Illinois Quarterback Katin Houser Leads NCAA in This Passing Stat
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It's only been one week, but Katin Houser already looks like a quarterback that Fighting Illini fans will remember for years to come.
The East Carolina transfer shined in his Illinois debut, a 42-23 win over the UAB Blazers last Thursday. Houser completed 13 of his 17 passes for 182 yards — a stellar 76.5% accuracy — and tossed three touchdowns. He added 29 yards and a score with his legs, giving him four touchdowns and no turnovers on the night. Houser also was not sacked a single time behind the Fighting Illini offensive line.
Thanks to his standout game against UAB, Houser also leads the nation in ESPN's quarterback rating metric, QBR. Houser's 98.0 rating is narrowly ahead of Heisman Trophy candidates Julian Sayin of Ohio State (97.8) and Darian Mensah of Miami (96.4).
ESPN's QBR metric grades quarterbacks on a scale of zero to 100, where 50 is average. It is built via a complex formula that weighs passing, rushing, scrambles, sacks avoided, fumbles and penalties to determine how much a quarterback helps or hurts their team's chances of scoring, using Expected Points Added (EPA).
While the formula itself is unknown by the public, EPA is a common metric in football analytics because it's measured on a play-by-play basis, rather than a box score at the end of the game. Houser's 10.6 EPA ranks eighth in the FBS after Week 1, though his EPA per play is likely what powers him to a higher QBR ranking, since much of the second half against the Blazers was played conservatively by the Illini.
QBR also adjusts for the quality of opposing defenses the quarterback faces. However, Houser still ranks first in the FBS in both defense-adjusted QBR (98.0) and "raw" QBR (99.6).
These figures will likely change throughout the season as Illinois faces tougher opponents and moves into Big Ten play. The single-season record holder in ESPN's QBR is Alabama's Mac Jones, who was rated 96.1 in 2020. The next three best players all won the Heisman Trophy: LSU's Jayden Daniels in 2023 (95.6), Oklahoma's Kyler Murray in 2018 (95.2) and LSU's Joe Burrow in 2019 (94.5).
Former Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson — who eventually won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL — holds the record for the highest single-season QBR in Big Ten history. He recorded a 94.1 mark under now-Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who was in his sixth season leading the Badgers. Bielema and Wilson brought Wisconsin to an 11-3 record and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Now, the Fighting Illini head coach will hope that he can replicate those results in Champaign with Houser.
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