QPI — Quarterback Performance Index

QPI v1.0

2026 Quarterback Rankings

A transparent, opponent-aware measure of college quarterback performance.

— ranked quarterbacks

Rank	Quarterback	Team	QPI	Passing	Rushing	Sample

QPI v1.0

How QPI Works

QPI is a transparent, opponent-aware measure of observed college quarterback performance. It is designed to explain not just who performed well, but how they did it.

What QPI measures

QPI rewards quarterbacks who consistently produce efficient offense while accounting for opponent strength, sacks, and rushing contribution.

Passing Performance

QPI evaluates four dimensions of passing:

Success How consistently the passing offense stays on schedule and produces successful plays.

Efficiency Passing efficiency adjusted for the quality of defenses faced.

TD Creation Passing touchdown production relative to opponent strength.

Sack Avoidance How effectively the quarterback avoids drive-killing sacks.

Rushing Value

QPI also credits quarterbacks for the scoring value they create as runners. It uses situational rushing value rather than simply rewarding raw rushing yards.

Opponent Context

Passing efficiency and touchdown creation are adjusted using opponent defensive strength. That means the same box-score performance can be valued differently depending on the quality of the defense it came against.

How the model was built

QPI's formula was derived from recent historical college football performance data and tested on seasons excluded from model training.

The formula is fixed for QPI v1.0. Future methodology changes will be released as new versions rather than silently changing the meaning of previous rankings.

Weekly rankings

QPI rankings begin after Week 3. A quarterback must have at least 30 season passing attempts and at least two QPI context games to appear in the rankings.

Players with fewer than 50 passing attempts are marked as a limited sample rather than removed from the leaderboard.

What QPI is not

QPI is not a projection, recruiting rating, NFL scouting grade, or attempt to perfectly isolate the quarterback from his teammates and scheme.

It measures what happened on the field and provides a consistent statistical framework for comparing those performances.

Technical Methodology

QPI v1.0 Formula

The public component scores are percentile-based, allowing different types of quarterback performance to be combined on a common scale.

Passing Score

Success 37.7%

Opponent-adjusted efficiency 37.0%

TD creation 12.7%

Sack avoidance 12.6%

Overall QPI

Passing 82.5%

Rushing 17.5%

Interception Avoidance

Interception avoidance is displayed on player profiles but carries no independent QPI v1.0 weight. During model development, it did not add meaningful explanatory value after the other passing components were included.

Validation

QPI was tested by repeatedly fitting the model while withholding an entire season, then evaluating it on the unseen season. The model structure remained stable across those tests.

Current limitations

QPI does not completely separate quarterback performance from receivers, offensive line play, scheme, and other supporting factors.
Some opponent adjustments are more developed than others.
QPI v1.0 does not yet include a fully validated opponent adjustment for every FCS game.
QPI does not perform film-based play attribution or scouting evaluation.