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Is Ohio State star C.J. Stroud on track to have the most boring Heisman-winning season of all time? He entered the season as favorite for the award, and he's received little resistance on his path to this point. Sure, there was some adversity in the season-opener vs. Notre Dame as the No. 3 Buckeyes lost wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to injury early in the game. Not to mention, they were also adjusting to life without two of their top three receivers from last year, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, as well as tight end Jeremy Ruckert, who caught more passes than Emeka Egbuka and Marvin Harrison Jr. combined in 2021. 

It was Stroud's worst performance of the season as he finished with only 223 yards passing and two touchdowns, but since then, it's been absolute dominance. That Notre Dame game wasn't projected to be Ohio State's only early-season test, but Wisconsin's been so bad it fired its coach and Michigan State is tied for last in the Big Ten East with Rutgers at 0-3.

Other than Penn State at the end of the month and Michigan at the end of the regular season, I don't see many teams remaining on the Buckeyes' schedule who can keep Stroud from throwing for 300+ while completing 70% of his passes for over 10 yards a pop with four-to-six touchdowns per game.

Throw in a shoulder injury to his primary challenger, Alabama's Bryce Young, and it's looking like Stroud might lead the race from start to finish without ever receiving a serious challenge. He certainly isn't being challenged for the No. 1 spot in these rankings right now.

QB Power Rankings
1
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C.J. Stroud Ohio State Buckeyes QB
Ho hum, just another 21-for-26 day with 361 yards and six touchdowns against Michigan State as Ohio State blew past the Spartans 49-20. Stroud leads the nation in passing efficiency, yards per attempt, touchdowns and touchdown rate, and he leads the world by a lot. Oh, and he's doing this while throwing only 26.7 passes per game (79th). There are volume shooters, and there are assassins. Stroud is an assassin. (Previous Ranking: 1)
2
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Hendon Hooker Tennessee Volunteers QB
Hooker didn't have his best game of the season against LSU statistically, but that was partially due to LSU screwing up and leaving the Vols offense with short fields. Nothing I saw in the game made me think Hooker wouldn't have had better numbers if he needed them, and he continued to show more talent with his legs while racking up 56 rushing yards. The biggest game of his career awaits this weekend against Alabama. (4)
3
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Quinn Ewers Texas Longhorns QB
Listen, I said all I needed to say about my thoughts on Quinn Ewers in The Monday After this week. I think he's the best QB in college football. I don't think he's the most accomplished or the most polished, but he's the best QB in the country. We've seen 2.5 games from this kid. He demolished ULM and was 9 of 12 for 134 yards against Alabama before being injured. He returned to action this week and threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns as Texas handed arch-rival Oklahoma its biggest beatdown since a couple of months before Pearl Harbor. He's finally cracked the power rankings, and he's not going anywhere soon. (Not ranked)
4
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Drake Maye North Carolina Tar Heels QB
Maye takes a hit this week after struggling against Miami. The Tar Heels hung on to win the game 27-24, and Maye still finished with 309 yards and averaged 11 yards per attempt, but he threw two interceptions, neither of which had much of an impact on the game's outcome. The Tar Heels star is young, so I want to make sure he understands there are consequences. I'm just as much a teacher as a ranker. (2)
5
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Dorian Thompson-Robinson UCLA Bruins QB
I had concerns about DTR going against a Utah pass rush that was one of the top in the country at pressuring quarterbacks. He quieted them quickly. The UCLA star only threw 23 passes against Utah, but he completed 18 of them for 299 yards and four touchdowns. He ran for a fifth, and the Bruins are 6-0 and in the driver's seat for a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game. (6)
6
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Max Duggan TCU Horned Frogs QB
Duggan's passing stat lines in the last three games are nearly identical. I enjoyed the back-and-forth shootout between him and Kansas' Jalon Daniels before Daniels got hurt. Still, Daniels' understudy, Jason Bean, stepped in and continued to challenge Duggan. In the end, Duggan knew the answer was "Quentin Johnston," and finished with 308 yards passing, 55 yards rushing and four total touchdowns. Now the Frogs have wins over two of their primary Big 12 challengers, which will come in handy given that tie-breakers will probably play a role in the Big 12 standings at the end of the year. (7)
7
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Caleb Williams USC Trojans QB
USC keeps winning, and that's all that matters to the Trojans, but Williams had his second mediocre performance in the last three weeks against Washington State. He completed barely half his pass attempts for 188 yards (6.5 yards per) and two touchdowns. Nationally, Williams ranks outside the top 15 (and sometimes much further down) in the following categories: efficiency (27th), completion rate (51st), yards (20th), yards per attempt (35th), touchdowns (17th) and touchdown rate (25th). There's a solid argument to be made that he shouldn't be in this top 10. Not strong enough to convince me just yet, but strong. (3)
8
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Sam Hartman Wake Forest Demon Deacons QB
Hartman has been banging on the door to enter these rankings since returning to action, and he's finally found the cracks to squeeze through. Wake's 45-10 win over Army wasn't Hartman's best performance (don't get me wrong, it was very good), so this isn't reactionary. It's more an acknowledgment of how good Hartman has been for a while, and with a few guys dropping out this week, I finally had room for him. There's a legitimate argument that Wake is the second-best team in the ACC, and Hartman is a huge reason. (NR)
9
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Grayson McCall Coastal Carolina Chanticleers QB
As I wrote about McCall last week, he's still great, but his team hasn't been as impressive this season. Nor is it playing the kind of schedule that commands attention. Of course, maybe that's for the best right now considering the Chanticleers struggled to put ULM away.  (9)
10
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Bo Nix Oregon Ducks QB
I am considered by many to be a Bo Nix Hater, and I'll admit I understand why I'm given the label. But I don't hate Bo Nix. I just think he's Bo Nix. He's going to ball out against teams that aren't as good as the team on which he plays, and he's going to struggle against teams of similar or superior quality. Oh, and he's going to do something dumb that sometimes his team will pay for, and sometimes it won't, at least once a game. That continues to be the case at Oregon, but Nix isn't facing as many SEC defenses and he's crushing it far more often than not. (NR)

No Longer Ranked: Bryce Young, Alabama; Jalon Daniels, Kansas; D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson

Inches Away: D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson; Todd Centeio, James Madison; Garrett Shrader, Syracuse; Chase Brice, Appalachian State; J.J. McCarthy, Michigan

Would probably be ranked if not for injury: Bryce Young, Alabama; Jalon Daniels, Kansas; Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma