Top 5 Quarterback Performances of Week 3 College Football: Michael Penix Jr., Kaidon Salter, more

September 18, 2023

Justin's NCAA college football top quarterbacks from Week 3 of the 2023 season. Top performers include Michael Penix Jr. and Kaidon Salter.

Week 3 of the college football season is now behind us. While this isn't traditionally the best week of non-conference play, there were still some really good football games played on Saturday. No. 11 Tennessee was upset by Florida and No. 15 Kansas State lost to Missouri, so we'll see some shake-up in the AP poll this week.

This week saw four quarterbacks throw for over 400 yards. Three of those players are mentioned below. The fourth, UNC's Drake Maye, threw for 414 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Minnesota, but he was picked off twice as well.

Below are the top five quarterback performances from Week 3 of the college football season. These are judged through a combination of statistics, fantasy scoring, and game context, with consideration also given based on the team's offensive systems. Let's take a look at this week's top performances.

5. Garrett Shrader - Syracuse

Syracuse's Garrett Shrader had himself a game on the ground on Saturday in the Orange's win over Purdue. He carried the ball 25 times, finishing with 195 yards and four touchdowns.

Now, his passing numbers were pretty bad, so he gets dinged for that. Shrader was 14-for-28 for 184 yards and an interception. But when you factor in the rushing, his day looks incredible.

I think a big question here is where did this come from. Shrader's always been a quarterback who uses his legs, but he hadn't had more than 40 rushing yards since the Clemson game last October. Last week, he had just three rushing attempts against Western Michigan.

But it looks like Syracuse realized that letting Shrader cook with his legs is a winning strategy. He'll be a fun player to watch as the season rolls along.

4. Darren Grainger - Georgia State

It's still early, but it looks like Georgia State quarterback Darren Grainger has made a leap this season. In 2022, the Panthers quarterback completed 58.6% of his pass attempts with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions. This season, he's completed 73.4% of his attempts with six touchdowns and no interceptions.

Grainger threw for under 200 yards in both of the team's first two games, though he did have 142 rushing yards and a touchdown last week against UConn. This week against Charlotte, Grainger let his arm do the talking.

Grainger, who started his college career at Furman, was 27-for-33 for 466 yards with three touchdown passes. He also added a rushing score as well. It was the most passing yards that Grainger's thrown in a game, and he now hasn't thrown an interception since Nov. 12 last year against Louisiana-Monroe.

Could Georgia State make some noise in the Sun Belt? The team's 3-0 now, with two of those wins coming against fellow FBS schools. We'll get a better idea of who this Panthers team is next week when they begin conference play against Coastal Carolina.

3. Dillon Gabriel - Oklahoma

Dillon Gabriel's first season at Oklahoma didn't go as well as expected. The former UCF quarterback was fine for the Sooners, throwing for 3,168 yards and 25 touchdowns with six interceptions. But fine just ain't good enough in Norman.

This year, Gabriel's shown massive improvement. Through three games, he's completed 82.5% of his pass attempts with 11 touchdowns and just one interception.

Those numbers all took a jump after OU just demolished Tulsa's defense on Saturday. Gabriel was 28-f0r-31 for 421 yards and five touchdowns. He did throw an interception, but I'll excuse that considering he completed 90.3% of his passes. That's just unheard of. I'm sure he'll stop having historical completion rate numbers at some point, but right now Gabriel is playing elite football.

2. Kaidon Salter - Liberty

Kaidon Salter's first full season as the starter for Liberty has gone well. Not only have the Flames started the season 3-0, but Salter has played increasingly better each week.

After completing just 55% of his passes in the season opener against Bowling Green, Salter's been at or above 60% in the past two games. On Saturday in a win over Buffalo, he threw for a season-high 344 yards with five touchdowns. He's now at nine touchdowns and no interceptions this season as he's taken care of the football well for Liberty.

He also added plenty of value with his legs as well. Salter carried the ball 10 times, gaining 66 yards and finding the end zone once. He now has three rushing scores over the past two games. The dual-threat quarterback is going to have Liberty gunning for the Conference USA title in its first season in the conference.

1. Michael Penix Jr. - Washington

Another week, another huge performance from Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who now leads the FBS in passing yards with 1,332 of them through three games. He's one of three Pac-12 quarterbacks in the top 10 in passing yards.

Penix completed a season-high 77.1% of his pass attempts in Saturday's win over Michigan State, throwing for 473 yards and four touchdowns. He didn't have a rushing attempt in the game.

Through three games, Penix has completed over 70% of his passes three times, and he has 400-plus yards in every game. Opposing defenses just haven't figured out an answer for him. His offensive line has done a good job keeping him upright, as he's been sacked just once all season.

At this point, Penix is threatening to surpass Caleb Williams in the Heisman race. There's still a lot of football left to play, but if Penix keeps this up, he's going to have a great shot at that. And he's also going to see his name pushing higher and higher up the NFL draft board.

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