How Important Is A Superstar Quarterback?

Is a marquee quarterback needed to win a National Championship in college football? History poses an interesting scenario. Looking over the last 10 National Champions the answer is clear. To win the National Championship you do not need a superstar. Sure, it helps to be able to have Vince Young carry you all the way. But, is it necessary? NO. This is a list of the starting quarterbacks to win the national championship in the last 10 seasons. And for the purposes of this story both USC and LSU are included in 2003.

1998- TEE MARTIN-TENNESSEE 

1999- CHRIS WEINKE- FLORIDA STATE

2000- JOSH HEUPEL- OKLAHOMA

2001- KEN DORSEY- MIAMI

2002- CRAIG KRENZEL- OHIO STATE

2003- MATT MAUCK- LSU/ MATT LEINART- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

2004- MATT LEINART- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

2005- VINCE YOUNG- TEXAS

2006- CHRIS LEAK- FLORIDA

2007- MATT FLYNN- LSU

Only 2 of these quarterbacks have been drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft. And those 2 are Matt Leinart and Vince Young both drafted in the same draft in 2006. By and large the success of teams in college football has not been exclusively tied to superstar QBs. Also only 2 of these QBs were Heisman winners, Weinke in 00 and Leinart in 04. Also notable is that in the season before they won a National Championship Tee Martin, Matt Leinart and Matt Flynn started no games. Flynn is the only one of the 3 with a start under his belt before his championship season with a win 2 seasons earlier in the Peach Bowl. Craig Krenzel was 1-1 in 2 starts going into his championship season. The most experienced QB is Chris Leak who had strung together a freshman season of 6-3, a sophomore campaign of 7-5 and a junior season of 9-3 before he won it all. Josh Huepel was a nonspectacular 7-5 . There have been some very successful QBs heading into their championship years. Ken Dorsey was 14-1 before his championship season with the Hurricanes, Weinke 9-1 for the Noles, Young was 17-1 leading up to his championship season of 05. Mauck was 5-1 before getting injured against Florida in the sixth game of his sophomore year and being lost for the season. And yes, it is noted that for the last 2 seasons Florida and LSU have utilized a backup quarterback to great success during the season. Tim Tebow and Ryan Perrilloux both played significant snaps for their teams. Both players presented challenges for opposing defenses because of the different skill sets they had from Leak and Flynn, respectively. It will be interesting to track if this is a trend. It may be that a marquee quarterback is not needed, but options at the quarterback position are.