Big Ten QB power rankings thru Week 10 (Drew Allar vs. JJ McCarthy)

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Michigan State’s Simeon Barrow Jr., right, pressures Nebraska’s Heinrich Haarberg during the third quarter on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. /

Big Ten QB rankings, No. 12: Heinrich Haarberg (was 7)

Passing yards: 967
TD: 7 INT: 6
Comp: 50.0%
YPA: 6.4

I had Haarberg up at No. 7 and it had little to nothing to do with his arm. Well, since then Haarberg has run for 22 yards and 31 yards in his last two games including the Week 10 loss to Michigan State. Some of that lack of production is from negative sack yardage, but avoiding sacks is supposed to be a strength of a 6-foot-5, mobile QB.

In Week 10, he completed just 42.9% of his passes for 129 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked seven times, so that hurt his rushing total, but with two picks and seven sacks, it was an awful performance either way.

He was viewed as an upgrade over Jeff Sims because he didn’t turn the ball over, but that’s not true anymore. So, what exactly does Haarberg do well?

One of Haarberg’s best qualities is his aggressiveness. He leads the Big Ten in average depth of target (ADOT) at 11.5, but he’s only completed 23.3% of his passes over 20 yards downfield.

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