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Comparing AU/UF Quarterbacks
Posted on 9/15/26 at 11:08 am
Posted on 9/15/26 at 11:08 am
We all know that FCS opponents tell us absolutely nothing and G6 opponents only tell us limited things. Therefore, I only like to look at stats vs. the Power 4 as most other stats are meaningless. So let's compare the two QB's.
Byrum Brown:
While at USF and Auburn, Brown has started against a P4 team 6 times. Those teams were: Alabama (twice), Miami, Syracuse, Florida and Baylor.
His record was 3-3 (beating FL, Cuse and Baylor). They lost to Bama (17-3 and 42-16) and got smashed by Miami (50-15).
His overall stats in those 6 games were:
Record: 3-3
Passing: 116/190 (61%), 1,180 yards, 4 TD, 4 INT.
Rushing: 112 carries, 384 yards, 2 TD (3.42 YPC)
Receiving: 2 receptions, 24 receiving yards, 2 TD
Yards Per Attempt: 6.21
Yards Per Completion: 10.17
Depth of Throws (in the air):
0-9 Yards: 69% of completions
10-19 Yards: 23.3% of completions
20+ Yards: 7.8% of completions
Aaron Philo:
Philo's stats are harder to track since he was Haynes King's backup, but he did play some in 2024 because King was battling injuries for a lot of the season. Here's what I found:
He started 2nd half against Va Tech after the other backup stunk the 1st half. Against Miami they decided to only play Philo on passing downs (he only played 14 snaps but did well for those snaps). Against NC State, Philo played the vast majority of snaps (King only came in for some wildcat stuff).
King was healthy in 2025 and Philo saw no snaps at all against P4 teams. And, of course, in 2026 at UF Philo has faced no P4 teams yet.
So his cumulative stats against P4 are:
Record: 2–1
Passing: 35/69 (50.7%), 516 passing yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: 10 carries, 76 rushing yards, 1 TD (Yards per carry 7.6)
Yards Per Passing Attempt: 7.48
Yards Per Completion: 14.74
Depth of Throws (in the air):
0-9 Yards: 51.4% of completions
10-19 Yards: 31.4% of completions
20+ Yards: 17.1% of completions
Brown has a much better completion percentage, but he does throw shorter passes on average. Brown has a lower yards per rush stat, but that's clearly a sample size thing (I don't think anyone believes Philo is a better runner). Philo throws longer passes, on average, as evidenced by his yards per completion: 14.74 vs. Brown's 10.17.
If you want to compare the 2 games this season (2 games for each QB), Philo is throwing the ball deeper more often. Philo throws the ball (in the air) 10.8 yards on average, while Brown throws it 7.4 yards.
If you look at 20+ yard shots, Philo is 5/8 for 190 yards while Brown is 1/4 for 34 yards.
If you look at Intermediate shots, Philo is 3/5 for 56 yards while Brown is 7/11 for 92 yards.
Both QBs throw roughly the same amount in the short game. Philo is 24/29 in the short game while Brown is 27/35.
One thing to keep in mind is Philo played for P4 Georgia Tech and had a P4 O-line and receivers. Brown didn't have that luxury at USF (though his receivers were pretty good).
Byrum Brown:
While at USF and Auburn, Brown has started against a P4 team 6 times. Those teams were: Alabama (twice), Miami, Syracuse, Florida and Baylor.
His record was 3-3 (beating FL, Cuse and Baylor). They lost to Bama (17-3 and 42-16) and got smashed by Miami (50-15).
His overall stats in those 6 games were:
Record: 3-3
Passing: 116/190 (61%), 1,180 yards, 4 TD, 4 INT.
Rushing: 112 carries, 384 yards, 2 TD (3.42 YPC)
Receiving: 2 receptions, 24 receiving yards, 2 TD
Yards Per Attempt: 6.21
Yards Per Completion: 10.17
Depth of Throws (in the air):
0-9 Yards: 69% of completions
10-19 Yards: 23.3% of completions
20+ Yards: 7.8% of completions
Aaron Philo:
Philo's stats are harder to track since he was Haynes King's backup, but he did play some in 2024 because King was battling injuries for a lot of the season. Here's what I found:
He started 2nd half against Va Tech after the other backup stunk the 1st half. Against Miami they decided to only play Philo on passing downs (he only played 14 snaps but did well for those snaps). Against NC State, Philo played the vast majority of snaps (King only came in for some wildcat stuff).
King was healthy in 2025 and Philo saw no snaps at all against P4 teams. And, of course, in 2026 at UF Philo has faced no P4 teams yet.
So his cumulative stats against P4 are:
Record: 2–1
Passing: 35/69 (50.7%), 516 passing yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: 10 carries, 76 rushing yards, 1 TD (Yards per carry 7.6)
Yards Per Passing Attempt: 7.48
Yards Per Completion: 14.74
Depth of Throws (in the air):
0-9 Yards: 51.4% of completions
10-19 Yards: 31.4% of completions
20+ Yards: 17.1% of completions
Brown has a much better completion percentage, but he does throw shorter passes on average. Brown has a lower yards per rush stat, but that's clearly a sample size thing (I don't think anyone believes Philo is a better runner). Philo throws longer passes, on average, as evidenced by his yards per completion: 14.74 vs. Brown's 10.17.
If you want to compare the 2 games this season (2 games for each QB), Philo is throwing the ball deeper more often. Philo throws the ball (in the air) 10.8 yards on average, while Brown throws it 7.4 yards.
If you look at 20+ yard shots, Philo is 5/8 for 190 yards while Brown is 1/4 for 34 yards.
If you look at Intermediate shots, Philo is 3/5 for 56 yards while Brown is 7/11 for 92 yards.
Both QBs throw roughly the same amount in the short game. Philo is 24/29 in the short game while Brown is 27/35.
One thing to keep in mind is Philo played for P4 Georgia Tech and had a P4 O-line and receivers. Brown didn't have that luxury at USF (though his receivers were pretty good).
3
Posted on 9/15/26 at 11:54 am to AUstar
I’ve watched a fair amount of Brown’s film at USF. I haven’t seen one play of Philo.
Brown is a playmaker who has to make things happen post snap and he’s not going to be a guy to sit back there and pick you apart in the pocket. His best opportunities are when he gets outside the pocket.
I think if we can run the ball effectively from the line of scrimmage with Cobb and especially Washington, and then pull those middle guys wide with some sweep motion, we’re going to have a good chance.
I sure as hell would feel a lot better if we had a punter worth of shite who could pin their QB deep and let the crowd and Durkin’s defense cook.
Brown is a playmaker who has to make things happen post snap and he’s not going to be a guy to sit back there and pick you apart in the pocket. His best opportunities are when he gets outside the pocket.
I think if we can run the ball effectively from the line of scrimmage with Cobb and especially Washington, and then pull those middle guys wide with some sweep motion, we’re going to have a good chance.
I sure as hell would feel a lot better if we had a punter worth of shite who could pin their QB deep and let the crowd and Durkin’s defense cook.
Posted on 9/15/26 at 1:31 pm to TailbackU
quote:
punter worth of shite
I'm no special teams expert but seems like he should stop trying to punt off the side of his foot.
Posted on 9/15/26 at 9:47 pm to AUstar
quote:
One thing to keep in mind is Philo played for P4 Georgia Tech and had a P4 O-line and receivers. Brown didn't have that luxury at USF (though his receivers were pretty good).
Ain’t that basically most of our offense now?
Posted on 9/16/26 at 5:42 am to TailbackU
If we win the toss I would think we do the same thing we did with Southern. Defer to the second half and put them in the student section endzone to start the game. That worked quite well.
First two games we got the chance to play a lot of players in different roles, different formations, etc. Now we have a pretty good idea of what is working and I think Brown will have a very good game.
Run to set up the pass and take your progressions and go, dont stand around there waiting for someone to have a 5 step lead on someone, either throw it on the first look.....or go.
First two games we got the chance to play a lot of players in different roles, different formations, etc. Now we have a pretty good idea of what is working and I think Brown will have a very good game.
Run to set up the pass and take your progressions and go, dont stand around there waiting for someone to have a 5 step lead on someone, either throw it on the first look.....or go.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 7:58 am to trinidadtiger
quote:
either throw it on the first look.....or go.
Amen to that. The first drive will tell us whether that was just early game jitters or he doesn’t process fast enough to do that à la Jackson Arnold.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 8:27 am to TailbackU
What worries me Tailback. Seen bunch of film breakdown where guys were open and he waited to throw.
I saw Peyton Manning talking about his first game in the NFL, its a three and out. QB coach comes over and says Peyton did you see Jimmy acoss the middle? Peyton said yeah I saw him the DB was all over him. Coach looked at him and said Peyton in the NFL we call that open.
I saw Peyton Manning talking about his first game in the NFL, its a three and out. QB coach comes over and says Peyton did you see Jimmy acoss the middle? Peyton said yeah I saw him the DB was all over him. Coach looked at him and said Peyton in the NFL we call that open.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 9:54 am to trinidadtiger
What I’m afraid of is that 3 INT game spooked him. That’s not good. Hopefully Golesh gets in his arse and he lets it rip this weekend. For as process driven as he, it feels like Golesh babies Byrum a bit.
FWIW, He’s thrown 5 TDs and 5 INT’s against P4 opponents.
FWIW, He’s thrown 5 TDs and 5 INT’s against P4 opponents.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 1:29 pm to AUstar
I need to add a correction. Brown actually played in 7 P4 games. He played Miami twice, not once. So Bama twice, Miami twice, Syracuse, Florida and Baylor. Four of those seven games were against top 10 opponents. (Bama and Miami were top 10 in all 4 games).
Total Passing stats:
136 / 226
60.2%
1,454 yards
6.43 yards/attempt
5 TD
5 INT
Rushing stats:
125 carries
386 yards
3.09 yards/carry
1 TD
Total offense: 1,840 yards and 6 TD's.
AI still hallucinates when you ask about football stats. On my original post, I only ran it through Gemini. Today I ran it through GPT and cross checked again with Gemini. I finally got both to agree on the above.
Either way, it doesn't change much. Just one game added. His yards per attempt and completion percentage didn't change hardly at all.
Total Passing stats:
136 / 226
60.2%
1,454 yards
6.43 yards/attempt
5 TD
5 INT
Rushing stats:
125 carries
386 yards
3.09 yards/carry
1 TD
Total offense: 1,840 yards and 6 TD's.
AI still hallucinates when you ask about football stats. On my original post, I only ran it through Gemini. Today I ran it through GPT and cross checked again with Gemini. I finally got both to agree on the above.
Either way, it doesn't change much. Just one game added. His yards per attempt and completion percentage didn't change hardly at all.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 3:01 pm to AUstar
Is Brown being too impatient? He had time last week (and should have. it's SoMiss) but he still takes off. fine. he made some yards. I just wish he'd give the receivers a chance to work open (can they?) or better yet, throw them open.
Posted on 9/16/26 at 3:09 pm to Jmcc64
Maybe at times last game, but he was way too patient against Baylor. My guess is he was told to quicken his reads and take off against Southern Miss.
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