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Colandrea Ranked in Bottom Half of B1G

Husker99 said:
what has pleasantly surprised me the most, is Colandrea's moxie. He clearly has not only command of the offense, but his teammates respect.
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We'd HEARD from Rhule and others during our early Spring practices that Colandrea had a 'high level competitive streak in him' or "Moxie" for short. But given all the stuff we've heard over the past ten years that we later thought differently about, I think we were all in varying degrees of 'let's wait and see' mode.

But what we've seen through the first four game is verifying what people have been telling us all along.
 
Doc Fumble said:
We'd HEARD from Rhule and others during our early Spring practices that Colandrea had a 'high level competitive streak in him' or "Moxie" for short. But given all the stuff we've heard over the past ten years that we later thought differently about, I think we were all in varying degrees of 'let's wait and see' mode.

But what we've seen through the first four game is verifying what people have been telling us all along.
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It is such a distinctly odd feeling to finally seeing actions on the field meet the words spoken in pressers.
 
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Doc Fumble said:
We'd HEARD from Rhule and others during our early Spring practices that Colandrea had a 'high level competitive streak in him' or "Moxie" for short. But given all the stuff we've heard over the past ten years that we later thought differently about, I think we were all in varying degrees of 'let's wait and see' mode.

But what we've seen through the first four game is verifying what people have been telling us all along.
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yep...them "bottom feeders" can surprise you with how much fight they have in them.
 
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GIJoeRed said:
yep...them "bottom feeders" can surprise you with how much fight they have in them.
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Colandrea is a good example that you have to be very careful when it comes to evaluating a QB in this NIL transfer portal era. Same with RBs.

We tend to look at height and weight first when evaluating players for both positions. But it's kind of like evaluating a college applicant based solely on his or her test scores. In all these cases, it's impossible to evaluate a person's 'heart.'

On paper, you'd have never predicted Emmett Johnson would become an All American running back. Same with Barry Sanders.

I'm sure that "Ant's" size is why our coaches were considering the Notre Dame transfer first. But being under six foot (five foot something) didn't stop QBs like Drew Brees, Fran Tarkenton, Doug Flutie or Wisconsin's famous transfer QB, Russell Wilson, from becoming difference makers for their teams.
 
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Nebraska99 said:
Colandrea ranks 22nd in ESPN's QBR rating.
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Reading Neb99's link, my question was WHY in the world would there is such a discrepancy between Pro Football Focus's rating for Colandrea (#3) and ESPN's Rating (#22)?

Here's the answer I got:
Colandrea put up a massive season at UNLV, winning the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year award. When evaluating that performance, the two metrics viewed his tape and numbers through entirely different lenses:
  • Pro Football Focus (PFF): Earned an elite 89.9 overall grade, placing him as the third-highest-rated returning quarterback in the entire Big Ten entering the season.
  • ESPN Total QBR: Posted a modest 69.6 QBR, ranking him around 50th nationally
The concept of the Turnover-Worthy Play (TWP) is one of the single biggest reasons Anthony Colandrea's PFF grades consistently outpace his traditional stat lines or QBR.

This creates a massive divergence from QBR during early games in his career:
  • The "Unlucky" Interception: In Week 2 of the 2026 season against Bowling Green, Colandrea threw a pass that was physically ripped away from his wide receiver's hands by a defender on the way down to the ground.
  • The PFF Valuation: PFF analysts reviewed the tape and charged Colandrea with zero turnover-worthy plays on the day. Because he made a fundamentally correct, accurate decision, PFF kept his baseline grading clean, contributing to his elite 92.0 overall game grade.
  • The QBR Punishment: ESPN’s QBR formula functions through Expected Points Added (EPA). When that interception occurred, Nebraska's mathematical probability of scoring plummeted. QBR's algorithm registers the severe loss of EPA and docks Colandrea heavily, ignoring the nuance that his receiver lost a strength battle for the ball.
It's hard to dig into more specifics regarding ESPN's rating because it's "proprietary." Which makes you wonder why they wouldn't want their evaluation methodology to be transparent?
 
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Nebraska99 said:
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...rterbacks-college-football-power-4-teams-2026
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21. Dante Moore / Dylan Raiola, Oregon Ducks
i

Spring ranking: sixth Total QBR: 83.8 | Pass Yds: 1,339 | Rush Yds: 22 | Total TDs: 14

It's a strange situation in Eugene: Moore has had an undoubtedly disappointing start to the season -- among power conference QBs he's just 28th in Total QBR and 52nd in passing success rate and came up far short in a comeback attempt against Oklahoma State. He's out with a concussion after last week's incident against USC, but Raiola, his very expensive backup, has been great! I assume Moore's numbers will improve after his return, but it's an odd place to be in at the moment.

22. Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska Cornhuskers
i

Spring ranking: 30th Total QBR: 67.4 | Pass Yds: 904 | Rush Yds: 167 | Total TDs: 12

Nebraska hasn't faced a top-50 defense yet, per SP+, but the Huskers are a whopping fifth in points per drive. Sure, that's mostly because of backs Jamal Rule and Mekhi Nelson, but Colandrea is averaging a healthy 8.0 yards per dropback with a 10-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. He is scrambling well and avoiding sacks, and he's moving the chains on third down. Better defenses await, but what a great start in Lincoln.
 
For reference in regards to the title of this thread:

3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State Buckeyes
6. Jayden Maiava, USC Trojans
16. Katin Houser, Illinois Fighting Illini
18. Josh Hoover, Indiana Hoosiers
21. Dante Moore / Dylan Raiola, Oregon Ducks
22. Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska Cornhuskers
26. Aidan Chiles, Northwestern Wildcats
31. Demond Williams Jr., Washington Huskies
32. Ryan Browne, Purdue Boilermakers
33. Bryce Underwood, Michigan Wolverines
39. Hank Brown, Iowa Hawkeyes
40. Rocco Becht, Penn State Nittany Lions
43. Colton Joseph, Wisconsin Badgers
51. Drake Lindsey, Minnesota Golden Gophers
54. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA Bruins
56. Malik Washington, Maryland Terrapins
57. Alessio Milivojevic, Michigan State Spartans
64. Dylan Lonergan, Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Other notables:
1. Darian Mensah, Miami Hurricanes
2. CJ Carr, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss Rebels
5. Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State Bulldogs
10. Lincoln Kienholz, Louisville Cardinals
19. Sam Leavitt, LSU Tigers
29. Arch Manning, Texas Longhorns
48. John Mateer, Oklahoma Sooners
55. Kenny Minchey, Kentucky Wildcats
 
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Quick thought on PFF vs QBR - PFF seems to be weighted on a players potential - how many correct plays do they make and less concerned about actual results. Which makes sense if you are trying to use the information to project how good the player might be in the NFL. QBR seems very tied to outcome of actual games - how did the result of each play impact the game.

I could say they both have value. ESPN is such a $hit show these days I agree the lack of transparency makes we wonder if they load all the numbers and tweak it to ensure high ratings for players on teams they want to focus on for their games (aka SEC). Additionally if ESPN touted a QB for the Heisman you know things are tweaked to ensure those select QBs rank highly on the QBR list.
 
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For a defense to shut down AC - they need to be good enough on the edges to keep him in the pocket and take away run lanes as well. That means either being really good on the Dline or bringing at least an extra rusher pretty much every down. If you can force AC to throw "amongst the trees" of the big linemen - he's going to struggle a bit.
We've done a good job of moving him around and controlling the pass rush to give him options to move up or out of the pocket. IU will do their best to limit how much he can leave the pocket.

Ohio State and Indiana are good enough on D to cause real problems for AC. I don't think anyone else left on the schedule is.
 
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Jimbosc said:
For a defense to shut down AC - they need to be good enough on the edges to keep him in the pocket and take away run lanes as well. ...
Ohio State and Indiana are good enough on D to cause use real problems for AC. I don't think anyone else left on the schedule is.
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With Anthony Colandrea at QB, Nebraska's offense--which we've been grousing about for seemingly forever--FINALLY caught fire.

Indiana's D will be a real test. Credit will go to Indiana's defensive brain trust if they can shut AC10 and Company down enough to win. But I like our chances with Anthony behind center.

FWIW, CFB has a number of modern-day examples of transfer QBs who immediately transformed their team's fortunes. Cam Newton at Auburn (2010), Hendron Hooker at Tennessee (2021), and Caleb Williams at USC (2022) come to mind.

While I wouldn't compare our guy to a future NFL star like Cam Newton or Joe Burrow, I wouldn't mind seeing the same kind of trajectory with the Huskers that LSU made during Joe's 2 seasons: Contender in Year 1 and Natty in Year 2.
 
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