Stanford's Andrew Luck and Houston's Case Keenum: Who Is the Better Quarterback?

Stanford's golden boy and best thing since John Elway, Andrew Luck, is the consensus best quarterback in the 2012 NFL Draft rankings, but is he the best college quarterback this year?

The premise of merely comparing Luck to Case Keenum initially sounds absurd, I must admit.  

Please note that the argument is not who is the most talented, nor who has the most potential. For that there is no argument: Andrew Luck is just superior in those aspects.  

Though Andrew Luck's past (and future) accolades dwarf anything that Keenum has accomplished, I believe it's fair to create a real comparison of the two in the 2011 college football season.  

The first topic off the board is competition.  Who are they playing?  

Andrew Luck plays in the somewhat competitive newly-expanded Pac-12, while Case Keenum plays for a cellar-dweller conference, C-USA.  

Thus far, Stanford has played only two ranked teams, an undeserving Washington team and sanction-bound USC.  The blowout win against Washington was impressive, but the three-overtime victory against USC was not.  

Houston has not played a ranked team, but they beat the same UCLA team that Stanford beat as well.

Both quarterbacks shredded the floundering Bruins offense.  

Stanford is certainly playing tougher competition, but not nearly stiff enough to rank them over an undefeated Big 12, SEC or Big 10 team.  

In reality, the strength of the both teams' schedules to date (yet to be played future games are excluded), has not differed a whole lot.  Both have faced many teams with terrible defenses.

What about supporting cast?  Stanford is a team laden with NFL-ready talent, including two offensive linemen—one being left tackle Jonathan Martin.  

Case Keenum and the Houston Cougars have very little to work with.  Playing in Conference USA doesn't exactly help the coaches with recruiting.  It's about as difficult as selling Ohio State jerseys to Michigan fans.  

Stanford also has a potent rushing attack that ranks 19th in the nation with over 215 yards-per-game, and 24 total touchdowns.  Having an effective ground game has kept the defenses honest, allowing Andrew Luck more freedom and security to throw the ball.  

Houston's ground attack only ranks 60th in the nation, and fifth in their own conference, with 159 yards-per-game and 20 touchdowns.  Those are respectable numbers, but the Houston running backs aren't nearly as dangerous as Stanford's Stepfan Taylor.  

Overall, Andrew Luck's supporting cast is far superior to that of Keenum's.  

Numbers can be trumped by intangibles when it comes down to "who is better," but while Andrew Luck has the intangibles, Case Keenum has the numbers.

Stats don't mean everything in college football, but when you have great numbers you will likely be winning games.  Both quarterbacks are proven winners, leading their respective teams to the ranks of undefeated teams this season.  

Here are those numbers:

Andrew Luck

Passing yards:  2,218

Completion:  71.9 percent

Yards-per-game:  277.3

Quarterback rating:  176.94

Touchdowns:  23

Interceptions:  Four

Case Keenum

Passing yards:  3,219

Completion:  71.9 percent

Yards-per-game:  402.4

Quarterback rating:  194.06

Touchdowns:  32

Interceptions:  Three

As you can see from the numbers, Case Keenan's passing attack has been not only more prolific, but more efficient than Andrew Luck's.  

Some would argue that Keenum's stats are highly inflated due to the weak competition he plays against.  As I addressed before, however, Keenum has little to work with. The talent he plays with is so similar to the talent he plays against.  

Scoffing at Keenan's ridiculous numbers would seem hypocritical as well, as Boise State's Kellen Moore is a yearly Heisman finalist.  Though many will argue against awarding him the trophy, very few will deny Moore's talent (NFL stock aside).  

Looking at the simply pure yardage and touchdowns that each quarterback has contributed to his team could tell many different stories.  Does Keenum have those stats out of necessity for his team? Could Andrew Luck have a whole lot more yardage if his team needed it out of him?  Has it not been required due to Stanford's workhorse running backs?

The list goes on.  

Regardless, the numbers are there and Case Keenum's stats are just superior in every way, other than completion percentage.  Andrew Luck has a great offense to help him at Stanford, whereas Case Keenum is the offense at Houston.  

Andrew Luck, as a package, is a better quarterback.  He's taller, stronger, faster, (smarter?), etc., etc.

But in Week 10 of the 2011 college football season, Case Keenum has been the better quarterback.  

Many would discredit any argument based mostly on statistics, but in this case numbers do not lie, and neither do Keenum's nine touchdowns in one game.  

One more solid stat to consider is this:  The 2011 season is not the first time that Case Keenum bombarded opposing defenses with his throwing finesse.  In 2009, Case Keenum passed for 5,632 yards and 44 touchdowns.

It doesn't matter where you play or who you play against. In college football, 5,000 passing yards is a lot.