With its high-scoring shootouts and defense-optional reputation, the Big 12 Conference has been home to some of the greatest single-game quarterback performances in college football history.
To celebrate, we've compiled the best quarterback performances for every Big 12 team since our data began in 2019. To eliminate any out-of-conference anomalies, we've only included games between Big 12 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.
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West Virginia Mountaineers
Jarret Doege vs. TCU (2020)
College QB+ Grade: 87.6 (B+)
Offensive coordinator Gerard Parker dialled up a high-volume passing attack for the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2020 and 2021, and Jarret Doege took full advantage.
The former Bowling Green Falcon led the Big 12 in passing attempts in both 2020 and 2021, and his performance against the TCU Horned Frogs in that first season still stands as the highest-graded game for a West Virginia against other Big 12 teams.
Our metric doesn't reward a high amount of attempts, so it's unsurprising to see that Doege's 87.6 (B+) grade against TCU featured his second-fewest passing attempts of the 2020 season. The West Virginia quarterback set the tone with a rushing score late in the first quarter before adding two passing touchdowns later in the game in a 24-6 win.
While his 1.11 rush EPA per attempt, 0.06 pressured EPA per dropback, and 75% conversion on money downs contributed to his program-leading grade, Doege was rewarded by our metric for the level of defense faced. The Frogs' 87.08 DEF+ grade was the fourth-highest faced by any West Virginia quarterback since 2019.
