy at Boston College) says volumes about how Will Muschamp has mismanaged the position since arriving in Gainesville and is something that will cost him his job later this year.
The issue with most programs at quarterback is two-fold -- it comes down to both recruiting good ones and then developing them when they get on campus. We've seen plenty of the former at a number of powerhouses, but surprisingly few can hold up things when it comes to the latter. This has certainly been the case with the Gators. Coming out of high school, Driskel checked all the boxes. He was a highly regarded prospect, was in the school's backyard, had a strong arm and plenty of playmaking tendencies on his tape. He was efficient in his first full season as a starter, completing 64 percent of his passes while throwing just five interceptions in Florida's surprising run to a BCS game. Instead of taking off, though, he's regressed. Multiple offensive coordinators in Gainesville, a lack of weapons at wide receiver and an offensive line constantly in flux have just been part of the problem on that side of the ball.
It's no secret that you need good quarterback play to succeed. If you're a traditional power whose seasons are measured in terms of championships, you need exceptional play out of your quarterback in order for the coach to not get run out of town. At Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and others, that's never been more apparent than the last few years. The Longhorns had two of the best to play college football in back-to-back years and turned in an amazing run. Once Mack Brown lost his magic touch, however, it wasn't long until he was politely pushed aside. Brady Hoke can't find any consistency at the position despite having a host of four-stars behind center, and Tennessee has been going through coaches at a rapid rate that has only been outpaced by the number of quarterbacks who have taken snaps since the days of Peyton Manning and Tee Martin. The Badgers came within a play of winning the Rose Bowl with Russell Wilson but have turned into a team where it's not abnormal to have a QB throw for less than 100 yards a game.
Yes, the supporting cast is a factor in a team's success. At the end of the day, however, there's a ceiling programs will hit if they don't have the right guy at quarterback. Florida State and Notre Dame showed how quickly one can jump into the national conversation with a good quarterback. For other power programs, they've joined the national conversation for negative reasons -- and it's because they don't have a quarterback.
Stat of the week
ESPN passed along this amazing stat on Saturday: In the last 10 years, teams that held opponents to 120 yards or less are 147-2. Both of those losses belong to Will Muschamp-coached Florida teams. At one point, Missouri led Florida 42-0 with under 100 yards of total offense.
Stats to chew on
» Three Notre Dame quarterbacks -- current starter Everett Golson and transfers Andrew Hendrix and Gunner Kiel -- are tied for seventh in the nation in touchdown passes this season. Hendrix was named the MAC player of the week on Monday after throwing for five scores in a close loss, while Kiel was named to the AAC's weekly honor roll thanks to his performance in a blowout of SMU.
» USF's 20-point comeback at Tulsa was the largest in the program's history. The Bulls won 38-30 and likely cost Bill Blankenship his job.
» Rutgers, the oldest college football program, played in front of its largest crowd ever when the team was routed at Ohio State with 106,795 looking on. The Buckeyes posted 50-plus points for a school-record fourth straight game.
» Against Oklahoma State, TCU had a 400-yard passer, 200-yard receiver and 100-yard rusher for the first time in school history.
» Ameer Abdullah became the first person ever at Nebraska to rush for 1,000 yards in three straight seasons.
» Stanford has allowed less than 30 points in 30 straight games, but has dropped three such games this season. They were held under 100 yards rushing against Arizona State on Saturday for just the second time during that 30-game streak.
» The top four leading rushers (Indiana's Tevin Coleman, Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon, Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah and Minnesota's David Cobb) in all of FBS hail from the Big Ten.
» BYU dropped back-to-back home games in Provo for the first time in a decade.
» Texas A&M was shut out for the first time in 134 games, an 11-year stretch.
» USC's Cody Kesslerset a school record with seven touchdown passes against Colorado. The Buffs have given up 21 touchdown passes to the Trojans since joining the Pac-12.
» Marshall's Rakeem Catoset a new FBS record with a TD pass in his 39th straight game.
Quote of the Week
"My mother tells me when you don't know what to call, blitz. So we blitz a lot." -- Arizona State's Todd Graham.
Sound from Saturday
Here's the call from the final play of Florida State-Notre Dame as heard on the Seminoles Radio Network.
Tweet of the Week
Sideline standouts
Gold medal:*Dana Holgorsen*, as the Mountaineers faced yet another top-five team this year and came out with a resounding win.
Silver medal:*Bill Snyder, as the veteran coach now owns two wins over former pupil *Bob Stoops in Norman and might be the favorite in the wild Big 12.
Bronze medal:*Lane Kiffin*, as all it took to get back into Tuscaloosa's good graces was facing the Texas A&M defense.
Pre-snap read
USC at Utah: The battle for the Pac-12 South gets very real on Saturday as a pair of surging teams face off in Salt Lake City. The Utes have the defense and special teams to win at home but need to straighten out the offense, which faces a very good USC unit. Things do seem to be clicking for Steve Sarkisian's squad, but going on the road in late October in the league means nothing will be easy.
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.
