The College Football Playoff Championship Game will be held a week from Monday in Atlanta. Of course, as we all know by now, the game will be between Notre Dame and Ohio State.
And though Ohio State has the best talent of anyone in the country, and you can argue, no one plays as well as a collective team than Notre Dame, neither has the best quarterback of the CFP.
In my opinion, as someone who has watched every game, the best quarterback of these College Football Playoff games is Clemson’s Cade Klubnik.
I understand Klubnik and the Tigers were taken out in the first round by Texas but hear me out on this one. I want you to look at the playoff field and tell me a quarterback from the other 11 teams that’s a better quarterback than Klubnik.
Also understand, I am going with my own two eyes on this opinion, and it is not based on stats. Let’s be honest, stats do not always tell the whole truth.
Here are the other 11 quarterbacks from the CFP:
- Gunner Stockton, Georgia
- Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
- Maddux Madsen, Boise State
- Quinn Ewers, Texas
- Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee
- Drew Allar, Penn State
- Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
- Riley Leonard, Notre Dame
- Will Howard, Ohio State
- Kevin Jennings, SMU
- Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Tell me one guy you would but ahead of Clemson’s Cade Klubnik. I would not even but the two quarterbacks in the National Championship Game ahead of Klubnik.
If you don’t believe me, go back and watch what Klubnik did to Texas’ defense in the first playoff game. The Longhorns could not stop him, as Klubnik threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns on 26 of 43 passes.
“I thought the one thing that they do, which makes it difficult, is when they call the traditional plays, he’s equipped enough to see your coverages and to throw it to the right people, and he’s got the talent to make those throws,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said.
Klubnik became the first quarterback all season to throw for more than 211 yards on the Longhorns and also became the first quarterback to toss three touchdown passes in a game against them.
“Then they call the designed quarterback runs, whether it’s quarterback draws or true quarterback runs that tax you when you’re trying to deploy people to defend him, and then he has the ability to extend plays, and how many times did he get outside the pocket and make some really critical throws for them,” Sarkisian said.
Texas had allowed just four touchdown passes all year prior to the Clemson game. Klubnik opened that game with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Williams on the game’s first drive. He then found running back Jarvis Green for a 25-yard scoring toss in third quarter and wide receiver T.J. Moore caught a 7-yard TD from the junior quarterback in the fourth.
Let’s not forget, Klubnik was coming off a performance in which he threw four TD passes in the ACC Championship Game, a game Clemson had to win to get into the playoffs. So, in two “playoff games,” when everyone was watching, Klubnik completed 50 of 84 passes for 598 yards, 7 TDs and 1 int.
As I watched Ohio State quarterback Will Howard struggle to see the whole field the other night and struggle against Texas’ zone-defense, it confirmed what I already knew… Klubnik is the best quarterback in the CFP Field.
I do not know if there is going to be an All-CFP team for the 2025 Playoffs, but if there is one, Klubnik better be the quarterback. If he is not than people are not paying attention.