They did both have their 2nd best games of the year (by QBR) against MSU. O'Connell's only higher was against Iowa, and Stroud's was Rutgers.
I wonder how many other QBs fit that bill?
Hunter Johnson (Northwestern) had technically his highest, but he also only played one other complete game.
D'Eriq King (Miami) had his highest too, but again, got hurt, and didn't play again, and his QBR of 51.2 wasn't actually good.
Adrian Martinez (Nebraska) had his 6th best
Bailey Zappe (WKU) had his 8th best
Noah Vedral (Rutgers) actually had his 2nd worst, he was only lower against Wisconsin
Jack Tuttle (Indiana) had his 3rd worst, but it was the only time he played the whole game
Cade McNamera had his 3rd best. He has the most consistent performance across the season. He was between 81 and 90 in 8 of 12 games.
Taulia Tagovailoa had his 2nd worst. Only Iowa held him lower
Sean Clifford had his 3rd best
So that was a disappointing exercise. Sort of all over the place. I will say, the bend, but don't break, and don't give up red zone touchdowns, helped hold that down, because they gave up a lot of empty yards. Then their two losses were against the two QBs that scored touchdowns, not field goals. So it's not that surprising.
