It’s been a year of preseason predictions being proved wrong. That feels like the one constant in college football in 2026. The first two months of the season have mostly separated the pretenders from the contenders. The same can be said for quarterbacks in this league.
There has been plenty of reshuffling throughout the year. We may not know who the No. 1 quarterback will be at the end of this season, but one thing is for sure – there are barely 10 SEC signal-callers playing at a high enough level to warrant discussion.
Here are this week’s rankings.
Bottom 6
15. Sarah Jessica Parker Billy Puckett, Mississippi State
12. The Twinterceptions, Florida
11. George MacIntyre, Tennessee
Tier 2 QB 1s
I’m not sure a capable and accurate quarterback would’ve made the difference for the Sooners against South Carolina. But it certainly would’ve helped. Mateer racked up 273 yards of offense, including 244 through the air. However, most of that came in garbage time, as the Sooners had just 118 yards of offense through three quarters.
The idea that Brown is going to run over, through and around defenses like he did against Georgia has quickly been dispelled. He had 13 carries for five yards against Ole Miss. He did account for 200 yards and two touchdowns, though, and he ranks fifth in the conference in total yards with 2,044.
Manning had his best game of the season against Mississippi State. He completed 80% of his throws for 220 yards and three touchdowns with no picks against the Bulldogs.
It was a great bounce-back week for Simmons, who didn’t light up the stat sheet with a ton of yards but did complete nearly two-thirds of his passes for two touchdowns and no interceptions against Arkansas. He now has 16 passing TDs and just two interceptions on the season.
Minchey was on a bye last week as Kentucky preps for Tennessee. The transfer quarterback has an impressive 14-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio that leads the SEC.
Top 5
What happened to the Gunner Stockton we saw against Alabama? Since going 18-of-22 against the Tide, he’s completed just 61.4% of his passes and has three turnovers in his last two games. Against Florida, he was 13-of-23 for just 101 yards through the air, and his 24.1 QBR was the worst of his career.
I assure you none of that matters to Stockton. However, it’s hard to keep him ranked above players who are currently performing better, despite the fact that he still leads the conference in passer rating for the season. Saturday against Ole Miss will be a big one.
Russell and Alabama were off last Saturday ahead of their big showdown with LSU this weekend. Russell ranks fifth in FBS in QBR (85.0) and has accounted for 20 touchdowns this season. His 9.3 yards per attempt lead the SEC.
The issue with Russell is that his production has dropped significantly against ranked opponents. He has played four games against top 25 teams and four against unranked teams this year. In those four games against ranked foes, he has four interceptions (out of five total) and has thrown for more than 70 fewer yards per game.
3. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
The mini-slump that Chambliss found himself in seems to officially be over. The 11th-year signal-caller had only completed 51.1% of his passes in his previous two games.
Against Auburn, however, he was back to his normal self. He completed 64.7% of his passes, put up 328 yards of offense and had three touchdowns. His QBR of 94.5 against the Tigers was the highest of his career.
2. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Sellers is arguably the hottest player in the entire country right now. He has been on a tear over his last four games. He averaged 346.8 yards of offense per game in October and finished the month with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Sellers is now reaching the softest part of the Gamecocks’ schedule and is currently on pace for a 37-touchdown and 3,700-yard season in what will most likely be his final year in Columbia.
Leavitt was off last week, but he still remains at the top of the rankings because he’s earned it. What a turnaround from September to October. Leavitt increased his completion percentage from 63.8% to 75.7% and his passer rating from 143.27 to 168.87. Even more impressive, his pass TD-to-INT ratio went from 5-to-6 to 12-to-2. He also currently leads the SEC, and ranks fourth nationally, in QBR (85.3).
Whatever happened to Leavitt in October needs to keep happening in November. If it does, LSU will be competing in the 12-team playoff.
