USC And Oregon are the only teams with QBs ranked in the top-6 (top half) of the conference in passing efficiency each year of the Pac 12's existence
Tom "Bruins Rule LA" writes: Not sure why you conclude "
the Trojans have earned the benefit of the doubt behind center" because
Cody Kessler was mediocre and Matt Barkley and [Mark] Sanchez and [John David] Booty were overrated. While my Bruins have not been great at QB, the [Brett] Hundley to
Josh Rosen transition puts them ahead of [USC]. The Trojans deserve no benefit of the doubt. Pete Carroll is not walking through that door!
Ted Miller: While I suspect -- that reportorial skeptic in me! -- that Tom here isn't an unbiased observer, he might have a point. So I did a pretty superficial statistical check on passing efficiency numbers since Pac-12 expansion in 2011.
My measure: How often over the past five years did each Pac-12 team have a QB ranked in the top-6 (top half!) of the conference in passing efficiency? Ultimately, passing efficiency is just one number, but it's a pretty good way to measure QBs.
Oregon and USC were the only two teams that hit all five years. Colorado and Utah, the newest members of the family, didn't hit even once. Buffs fans reaction is probably "figures," while Utah fans are probably going "if only."
Stanford hit four times; UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State three times. Washington, Oregon State and California hit twice, and Washington State once. By the way, this is a
handy resource for Pac-12 statistics.
In fact, the last time a USC QB didn't rank in the top half of the conference in passing efficiency was 2001, Carson Palmer's season before winning the Heisman Trophy.
"Overrated" Booty and Sanchez, by the way, led the conference in efficiency in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
In fact No. 2, the last Trojans QB who could be considered "not terribly good," would be Mike Van Raaphorst in 1999.
So, yeah, benefit of the doubt.
Because my heart is as pure as fresh snow, I will not walk you through the UCLA QBs from 1999 - to Brett Hundley.