College Football Rankings: 3 QBs Who Will Lift Their Teams Up Rankings

Football may be a team sport, but we all know the quarterback is the centerpiece of any team.

Throughout football’s history, one thing you could almost always count on from a top team was that it had a top quarterback.

This college football season, there are several teams that project to rise up the rankings based on their quarterbacks’ play.

Here are three quarterbacks that will lead their squads past expectations.

3. Kirk Cousins, Michigan State Spartans

In the first two games combined, Kirk Cousins has passed for 405 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Spartans to a 2-0 record.

This is a season after he passed for 2,800 yards and 20 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.

With the Spartans at No. 15 overall in the latest AP poll, Cousins has the ability and the leadership qualities to boost the Spartans even further up the rankings and potentially lead them over Notre Dame, Ohio State and Nebraska.

2. Darron Thomas, Oregon Ducks

We all know what Darron Thomas did with the Ducks last season, helping spark them to the BCS Championship Game along with partner-in-crime LaMichael James.

The Ducks are currently ranked No. 12 in the poll after their season-opening loss to the LSU Tigers, but they were a legitimate title contender before their loss.

This is a very good team, with a star quarterback in Thomas. After throwing for 240 yards, a touchdown and an interception against LSU, Thomas bounced back in a big way against Nevada, tossing for 295 yards and a whopping six touchdowns.

We haven’t heard the last of the Ducks.

1. Andrew Luck, Stanford Cardinal

If you haven’t heard of Andrew Luck by now, you are technically a Martian, so you might want to get that checked out.

Luck, the runner-up for the Heisman award last season, is once again making a case for the prestigious honor this season. He’s passed for 461 yards and six touchdowns to only one interception in his first two games of 2011.

With No. 5 Florida State set to face off with No. 1 Oklahoma on Saturday, the Seminoles could very well fall down the rankings, with Luck and the Cardinal right there to take their place when they do.

This team certainly lost some big players in the offseason, but when you have Andrew Luck, anything is possible.