Berry Tramel: Playoff shows that college football quarterbacking is not what it once was

The 2018 College Football playoff quarterbacks were Alabamas Tua Tagovailoa, OUs Kyler Murray, Clemsons Trevor Lawrence and Notre Dames Ian Book.

Three superstars and Book.

A year later, Lawrence was back, joined by Louisiana States Joe Burrow, OUs Jalen Hurts and Ohio States Justin Fields.

Four superstars; quarterbacks who finished 1-2-3-7 in Heisman Trophy voting (Burrow, Hurts, Fields, Lawrence).

Five years later, the playoff semifinal quarterbacks are Ohio States Will Howard, Texas Quinn Ewers, Penn States Drew Allar and Notre Dames Riley Leonard.

Good players all, great players none.

None so much as finished in the top 10 of the Heisman voting.

None made first-team all-conference.

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opens in Tulsa The CFPs marquee game is the Cotton Bowl, which matches Ohio State and Texas, quarterbacked by Howard and Ewers, who square off Friday night in Arlington.

They were third-team all-conference, which seems about right to us here in Big 12 country, considering they spent the previous few years in the Big 12 and never once reminded anyone of Vince Young or Baker Mayfield.

Something is changing in college football.

Supreme quarterbacking is in shorter supply and clearly not necessary for elite success.

Weve seen it drift this direction for a couple of seasons, and now its taken root.

The best quarterbacks arent on the best teams.

The nations two most-decorated quarterbacks were Oregons Dillon Gabriel and Miamis Cam Ward.

Gabriel placed third in the Heisman voting, made a few all-American teams and was all-Big Ten; his Ducks were top-seeded in the playoff but were wiped out by Ohio State 41-21 in the Rose Bowl.

Ward placed fourth in the Heisman, was consensus all-American and was all-Atlantic Coast Conference; his Hurricanes missed out on the 12-team playoff.

The other quarterbacks in the top 10 of Heisman voting? Armys Bryson Daly, sixth; Colorados Shedeur Sanders, eighth; Indianas Kurtis Rourke, ninth; and Syracuses Kyle McCord, 10th.

From that group, only Rourke made the playoff, and the Hoosiers got in only through the combination of a ridiculously-easy schedule and a simple-minded selection committee.

The Associated Press all-conference quarterbacks this season? Southeastern Conference: Ole Miss Jaxson Dart first-team, Vanderbilts Diego Pavia second-team.

Big 12: Sanders, Arizona States Sam Leavitt.

Big Ten: Gabriel, Rourke.

ACC: Ward, McCord.

The juggernauts that dominated college football for darn near a decade Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma dont have the quarterbacking they had just a few years ago.

Some of them still are winning big, but they dont have the corner on quarterbacks.

I guess we can credit or blame, point of view is everything the transfer portal, which has turned the sport transient these days.

Talent has flattened, and that includes quarterbacks.

Trot out name/image/likeness as a likely suspect, too.

Quarterbacks cost big money these days; just like in the National Football League, spend too much on a QB, and youve limited your ability to load up the rest of the roster.

We can see the change even locally.

OU went dang near two decades with an assembly line of epic quarterbacks.

This season, at least 13 SEC teams had better quarterbacking than did the Sooners.

OSU had good (Zac Robinson, Clint Chelf, Spencer Sanders) to great (Brandon Weeden, Mason Rudolph) quarterbacking most of the Mike Gundy era.

But the Cowboys have struggled at the position the last couple of years, with no savior in sight.

Gabriel and Ward were on the open market in December 2023; neither ended up at Ohio State, which had a superb roster but thought it could do better than McCord at quarterback.

The Buckeyes settled for Howard, who was let go by Kansas State.

Michigan won the 2023 national championship and went through three quarterbacks in 2024, none of them as good as Jackson Arnold or Alan Bowman.

Georgia (Carson Beck) and Alabama (Jalen Milroe) had quarterbacking disappointments.

In the Big 12, Kansas (Jalen Daniels) and Arizona (Noah Fifita) were armed with star QBs; neither played to that level.

Heck, Lincoln Riley had mediocre quarterbacking at Southern Cal, with Miller Moss and Jordan Maiava.

If Riley is susceptible to quarterback problems, its a pandemic.

Even the playoff quarterbacking has been nothing special.

Notre Dames Leonard has been solid.

Penn States Ollar has been OK.

Arizona States Leavitt showed heart.

Boise States Maddux Madsen hung in there.

Gabriel was smothered by Ohio States superiority.

Tennessees Nico Iamaleava didnt do much.

Neither did Rourke or Georgias Gunnar Stockton.

Southern Methodists Kevin Jennings looked out of his league.

Only three quarterbacks really distinguished themselves.

Clemsons Cade Klubnik was excellent against Texas, and in their two distinct playoff games, Big 12 veterans Ewers has played well (hell forever have the 4th-and-13 throw against Arizona State) and Howard has played great.

The same Ewers who against Oklahoma teams in his career has thrown 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The same Howard who in four games against OSU completed 48 percent of his passes, with six TDs and five interceptions.

Offense isnt what it used to be, and college quarterbacks arent what they used to be, and the nations best teams arent hoarding the great quarterbacks that remain.

Weve seen it coming.

Georgia won back-to-back titles with a good-not-great quarterback, Stetson Bennett.

Michigan won last season with J.J.

McCarthy, who in his final season became a great college quarterback but who was not the shiniest hood ornament on a loaded Wolverine team.

Now the 2024 national championship is going to be won by a team without a great quarterback.

Thats good information for a university trying to figure out how to win big in the new professional and migratory era of college football..

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