FSU football: Why Jordan Travis is the best QB in the ACC

FSU football fans haven’t been this hyped since the summer going into the 2017 season.

One of the biggest reasons is the return of quarterback Jordan Travis who finally stayed healthy and showed the nation how much he’s progressed and morphed Mike Norvell’s offense into one of the most explosive in the nation.

ESPN’s David Hale has profiled different units this summer, and FSU has been No. 1 in the majority.

He talked about quarterbacks Monday and had North Carolina’s Drake Maye at No. 1 and Jordan Travis at No. 2 regarding ACC quarterbacks going into 2023.

To his credit, Hale mentioned it was close and how he went back and forth on the rankings:

First, I want to give a shoutout to Duke’s Riley Leonard who had an impressive 2022 season. However, Duke beat up on a soft schedule and teams that had a puIse on defense kept him in check for the most part. He also had a few underwhelming performances that keep him out of the conversation.

I’m not sure it’s fair to say Drake Maye had way less help. North Carolina returned its top two wide receivers(who went on to become 2023 NFL Draft picks, and two tight ends who played in 2021. However, they didn’t have much of a run game, and Maye got sacked a ton.

How much of that was on the O-line or an inexperienced Maye holding the ball too long? I think Maye’s an exceptional talent, and probably has more NFL upside than Travis.

However, we’re talking about who’s the best college option going into the 2023 season. Here’s why Jordan Travis would be the choice if I had to choose.

Strength of Schedule

Drake Maye had some impressive stats, but a large percentage came against inferior competition. Check it:

-517 passing attempts
-4,321 passing yards
-66.1 completion percentage
-8.4 yards/attempt
-38 touchdowns
-7 interceptions
-184 rushing attempts
-698 rushing yards
-7 rushing touchdowns

That’s all fine and dandy, but 22 percent of his passing yards came against non-Power 5 teams(FAMU, Appalachian State, Georgia State). A whopping 29 percent of his touchdown passes came against those same teams. Maye had 21 percent of his rushing totals against these three schools. Not to mention, North Carolina played ACC bottom dwellers Virginia (granted UVA’s defense was solid) and Virginia Tech.

The numbers for Jordan Travis are below:

-353 passing attempts
-3,214 passing yards
-64 completion percentage
-9.1 yards/attempt
-24 touchdowns
-5 interceptions
-82 rushing attempts
-417 rushing yards
-7 rushing touchdowns

Jordan Travis only played against two non-Power 5 teams and was out of the game early. He only attempted 29 passes in those two games (nine percent of his total attempts), and only 10 percent of his passing yardage came from those two games. Jordan barely ran the ball last year, but only ran the ball nine times in the two non-Power 5 games. When using FEI defensive ratings, the average defense Maye faced ranked No. 49, and Travis ranked No. 43. Overall, Jordan Travis faced better defenses. However, there are five common teams where we see the biggest differences.

Common Opponents

Clemson

Drake Maye

• 61.9 percent completion (42 attempts)
• 268 passing yards
• 6.4 yards/attempt
• 0 touchdowns
• 2 interceptions
• 11 rushes
• 24 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• 105.99 QB rating

Jordan Travis

• 57.1 percent completion (42 attempts)
• 254 passing yards
• 6.0 yards/attempt
• 2 touchdowns
• 0 interceptions
• 14 rushes
• 64 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• 123.65 QB rating

NC State

Drake Maye

• 59.2 percent completion (49 attempts)
• 233 passing yards
• 4.8 yards/attempt
• 1 touchdowns
• 1 interceptions
• 14 rushes
• 32 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• 101.78 QB rating

Jordan Travis

• 50 percent completion (30 attempts)
• 181 passing yards
• 6.0 yards/attempt
• 1 touchdowns
• 2 interceptions
• 7 rushes
• 108 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 98.35 QB rating

Georgia Tech

Drake Maye

• 53.3 percent completion (30 attempts)
• 202 passing yards
• 6.7 yards/attempt
• 0 touchdowns
• 1 interceptions
• 14 rushes
• 12 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 103.22 QB rating

Jordan Travis

• 63.3 percent completion (38 attempts)
• 396 passing yards
• 10.4 yards/attempt
• 3 touchdowns
• 0 interceptions
• 11 rushes
• -7 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 176.75 QB rating

Wake Forest

Drake Maye

• 63.3 percent completion (49 attempts)
• 448 passing yards
• 9.1 yards/attempt
• 3 touchdowns
• 0 interceptions
• 19 rushes
• 71 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• 160.27 QB rating

Jordan Travis

• 65.7 percent completion (35 attempts)
• 281 passing yards
• 8.0 yards/attempt
• 3 touchdowns
• 0 interceptions
• 6 rushes
• 2 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 161.43 QB rating

Miami

Drake Maye

• 67.9 percent completion (28 attempts)
• 309 passing yards
• 11 yards/attempt
• 2 touchdowns
• 2 interceptions
• 14 rushes
• 53 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 169.84 QB rating

Jordan Travis

• 83.3 percent completion (12 attempts)
• 202 passing yards
• 16.8 yards/attempt
• 3 touchdowns
• 1 interceptions
• 7 rushes
• 10 rushing yards
• 0 rushing touchdown
• 290.56 QB rating

The average QB rating for Drake Maye in these five games is 128.22. The average QB rating for Jordan Travis in these five games is 170.14. QB ratings taken from cfbstats.com

Parting Thoughts

I’m not writing this to attempt to disrespect Drake Maye’s efforts last year. He had a great year, but it’s more to shine the light on what Jordan Travis did against a better slate of defenses and without shouldering that much of the load.

I have to give Drake Maye credit because he accounted for 68 percent of North Carolina’s total offensive plays. It’s great to have a QB with durability. I’d love to see what Jordan Travis could do if he averaged 37 pass attempts and 13 rushing attempts per year.

In fact, I wrote about the possibilities in the piece linked below. Jordan Travis accounted for 48 percent of the total offensive plays for FSU last season.

North Carolina’s defense probably was the reason for that since North Carolina had to go life and death with so many teams last year, and the offensive starters rarely had opportunities to get off the field.

My hope is we get to see Jordan Travis shoulder more of the offensive load in 2023. If so, I think he could put up monster numbers in Mike Norvell’s offense. North Carolina faces what looks like a more difficult schedule in 2023. I’m curious to see if Maye will put up the same type numbers as last year.