While two-thirds of the Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks who began this season in the top spot on the depth chart also started in the most recent game for their teams, there have been some game-changing switches.
Texas A&M (7-1, 5-0) is the only team in the first season of the 16-team Southeastern Conference going into November without a league loss. The Aggies, who rose four spots to 10th in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, still have that SEC distinction thanks to redshirt freshman Marcel Reed replacing an ineffective starter in the second half last Saturday night and immediately sparking a 31-point surge to beat LSU (6-2, 3-1).
Earlier that day, Tulsa rallied from a 28-point halftime deficit against the University of Texas at San Antonio with backup quarterback Cooper Legas. The second-biggest comeback in school history made him the AP national player of the week.
Atlantic Coast Conference newcomer SMU (7-1, 4-0) hasn’t lost since Kevin Jennings took over as the starter in the fourth game, a week before the No. 20 Mustangs went into conference play. The third-year, dual-threat sophomore replaced Preston Stone. The incumbent starter, Stone had a 13-3 record — but his only three series during an 18-15 home loss to undefeated No. 9 BYU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) were all of the three-and-out variety and he was sacked on each possession.
“Once you make a switch like that, there’s usually not any going back,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “It wasn’t like we were trying to find our quarterback and didn’t know who could play. … And so when you make a switch like that, you know it’s a permanent switch. It’s not ‘Hey, let’s try it out for a game.’ It’s a switch for not only this year, it’s a switch for your future.”
Jennings was the quarterback for SMU’s win in the American Athletic Conference championship game last December after Stone broke his leg in the regular-season finale.
Texas A&M trailed 17-7 when Reed replaced Conner Weigman midway through the third quarter against LSU, right after the Aggies got an interception. Reed ran 8 yards for a touchdown on his first snap, then put them ahead with two more touchdown runs by the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Reed started and won three games in September when Weigman was injured. Weigman was in his third game back when the understudy took over, running nine times for 62 yards and completing both of his passes for 70 yards.
After Elko said this week that he hadn’t decided how to handle the quarterback situation moving forward, the Aggies coach was asked about playing more than one.
“I think the possibility’s there for a lot of things,” he said. “We just have enough wrinkles within our system that we can tailor it to who the quarterback is. … So when the offense isn’t firing or isn’t being efficient enough and you feel like you have an opportunity to try to inject some life into the game, that’s kind of what you do.”
AP photo by Jason E. Miczek / Tulsa quarterback Cooper Legas looks for an open receiver during an Oct. 19 game against host Temple in Philadelphia.Legas started Tulsa’s previous game at Temple before getting replaced in that loss by regular starter Kirk Francis, who then came out of the UTSA game in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
The Golden Hurricane trailed 20-0 before Legas had the first of his five touchdown passes; the last two came in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the 46-45 win that improved Tulsa to 3-5 by ending a three-game losing streak. The graduate transfer from Utah State transfer threw for 333 yards.
“Cooper’s a great leader,” tight end Luke McGary said. “He came in with a presence. He really did. Cooper really set the standard of what we need to do.”
Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson would say not say who the team’s starting quarterback would be this week.
There are 134 FBS teams this season, and 69 have had the same starting quarterback for every game. Another 20 have gotten their season-opening starters back after they missed games.
SMU and No. 13 Indiana are the only AP Top 25 teams that in their last game didn’t have the same starter who opened the season.
Sixth-year player Kurtis Rourke started the first seven games for the undefeated Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) before surgery on his injured right thumb. Coach Curt Cignetti is optimistic that the Ohio transfer, who just turned 24, can return Saturday at Michigan State.
There are 21 ranked teams that have had the same starting quarterback all season, including No. 3 Penn State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten). But the Nittany Lions are unsure about Drew Allar’s status for Saturday’s conference showdown against No. 4 Ohio State (6-1, 3-1) because of an apparent left knee injury against Wisconsin last week.
There was one quarterback change not related to injury or ineffective play. UNLV was 3-0 when Matthew Sluka announced his decision to sit out the rest of the season over a $100,000 NIL payment that his agent said was promised but never paid after he agreed to transfer from Holy Cross last winter. His agent said Wednesday that Sluka has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
Hajj-Malik Williams has since been a dual threat for the Rebels (6-2, 2-1 Mountain West). The graduate transfer from Campbell is one of the nation’s most efficient passers in his five starts, completing 74 of 109 passes (67.9%) for 1,017 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has rushed for 407 yards and five touchdowns.