No Big Ten quarterback put up a monster game in Week 1.

The guys with high yardage totals — Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell (356), Indiana’s Connor Bazelak (330) — didn’t connect for multiple touchdowns. Those with 4 TD passes — Penn State’s Sean Clifford, Michigan State’s Payton Thorne — both threw interceptions and had mediocre completion rates (Clifford 54.1%, Thorne 50.0%).

The most interesting performance came from JJ McCarthy, who might have won Michigan’s in-season QB competition before even making his promised start. That will come this week, vs. Hawaii under the lights at the Big House on Saturday. Mopping up for his friend/competition Cade McNamara against Colorado State, the 2021 5-star recruit went 4-of-4 for 30 yards and ran 3 times for another 50 yards and a score. He’s just getting warmed up, folks.

Given all that volatility, we didn’t mess too much with the top of our rankings. Instead, we juggled the bottom half of the group to reflect Bazelak’s strong B1G debut and the putrid offense played by Rutgers and Iowa, which both somehow won their games.

Once Jim Harbaugh finally makes his tough decision, we’ll start making our own ones here at ST Rankings Central.

For now, this is what we have:

14. Evan Simon/Gavin Wimsatt/Noah Vedral, Rutgers

Week 1 stats (Simon): 8-12, 63 yards
Week 1 stats (Wimsatt): 5-9, 47 yards, INT; 5 rushes, 40 yards

Vedral missed Week 1’s victory over Boston College and is questionable going forward with an undisclosed injury. His sophomore backups barely kept the ship afloat. Let’s see who takes the first snap Saturday afternoon vs. Wagner.

13. Spencer Petras, Iowa

Week 1 stats: 11-25, 109 yards, INT

The Hawkeyes didn’t have their top 2 receivers, nor the 2 who bolted for Purdue during the offseason. Also, Brian Ferentz’s offense leaves writers grasping for additional synonyms for “bad.” All that said, Petras has proven to not be the solution since taking the QB1 job to begin the 2020 season. Head coach Kirk Ferentz says he’s sticking with the 6-foot-5 senior. Iowa will have to keep winning with defense and special teams, which might be a challenge against visiting Iowa State on Saturday in the CyHawk rivalry game.

12. Tanner Morgan, Minnesota

Week 1 stats: 13-19, 174 yards

With workhorse back Mohamed Ibrahim looking fully healthy in his return from injury, Minnesota won’t be asking much of 6th-year senior Morgan. The stats he put up in a 38-0 rout of New Mexico State will do PJ Fleck just fine. The 6th-year coach will gladly take more of the same against Western Illinois in an early kickoff Saturday in Minneapolis.

11. Graham Mertz, Wisconsin

Week 1 stats: 14-16, 219 yards, TD

Like Morgan, Mertz wasn’t asked to do too much in a 38-0 victory. The Badgers’ victim was Illinois State, which couldn’t slow down stud running back Braelon Allen. After a shaky 2021, Mertz opened this season in steady fashion. Washington State visits Madison this Saturday.

10. Casey Thompson, Nebraska

Week 1 stats: 14-21, 193 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT. Season: 39-63 (61.9%), 548 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs

Like Nebraska’s previous quarterback, Thompson has been up-and-down so far since transferring from Texas. He threw a bad pick to help keep North Dakota in the game for an uncomfortably long time, but got the job done late with a lot of help from RB Anthony Grant. Nebraska hosts Georgia Southern under the lights Saturday.

9. Tommy DeVito, Illinois

Week 1 stats: 21-35, 232 yards, 2 TDs, INT. Season stats: 42-78 (66.7%), 426 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT

The Syracuse transfer has stabilized the QB position for Bret Bielema, posting solid stats to complement B1G leading rusher Chase Brown. The Illini host Virginia on Saturday.

8. Connor Bazelak, Indiana

Week 1 stats: 28-52, 330 yards, TD, INT

The Missouri transfer made a solid opening statement and Indiana ended its 8-game losing streak. If Bazelak can help the offense finish a few more drives with touchdowns, he’ll be climbing this chart. A Saturday night matchup with visiting Idaho sets up Bazelak to continue his roll.

7. Ryan Hilinski, Northwestern

Week 1 stats: Bye. Season: 27-of-38, 314 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs

The junior rested on his Week 0 results as the Wildcats took the week off. The former transfer from South Carolina played mistake-free football in a 31-28 upset of Nebraska to start the season. His Wildcats return to action Saturday at home vs. Duke.

6. JJ McCarthy/Cade McNamara, Michigan

Week 1 stats (McNamara): 9-18, 136 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs
Week 1 stats (McCarthy): 4-4, 30 yards; 3 rushes, 50 yards, TD

McCarthy will start for the Wolverines for the first time Saturday night at home vs. Hawaii. After McNamara’s pedestrian opening salvo against Colorado State, McCarthy looks to have a great chance to stay in the QB1 role going forward.

5. Sean Clifford, Penn State

Week 1 stats: 20-37, 282 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT

The final drive was classic “good Clifford,” as he went 6-for-7 for 72 yards and his 4th TD of the night in a 35-31 victory at Purdue. But he also threw a horrible interception that nearly cost the Lions the game. He and 5-star backup Drew Allar should pad their resumes in Saturday’s home opener against Ohio.

4. Payton Thorne, Michigan State

Week 1 stats: 12-24, 233 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT

Thorne made enough big plays to put Western Michigan away, hitting on 3 TD passes of 40+ yards. But it was an uneven opening game for the junior QB and his offense. Another home game, vs. Akron, is on tap for Saturday.

3. Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland

Week 1 stats: 24-34, 290 yards, INT

Maryland found some running lanes and played same decent defense in rocking Buffalo 31-10, so Tagovailoa didn’t have to don the Superman cape this time around. The Terps travel to Charlotte this Saturday to face a 49ers team that has given up 84 points in 2 losses this year.

2. Aidan O’Connell, Purdue

Week 1 stats: 30-60, 365 yards, TD

O’Connell finished on a 7-for-21 cold spell as Penn State’s secondary clamped down late to help the Lions rally for a 35-31 victory. He misfired and underthrew a couple of balls that could have sealed the victory for the Boilermakers. Still, when a 365-yard effort can count as a bad outing, you know said quarterback is pretty darn good. It’s probably not going to be much fun being an Indiana State defender Saturday afternoon at Ross-Ade Stadium.

1. CJ Stroud, Ohio State

Week 1 stats: 24-34, 223 yards, 2 TDs

Last year, these would have been halftime stats in several games for Stroud. But in a top-5 opening matchup vs. Notre Dame, the B1G’s best quarterback got the job done without top target Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who left the game with an injury after just 2 catches for 3 yards. The hamstring issue will cost Smith-Njigba at least a few more games, so Stroud will be working in his young receivers even more starting Saturday vs. Arkansas State.