Andrew Luck vs. Jake Locker: Battle for the No. 1 Pick?

Quarterback Andrew Luck and the No. 13–ranked Stanford Cardinal will travel to Seattle to take on Jake Locker’s struggling Washington Huskies tomorrow night, and you can bet that there will be a few Buffalo Bills scouts in attendance.

Luck and Locker look to be the cream of the quarterback crop this year, and both have the potential to be top-10 picks in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Sure there are other top-notch quarterback names like Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert and Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett floating out there, but right now it looks to be a battle between these two Pac-10 stars.

It remains to be seen if Luck, who is just a redshirt sophomore and in only his second season as a starter, will decide to forgo his last two years of eligibility in order to head to the NFL early. But with the way he’s been playing to start the season, he’s already shown enough to warrant interest from teams looking for a future franchise quarterback.

In the first eight weeks of the season, we’ve seen the 6'4", 235-pound Stanford signal caller come in and snatch away all the accolades from Locker, who many rated the best available senior prospect coming into the season.

It was Locker who was supposed to be getting all the buzz and attention this year, but after Week 3, it’s been all about Luck.

The sophomore has been exceptional in leading Stanford to a 6-1 mark at the midpoint of the season, while Locker’s Husky team has been the definition of inconsistent behind his often shaky play.

Luck, the son of former NFL quarterback Oliver Luck, has shown every conceivable trait you would want in an NFL quarterback: strong mechanics, fundamentally sound understanding of the game, great arm, leadership intangibles—the list goes on and on.

Locker, on the other hand, has shown that he indeed has a world of potential, possessing a rocket arm and a high degree of athletic ability. But he just hasn’t been able to put it together on a week-to-week basis and display the type of consistency NFL teams want to see out of a top quarterback prospect.

The Washington senior’s terrible game at home against a strong Nebraska defense earlier in the year left many wondering if he was in fact all he was cracked up to be.

There are some such as self appointed scouting guru Mel Kiper who have been questioning Locker’s accuracy as of late, which in my opinion is an unfair knock. If you throw out the bad showing against Nebraska in which he hit just four of his 20 attempts, Locker has completed at least 60 percent of his passes in four of Washington’s other six games.

There are warranted concerns about Locker, but if you wanted to do a strict numbers analysis (which I know isn’t always the best thing to do when evaluating NFL prospects), then he isn’t all that far behind Luck. His 14-4 TD-to-INT ratio compares favorably to Luck’s 19-5 number, and his 1,614 passing yards are just a little shy of Luck’s 1,728 total.

Plus, you also have to take into account that Luck has been sitting in the pocket behind a stronger offensive line and been playing for a much more steadily performing team thus far.

Those counting Locker out of the race for the No. 1 pick should slow down just a bit.

If Locker wants to get back into the competition with Luck, this would be the time to do it. This head-to-head showdown gives him the stage to reclaim his glory, which has been fleeting as of late.

Locker needs to get his team to a bowl this year to show he has credibility as a winner, and beating Stanford and bringing the Huskies even at 4-4 would be a major boost towards bowl eligibility, especially since Washington has tough visits to Oregon and Cal still to come.

The Buffalo Bills, who are now winless through six games and look destined to hold the No. 1 pick next year, are going to be looking for a quarterback in the 2011 Draft and this could serve as a nice little audition for either Locker or Luck.

One game doesn’t fully make a prospect, but it does make an impression. Whoever comes out on top in this one could be winning more than just a game.