How BYU QB Jake Retzlaff Compares to Big 12 Peers Through Two Games

Casey Lundquist | Sep 8, 2024

Sep 6, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Jake Retzlaff (12) passes the ball against the Southern Methodist Mustangs during the first half at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

After a strong showing in week one, BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff struggled against SMU. BYU moved the ball at times, but turnovers plagued Retzlaff throughout. Today, we're going to evaluate Retzlaff's play relative to the other quarterbacks in the conference.

Passing Yards

Starting off with the most basic metric: passing yards. Retzlaff has thrown for 550 yards, ranked 7th out of the 16 starting quarterbacks in the league. Here is the top 10:

Big 12 passing leaders after week two / BYU On SI

The six other Big 12 quarterbacks that didn't crack the top 10 were Cam Rising (346), Avery Johnson (334), KJ Jefferson (333), Sam Leavitt (327), Dequan Finn (307), and Jalon Daniels (289).

Yards Per Attempt

Retzlaff hasn't attempted as many passes as some of the other quarterbacks in the league. In terms of passing yards per passing attempt, Retzlaff ranks fifth out of 16 quarterbacks. Here's the top 10 after two weeks:

Yards per attempt through two weeks / BYU On SI

PFF Grades

PFF grades are a great way to split out the impact a quarterback had on a game versus the pure statistical output. For example, Retzlaff threw a 57-yard touchdown in week one that traveled 60 yards in the air. That's a much more difficult throw than a screen pass that goes for 57 yards. That's where stats like passing yards and touchdowns can be misleading. PFF strips out the noise and compares how a quarterback performed relative to the situations that they were put in. Were they making the right reads? How did they perform under pressure? Were they taking care of the football? Were they throwing receivers open or throwing to wide open receivers? All those things go into PFF grades.

Retzlaff was one of the top quarterbacks in the Big 12 after week one, but he dropped off in week two (minimum 20 drop backs).

1. Noah Fifita - 85.5
2. Shedeur Sanders - 85.3
3. Alan Bowman - 81.3
4. Josh Hoover - 78.2
5. KJ Jefferson - 77.4
6. Avery Johnson - 72.4
7. Garrett Greene - 72.4
8. Sam Leavitt - 70.2
9. Brendan Sorsby - 70.1
10. Jake Retzlaff - 69.2
11. Rocco Becht - 68.0
12. Cam Rising - 62.9
13. Behren Morton - 62.7
14. Jalon Daniels - 61.7
15. Donovan Smith - 57.9
16. Dequan Finn - 53.5

PFF Passing Grade

Turnovers are weighing down Retzlaff's overall PFF grade. In terms of passing grades, Retzlaff has one of the higher grades in the conference.

1. Shedeur Sanders - 85.6
2. Noah Fifita - 84.7
3. Alan Bowman - 80.2
4. Josh Hoover - 76.9
5. Jake Retzlaff - 75.4
6. Garrett Greene - 71.8
7. Avery Johnson - 71.5
8. Brendan Sorsby - 70.9
9. KJ Jefferson - 68.0
10. Rocco Becht - 67.2
11. Behren Morton - 63.9
12. Cam Rising - 62.1
13. Sam Leavitt - 62.1
14. Jalon Daniels - 61.5
15. Donovan Smith - 57.5
16. Dequan Finn - 49.8

Despite a rocky performance against SMU, Retzlaff ranks in the top 10 by most measures. If Retzlaff can clean up the turnovers, he has the chance to lead BYU to more wins and continue climbing these rankings. If he doesn't clean up the turnovers, however, his upside will be offset by downside. Cleaning up the turnovers is the top priority for the BYU offense heading into next week's road contest at Wyoming.