Which BCS Conference Has the Best College Football Quarterbacks?

The fight for conference supremacy has been going on for quite some time. As a result, we the fans have been duking it out ourselves for any little advantage we can find.

Whether we're fighting over which conference has the best teams, the best coaches, or the best cheerleaders, the conference supremacy argument will always be a part of college football.

Naturally, which conference has the best quarterbacks is going to be one of the more touchy subjects. There's no denying, however, that it is one of the more clearly defined and easily determined aspects of conference supremacy.

Based on a star-rating system of the starting and/or potential starting quarterbacks for the 65 teams in BCS Conferences, these next six slides should settle any and all disputes as to which conference currently has the best signal callers.

No. 6 -- Big East

It's been a while since the Big East has had a top national quarterback. Of course, if this slideshow was about running backs, the Big East would be in the top three easily.

Most of the Big East's quarterbacking issues in 2010 comes from the fact that a lot of teams will be debuting a brand new signal caller.

The top two quarterbacks in the conference are a cut above the rest.

South Florida's B.J. Daniels and Rutgers' Tom Savage were each given three stars in my system. Another three-star, Zach Collaros, however, may end up being the best of the bunch in 2010.

All are light years ahead of the quarterbacks in the rest of the conference.

The Big East QBs received 14 stars overall.

No. 5 -- Big 12

In somewhat of an upset, the Big 12 is next to last.

Why is that an upset? Because for the past four years, names such as Chase Daniels, Todd Reesing, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy have called this conference home.

Gone are those days. Now the Big 12 has names like Zac Lee (two-star), and Tyler Hansen (one-star). Obviously those guys have brought the level of quarterback play to new lows in the Big 12.

Thankfully, Oklahoma's Landry Jones (four-star), A&M's Jerrod Johnson (three-star) and Baylor's Robert Griffin (three-star) are doing what they can to make sure this will be the lowest their conference ever ranks in one of these lists.

The Big 12 has 24 stars overall.

(tie) No. 4 -- ACC

2010 will be a good year for quarterbacks in the ACC.

It's been too easy to pick on this conference for the last five years. Not so this year.

Sure, there's still a few lemons like T.J. Yates at UNC (two-star) and Boston College's Dave Shinskie (two-star). But for every lemon, there's a star at the top of the conference.

Potential stars like Jacory Harris (three-star) of Miami could raise their stock this season. Four-stars Christian Ponder of FSU and Tyrod Taylor of Virginia Tech are likely to end up maxing out their potential in 2010 as well.

Two-star Josh Nesbitt at Georgia Tech could make some strides this season as well, but he has his work cut out for him in that offense.

I gave the ACC 25 stars overall.

(tie) No. 4 -- Big Ten

The Big Ten as a whole will be better in 2010. A lot of change at the quarterback position will hinder that early on, however.

The best of the best will stay the best. Terrelle Pryor (Five-Star), Ricky Stanzi (Three-Star), and Scott Tolzien (Three-Star) are about as good as it gets in the conference.

Tate Forcier (Three-Star) also showed his ability in '09.

Keeping the conference tied with the ACC is a rash of newcomers. Eddie McGee at Illinois, Dan Persa at Northwestern and Penn State's Kevin Newsome (all one-stars) collectively brought down the Big Ten's potential for 2010.

With all that youth, however, 2011 could be a much different story.

The Big Ten has 25 stars overall.

No. 2 -- SEC

This will be the first Tebow-less season in the SEC since '06. That fact is not lost on Florida fans everywhere.

Fortunately for the Gators, Tebow's replacement is three-star John Brantley. With the weapons he has to throw to (potentially), Brantley could wind up atop this list in 2011.

For now, however, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett (Four-Star), even while injured, takes the top billing among SEC signal-callers.

Alabama's Greg McElroy (Three-Star) will enjoy have all of his targets on offense back from last year's National Championship team.

Unfortunately the inconsistency of LSU's Jordan Jefferson and South Carolina's Stephen Garcia (both two-stars) kept the SEC from being the top quarterbacks conference in 2010.

The SEC has 26 stars overall.

No. 1 -- Pac-10

My oh my, is it a good year to be a West Coast college football fan.

Leading the Pac(k) is everyone's pick, Jake Locker (Five-Star) of Washington. Locker would have been the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft this season had he decided to forgo his senior year.

Coming in behind him are a pair of four-stars, Matt Barkley (USC) and Nick Foles (Arizona). Barkley and Foles could easily catch Locker in 2010.

Another four-star is sophomore-to-be Andrew Luck. He might be rated a tad high, but based on potential and a stellar freshman season, I could not see him below a four-star.

Unfortunately it's not all peaches and cream out West.

UCLA's Kevin Prince (two-star) and Cal's Kevin Riley (three-star) each have a lot of proving to do in 2010. Both have potential, but neither have shown they are up to maximizing it.

The Pac-10 has 28 stars total.

Top Ten BCS Quarterbacks for 2010

1. Jake Locker, Washington -- 5 Star
2. Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State -- 5 Star
3. Tyrod Taylor, Virginia Tech -- 4 Star
4. Landry Jones, Oklahoma -- 4 Star
5. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas -- 4 Star
6. Matt Barkley, USC -- 4 Star
7. Nick Foles, Arizona -- 4 Star
8. Christian Ponder, FSU -- 4 Star
9. Andrew Luck, Stanford -- 4 Star
10. Jacory Harris, Miami -- 3 Star