2008 is indisputably the year of the Big 12 QB.  Let’s see….four of the QBs were odds-on favorites at some point this year to win the Heisman.  Three of the top four Heisman Trophy vote getters were Big 12 QBs.  Four different active QBs have finished in the top four in Heisman voting the last two years.  Half the Big 12 QBs finished the year in the top 20 in the nation in passing efficiency.  Ten of the Big 12 QBs finished in the top 50 (only Arnaud and Cody missed out).  And earlier this year, I did a really bad job of ranking the Big 12 QBs, so you know it’s the year of the QB.

Historically, the Big 12 is the conference of the anti-QB.  I can only find rankings since 1999, but it’s clear conference-wide QB success is the exception to the rule.  The Big 12 QB has just not done well compared to the other conferences’ QBs.

 The recent QB play in the Big 12 is a stark contrast from the first 10 years of the conference.  The early days of the Big 12 represent a who’s-not-who in college quarterbacks.  It’s like a really pedantic pain-in-the-ass trivia game. 

 In 1996, the first year of the Big 12, the leaders in passer rating were:  Koy Detmer, Ben Rutz, Richard Walton, James Brown, and Brian Kavanaugh. 

Admittedly, the late ’90s brought some exciting signal callers through the Big 12 – Michael Bishop, Corby Jones, Major Applewhite, Josh Huepel, Eric Crouch….  The early ’00s gave us Kliff Kingsbury (the first of the Raider system QBs), Chris Simms, Brad Smith, Seneca Wallace, Jason White, Bill Whittemore, Ell Roberson….  (Some of the recent success can be attributed to a different style of play, but play has changed nationally and it’s the comprehensive national stature achieved that is so shocking.)  Still, even with a few token QBs of interest, the QB Conference the Big 12 was not. 

In fact, the NFL looks at the Big 12 with great derision.  In its history, the NFL has only seen fit to draft 11 Big 12 QBs, and two of them were drafted for other positions.  For those keeping score at home, the drafted Big 12 QBs are, chronologically:

Koy Detmer, Michael Bishop, Sage Rosenfels, Josh Heupel, Chris Simms, Seneca Wallace, Kliff Kingsbury, BJ Symons, Vince Young, Brad Smith, and Reggie McNeal. 

Iowa State, Texas, and Texas Tech are tied for the lead with two QBs drafted.  Relative quarterback factories, they are.  The ‘07 and ‘08 drafts were free of Big 12 QBs (the League drafted 24 non-Big 12 QBs during that time), yet here we are today, the conference of QBs.  It’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in bacon.  Only one BCS conference has had fewer quarterbacks drafted from ‘96 to the present.

So, maybe the ACC QBs brings more shame to their fans than the Big 12.  Maybe not.  Here are the draft results sorted by number of QBs taken in the first three rounds:

 Even when a Big 12 quarterback gets drafted, it’s more of a flier than a “here’s our QB of the future” pick.  Only Vince Young (first round) and Chris Simms (third) were taken in the top three rounds. 

The NFL quarterbacks trained in their art by a Big 12 school don’t usually succeed either.  Drafted Big 12 QBs have thrown 94 TDs to go with 103 INTs in the League.  The only Big 12 QB who started this past weekend was Seneca Wallace, and that’s because Hasselback’s injured.  No Big 12 QB coming into the 2008 NFL season had thrown for more than 5,000 NFL yards.  Heck, four of the QBs taken haven’t thrown for a single yard.

That’s a lot of goose-eggery.  A pox on our conference. 

We know the past hasn’t looked good.  However, we also know the present looks very good – ten top 50 QBs this year (actually, ten in the top 34 in passer rating).  How about the future?  Well, as far as the NFL goes, Bradford and McCoy are being mentioned as future first round draft picks.  Considering that in the first 12 years, the Big 12 has had one QB drafted in the first round, that’s a pretty good start.  Freeman looks like an NFL QB.  Harrell, Daniel, Robinson, and Reesing might get looks this year or next.

Next year looks like another good year for college quarterbacking in the conference.  McCoy says he’s coming back.  We know Reesing and Robinson will be back.  Jerrod Johnson and Robert Griffin III look like legitimate big play QBs.  Arnaud showed some competence as the year went on. 

The 2008 recruiting class featured three of the top ten QBs committing to Big 12 schools (Jones to OU, Gabbert to Mizzou, and Dorman to A&M).   Thus far, ‘09 has two top tens going the Big 12 route (Green to NU and Gilbert to UT). 

Perhaps the Big 12 can maintain the lofty status as the Quarterback Conference.  That it can again trot out 10 of the top 34 passer rating QBs may be too much to ask, but it certainly has come a long way from the days of Detmer (not the good one), Rutz, and Walton.  Hopefully, for those of us who try to find reasons to follow the NFL, the League will soon start to agree.

Editor’s Note:  The draft data comes from Pro Football Reference.  A cool site with easily searchable databases.  For example, if you get it in your mind to see how many Tiger QBs have been drafted, you can find out in a flash (the answer is 7).