CFB: Who is the greatest Quarterback of the 21st century? 2011-2015

The rules outlining this exercise can be found here.

Part one that runs from 2000-2005 can be found here

Part two that runs from 2006-2010 can be found here.

2011-2015 candidates: Robert Griffin III (RG3), Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota.

RG3: Out of the four quarterbacks listed, RG3 presence has one of the best quarterbacks in College Football history is the most surprising. Before RG3 Baylor was one of those teams you played within a College Football video game to see if you could win a National Championship with one of the worst teams in the game. RG3 talent Coupled with Art Briles Veer and Shoot offense RG3 put up huge numbers on his way to Heisman trophy in 2011. During his Heisman campaign RG3 throw for over 4200 yards, thirty-seven touchdowns. He also chipped in with nearly 700 yards rushing (699 for the season) and ten touchdowns. RG3 consistently pushed the ball downfield with a 10.7 yards per attempt. 10.7 yards per attempt is currently 10th all-time in college football history. Two cases against RG3: One, The Big 12 struggles on defense is pretty well known at this point. Two, the Baylor offense produced even higher numbers when RG3 left for the NFL. Nick Florence and Bryce Petty both put up astronomical numbers at Baylor, so the question is how much was RG3 a product of bad defenses in the Big 12 and a supercharged offensive system?

Manziel: 2012 lighting struck in college football in the name of Johnny Manziel. Manziel took the league by storm en route to a Heisman trophy becoming the first freshman to win the Heisman trophy. During his Heisman campaign, Manziel threw for over 3700 yards with 26 touchdowns with a 68% completion percentage; those numbers are great but what separated Manziel was his ability to scramble around, extend the play, and pick up yards with his legs or find a wide-open receiver. His 1410 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns both led the SEC in 2012. Combining both rushing and passing Manziel led the Nation in total yards with 5116. Against the vaunted Alabama defense in 2012 Manziel lit up the Crimson Tide for 253 yards passing, and ninety-two yards rushing in an upset win on National Television. Throughout the game, Manziel had several game-changing plays that befuddled the Tides defense. Manziel’s sophomore campaign was solid throwing for 4114 (8th Nationally), but nothing was as magical has his freshman campaign.

Mariota: Marcus Mariota is a rich man’s Kellen Moore. Mariota put up great numbers during his three-year tenure at Oregon, but nothing really spectacular. During his three season’s he never really had a Heisman moment or Heisman game where he put up video game-type numbers.  His career numbers rival Landry Jones. He did, however, win the Heisman in 2014 with 4454 yards passing and 42 touchdowns. What stood out was his 42-4 touchdown to interception ratio and 181.7 Quarterback rating. Much like Moore broke two rules, so did Mariota.

The 2011-2015 class of quarterbacks was relatively weak in comparison to the other five year increments. 2011 was defined by defenses at Alabama and LSU, in 2012 three defensive players received first-place votes (Manti Te’o almost won the Heisman has a linebacker! He was three hundred votes short). 2014 had a Running Back and Wide Reciever finish two and three (Melvin Gordon and Amari Cooper respectively) 2015 had Running Backs finish one and two in Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey. Ohio State and Alabama both won National Championships during this era on the backs of Ezekiel Elliot and Derrick Henry respectively. The way College Football is progressing this may be the last era where running backs reigned supreme.

2011-2015 Winner: Johnny Manziel

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