We always learn a lot in Week 1 of the college football season, especially when it comes to the quarterback position. For your reference, I summarized 36 noteworthy quarterback competition winners — named at various points leading up to the summer — and their accompanying Week 1 stats.
Quite a few battles remain up in the air, and we could have as many 10 non-injury related quarterback changes, which I detail below. You will also find a summary of eight quarterback injuries worth monitoring ahead of Week 2.
Quarterback Competition Winners
| Akron — Kato Nelson | 9-14, 62 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| Arizona — Gunner Cruz | 34-45, 336 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT |
| Arkansas St. — James Blackman* | 16-26, 169 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| Baylor — Gerry Bohanon | 15-24, 148 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| Central Michigan — Jacob Sirmon | 23-45, 295 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT |
| Florida Atlantic — N'Kosi Perry | 19-33, 261 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT |
| Florida State — Jordan Travis* | 9-19, 130 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT |
| Georgia Southern — Amare Jones* | 4-7, 45 yards, 19 rush, 98 yards |
| Kansas — Jason Bean | 17-26, 163 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT |
| Louisiana Tech — Austin Kendall | 20-36, 269 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT |
| Michigan — Cade McNamara | 9-11, 136 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT |
| Michigan State — Payton Thorne | 15-25, 185 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT |
| Mississippi State — Will Rogers | 39-47, 370 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT |
| Navy — Tai Lavatai* | 1-6, 8 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 16 rush, 18 yards |
| New Mexico — Terry Wilson | 20-26, 174 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT |
| North Texas — Jace Ruder | 10-21, 131 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT |
| Northwestern — Hunter Johnson | 30-43, 275 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT |
| Ohio — Kurtis Rourke | 21-28, 142 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT |
| Old Dominion — DJ Mack Jr.* | 7-21, 39 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT |
| Ohio State — CJ Stroud | 13-22, 294 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT |
| Oregon State — Sam Noyer | 10-21, 94 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| Rice — Wiley Green | 12-25, 152 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT |
| San Diego State — Jordon Brookshire | 7-20, 115 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT |
| Southern Miss — Trey Lowe | 13-29, 133 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT |
| South Carolina — Zeb Noland* | 13-22, 121 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT |
| Stanford — Jack West | 8-12, 76 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT |
| Tennessee — Joe Milton | 11-23, 140 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT |
| Texas — Hudson Card | 14-21, 224 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT |
| Texas A&M — Haynes King | 21-33, 292 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT |
| Toledo — Carter Bradley | 8-11, 183 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT |
| UConn — Jack Zergiotis* | 17-41, 174 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT |
| UMass — Tyler Lytle | 14-31, 167 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| UL Monroe — Rhett Rodriguez | 9-17, 56 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| UNLV — Justin Rogers* | 7-11, 23 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| Utah State — Logan Bonner | 17-24, 143 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT |
| Washington State — Jarrett Guarantano | 8-13, 56 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT |
| * Update Below | |
Florida State started out with Jordan Travis, but McKenzie Milton came in late and never came back out after Travis left due to his helmet coming off. Interestingly enough, the same exact thing happened with a former FSU signal-caller at Arkansas State. After Blackman lost his helmet, Layne Hatcher came in and dominated the rest of the second half.
DJ Mack did get the start for Old Dominion, who listed three starters at quarterback ahead of Week 1 (Hayden Wolff, Stone Smartt and Mack). Wolff looked much better but played mostly in mop-up duty, while Smartt (who did not attempt a pass) actually led the team in receiving. It's a situation worth monitoring.
Also, I don't think we have a quarterback controversy yet, but Anthony Richardson has some Florida fans calling for him to take over after rattling off a few highlight plays off the bench. Emory Jones did not look sharp.
Anthony Richardson (AR15) is a pure playmaker.
The Gators have a competition at the QB position. pic.twitter.com/iX7P6EwctB
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) September 5, 2021
While Tai Lavatai did get his first start under center for Navy, the sophomore did not have a great outing. He was eventually replaced by Xavier Arline in a game where Navy used four total quarterbacks in a blowout loss to Marshall.
It appears we also have a quarterback controversy at Oregon State. Chance Nolan had a much more efficient day compared to starter Sam Noyer. Head coach Jonathan Smith said he will decide later this week who will start against Hawaii.
For UNLV, Justin Rogers started the game but was replaced by Doug Brumfield, who's expected to start on the road at Arizona State this week.
UConn also made a change at quarterback after head coach Randy Edsall stepped down effective immediately. Steven Krajewski will start at QB over Zergiotis against Purdue on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Stanford head coach David Shaw has indicated Tanner McKee will start vs. USC after coming in off the bench for West in the opener against Kansas State.
In regards to Georgia Southern, former Tulane running back Amare Jones started at quarterback for the triple-option offense. However, he split time with true freshman Cam Ransom, who actually looked pretty good in his first collegiate action.
Lastly, the injured Luke Doty is now listed as a co-starter with Noland for South Carolina ahead of their date with East Carolina.
Army Black Knights
The Black Knights used two quarterbacks in their Week 1 win over Georgia State, but Tyhier Tyler left with an injury. It's not deemed serious but could keep him out against Western Kentucky.
Army does have quite a few options at QB, but Christian Anderson would likely take the majority of reps if the speedy Tyler can't go.
Jeff Monken said QB Tyhier Tyler's injury, "is not a serious injury. It may slow him down or hold him out of the game this weekend. We don't know. It's such a fresh injury. It's not anything that's going to be a long-term deal, which is great." #ArmyFootball
— Black Knight Nation (@BKKnightNation) September 6, 2021
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Jeff Sims left Tech's opening season loss with an injury and was spotted on the sidelines in a sling. Freshman Jordan Yates took over and actually looked a bit better.
Illinois Fighting Illini
Week 1 starter Brandon Peters did not play in a loss vs. UTSA. His status remains uncertain for Saturday's road game against Virginia. If he can't go, Rutgers transfer Art Sitkowski would get the nod again.
#illini Bret Bielema: Brandon Peters will go through practice drills. Not cleared for contact yet. Saturday TBD.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) September 6, 2021
Miami Ohio Redhawks
AJ Mayer started for Brett Gabbert, who injured his knee and thumb in the preseason. Gabbert was listed as the starter for Week 1 and in uniform but reportedly has hardly practiced. Keep an eye on this situation heading into Saturday against Minnesota.
Memphis Tigers
Projected starter Grant Gunnell did not start in Memphis' opener against Nicholls State with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out a few weeks.
True freshman Seth Henigan is expected to start once again this week at Arkansas State.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Spencer Sanders did not play against Missouri State in the Cowboys' opener due to COVID-19 protocols. Head coach Mike Gundy isn't saying much as of now, but I'd expect him to play against Tulsa this upcoming weekend.
Temple Owls
D'Wan Mathis left with an injury in the third quarter of Temple's blowout loss at the hands of Rutgers. The former Georgia transfer was not effective (8-24, 148 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT), but neither was his backup freshman Justin Lynch, who went 0-3 with an interception that got returned for a touchdown.
Head coach Rod Carey has stated Mathis as "week-to-week" ahead of the Owls' Week 2 matchup with Akron.
Washington State Cougars
After an underwhelming debut, former Tennessee transfer Jarrett Guarantano left Washington's State's stunning upset loss with an injury. That paved the way for 2020 starter Jayden de Laura to take over the rest of the way.
#WSU coach Nick Rolovich said he's leaning toward starting Jayden de Laura at QB on Saturday.
Rolovich added that Jarrett Guarantano's status is still uncertain.— Colton Clark (@SpokesmanClark) September 6, 2021
