Rank the BCS national championship winning quarterbacks

Tier One

1. Vince Young
2. Tim Tebow
3. Matt Leinart
4. Cam Newton

I put Leinart ahead of Newton for several reasons. One, he played college QB at an elite level for three years compared to Newton's one. Two, Leinart's numbers in his two BCS national championship games was off the charts. He was 47-75 for 667 yards with six TDs and one INT. There was also the game against Notre Dame when he threw a perfect pass downfield to Dwayne Jarrett who was covered like a blanket to convert a fourth down and nine to keep USC's national championship hopes alive. The man knew how to get it done in the clutch.

Tier Two

5. Chris Weinke
6. Josh Heupel
7. Ken Dorsey

Tier Three

8. Matt Mauck
9. Chris Leak
10. Matt Flynn

You could put any of these QBs at 8-10. These are three QBs who are pretty comparable in ability. For me, Matt Mauck has to be ahead of the other two because he played a vital role in LSU winning two SEC championships and they probably would have won a third if he came back for his Senior year. Also, the 2002 and 2004 seasons really showed how important he was to LSU.

Matt Flynn was statistically the worst QB to win a BCS national championship and the only QB to win a national championship with two losses. But he deserves a lot of credit for being at the helm for a great LSU offense. LSU scored at least 28 points in every game Flynn played for them. In the one game Flynn missed that season, LSU scored 21 points and had only one offensive TD.

Tier 4

11. Tee Martin
12. Greg McElroy
13. Craig Krenzel

Here's my theory about Tennessee winning the championship with Tee Martin instead of Peyton Manning. There are three main reasons why Tennessee won it all in 1998.

1) Tennessee played much better defensively against Florida in 1998 than they did the previous four years.
2) Florida wasn't the same juggernaut like they were from 1994-1996 with Danny Wuerffel as their QB.
3) Tennessee didn't run the ball enough.

Tennessee should have been more committed to running the ball and actually been more conservative with Peyton Manning as their QB. They were ranked 42nd in rushing in 1994, ran for less than 130 yards per game in 1996 and were ranked 52nd in rushing in 1997. When they won the national championship in 1998, Tennessee's rushing offense was ranked 17th in the country. In a perverted sort of way, Peyton Manning might have HURT Tennessee. To beat a team like Florida, you need to grind away at the clock and keep the Gators powerful offense off the field. Instead, Tennessee threw the ball a lot more than they should have. They were overly reliant on Manning. And they lost every time. Tee Martin forced the UT coaches to adjust and find ways to protect their first year QB. And in the end, it won them a national championship.