Iowa football: Nate Stanley playing like a top-3 Big Ten QB

Through the first quarter of the season, Iowa football quarterback Nate Stanley has risen to the top of the Big Ten QB rankings.

It doesn’t matter how you slice and dice the metrics, the Iowa football team’s senior quarterback Nate Stanley will not come out on top of all Big Ten quarterbacks. He’s often not even in the top-5.

Look at passer rating (8th), yards (10th), touchdowns (7th), or completion percentage (6th). Nate Stanley doesn’t rank so high.

Heck, even Pro Football Focus’ “unbiased” scouting barely has Nate Stanley in the top-5.

But I’m here to tell you, Iowa football fans should be happy because Nate Stanley, despite what specific statistics say, has been playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten. The only guys I would put in front of him is Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Penn State’s Sean Clifford, and here’s why.

First off, no Iowa football quarterback is going to be at the top of the leaderboard in volume-based statistics (yards and touchdowns), and considering the Hawks have played just three times, that holds even truer. Judging Stanley purely on these statistics isn’t good analysis. I’ll give you that QB rating and PFF’s passer rating don’t take into account those items as much and Stanley still falls behind, but I’ll get to that in a second.

Secondly, here are a few stats that do matter. Zero. As in 0 interceptions thrown by Nate Stanley this season. Only three other starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten have thrown zero interceptions (Justin Fields and Sean Clifford). Undefeated. As in the Iowa football team is currently undefeated, and in large part, because of Nate Stanley. There are only five teams that are undefeated in the Big Ten, and let’s be honest, Minnesota shouldn’t be. And finally, let’s look at sacks. Only Elijah Sindelar has been sacked less than Nate Stanley and thrown more passes.

Third, what Nate Stanley does in the Iowa football team’s offense is much more complex and intense than most of the quarterbacks in the Big Ten but especially Wisconsin’s Jack Coan who ranks higher than Stanley in many statistical categories but also plays with, arguably, the nation’s top running back. Coan is asked to do a few play-action passes each game and throw the ball under 15 times whereas Stanley is asked to shoulder the load.

And finally, to make sure Nebraska fans understand why Nate Stanley is better than Adrian Martinez right now because unless I put it in clear as day writing, they won’t. Nebraska has already lost a game (and likely will lose against Ohio State), Martinez has been slightly reckless (albeit behind a bad offensive line) and has thrown two interceptions and been sacked ten times.

Nate Stanley is winning ball games while shouldering the offensive load. He’s playing smart football. He has improved his accuracy, and save for Justin Fields and Sean Clifford, he has been the best quarterback in the Big Ten and undoubtedly the best quarterback in the Big Ten West.