Positive Impact Factor Top 10: November 18
Ryan Tannehill Finds the Top Ten
There are two newcomers to the Top Ten this week that were unranked last week: Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill and North Texas' Riley Dodge. Both of their teams had played other quarterbacks that did not perform nearly as well earlier in the year. After meeting the minimum number of touches for the leaderboard, Tannehill and Dodge's numbers were good enough to propel them into the Top Ten of the Positive Impact Factor Standings. Dodge's appearance in the Top Ten and the Mean Green's improved play of late is a little bit of vindication for Michael Felder who picked UNT to win the Sun Belt this season. Trent Steelman leads the Top Ten for the fifth straight week. In fact, the first five players in the Standings from last week didn't budge this time around.
If you're new to the PIF ratings, here's a quick primer (or, check out a podcast about the PIF): 100 point scale based on passing, rushing and receiving contribution (touches) to one's team. Total TD reflects passing+rushing+receiving (or maybe even fumble recovery) TD. Negative plays are defined as incompletions, fumbles and sacks taken. Extremely negative plays are interceptions and fumbles lost. Extremely positive plays are touchdowns. The PIF rating is calculated using the following formula:
Negative plays (incompletions, fumbles, sacks) divided by total touches (pass attempts, rush attempts, catches)=negative play percentage (Neg Play). Extremely negative plays (INTs/incompletions plus fumbles lost/rush attempts) multiplied times 2=extremely negative play factor (XNeg Play). Total TD divided by total touches=extremely positive play factor (XPos Play). 100-Neg Play+XNeg Play(total negative number)+XPos Play=PIF.
The complete PIF standings can be seen here: 1-36, 37-74, 75-112, 113-117. To see previous weeks, click the date: October 1, October 7, October 14, October 21, October 28, November 4, November 11. Top Ten Overview and Miscellany are after the table.
| Rank | QB | Team | Touches | Total TD | Neg Play | XNeg Play | XPos Play | PIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. — | Trent Steelman | Army | 253 | 16 | 20.9 | 9.8 | 6.3 | 75.5 |
| 2. — | Cam Newton | Auburn | 406 | 39 | 20 | 19 | 9.6 | 70.6 |
| 3. — | Dan Persa | Northwestern | 466 | 24 | 25.3 | 12.4 | 5.2 | 67.4 |
| 4. — | Chandler Harnish | Northern Illinois | 311 | 18 | 26 | 13.4 | 5.8 | 66.3 |
| 5. — | Ricky Dobbs | Navy | 306 | 19 | 22.9 | 17.7 | 6.2 | 65.6 |
| 6. NR | Ryan Tannehill | Texas A&M | 180 | 12 | 27.8 | 14 | 6.7 | 64.9 |
| 7. ↑2 | Austin Davis | Southern Miss | 442 | 20 | 32.6 | 7.6 | 4.5 | 64.3 |
| 8. ↓2 | Colin Kaepernick | Nevada | 374 | 32 | 24.9 | 19.5 | 8.6 | 64.2 |
| 9. ↓1 | Robert Griffin III | Baylor | 502 | 28 | 29.3 | 12.8 | 5.6 | 63.5 |
| 10.NR | Riley Dodge | North Texas | 205 | 9 | 32.2 | 11.1 | 4.4 | 61.1 |
Top Ten Overview
Trent Steelman led Cam Newton by only a single point in the Top Ten last week. Therefore, Steelman couldn't have picked a better time to have his best performance of the season (as far as PIF goes) than his most recent game against Kent State. The 45-28 win made Army bowl eligible for the first time since 1996. Steelman was 9/10 passing for 149 yards. He only rushed for 37 yards on 13 carries, but had two rushing scores. Overall, Steelman had the 8th highest rated game this season with a PIF plus game of 104.3. Newton threw an INT in Auburn's win over Georgia, but his 4 total TD's helped him stay ahead of Northwestern's Dan Persa. Persa threw the game-winning TD (and ruptured his Achilles tendon on the play) at the end of a 91 yard drive against Iowa. Persa had 2 passing TDs, 1 INT and 1 rushing TD in the 21-17 win. Chandler Harnish played on Tuesday last week for NIU so his PIF remains the same as in the previous Standings. Ricky Dobbs was held out of Navy's win vs. CMU due to injury. Ryan Tannehill has been playing lights out for Texas A&M. He's started the last four games for the Aggies and they've won all four games. Tannehill had 1 TD pass and 280 yards passing in Texas A&M's win over Baylor. Austin Davis moved up two spots this week and led Southern Miss to a 31-21 victory over UCF. Davis threw for 264 yards, rushed for 41 yards and had 4 TD passes in the game. Nevada beat Fresno St. 35-34 and Colin Kaepernick had a lot to do with it. He dropped two spots this week largely because of his sixth INT of the season. Kaepernick also had 2 rushing TDs, 153 rushing yards and 171 passing yards in the win. Despite the loss to Texas A&M, Robert Griffin III moved up one place this week. Griffin had no turnovers and threw for 212 yards on 28/38 passing, rushed for 91 yards and scored 1 rushing TD. Lastly, Riley Dodge checked in at 10th place in the first week that he was eligible for the leaderboard. In a win over Middle Tennessee State, Dodge threw for 167 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT for North Texas. Dodge also picked up 48 yards on the ground. The Mean Green are 2-1 since Dodge has been reinstalled as the starter for the Mean Green. All three of North Texas' wins this year have come with Dodge as the sole QB.
Dropped Out: Denard Robinson, Michigan; Andy Dalton, TCU
Miscellany
#19 Denard Robinson (Michigan) had multiple turnovers in his last game which allowed #2 Cam Newton (Auburn) to take over the FBS lead in lowest percentage of negative plays. An incompletion, sack or fumble occurs on only 20% of Newton's touches.
#21 Dominique Davis (ECU) is second behind Cam Newton in total TDs with 38. Davis produces a TD on 7.1% of his touches.
#94 Boo Jackson (Ohio) threw an INT (his 14th of the season) in his last game on Tuesday night in a win over Temple. Jackson has thrown an INT on 18.2% of his incompletions (which is the worst percentage in the FBS).
The highest ranked Pac 10 QB is #30 Ryan Katz (Oregon State) with a 54.7. No Pac 10 QB has been in the Top Ten in this season's rankings.
