Ben Bryant: QB · Northwestern · #2.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Ben Bryant
Operates within the system without forcing anything. The six seasons span three programs and three head coaches: Luke Fickell, Chris Creighton and David Braun. One game to point at: 396 passing yards and 4 passing TD against Minnesota — Week 4, 2023.
Play style
Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
51.6% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 23.7% conversion-per-dropback — 43.8% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
4 of the team's 24 inside-the-5 carries (16.7%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
OregonLive Oct 29Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Northwestern | 173 | 277 | 62.5% | 1,807 | 6.5 | 13 | 6 | 128.4 | 46 |
| 2022 | Cincinnati | 214 | 349 | 61.3% | 2,732 | 7.8 | 21 | 7 | 142.9 | 40 |
| 2021 | Eastern Michigan | 279 | 408 | 68.4% | 3,121 | 7.6 | 14 | 7 | 140.5 | 49 |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 11 | 14 | 78.6% | 90 | 6.4 | 1 | 0 | 156.1 | -- |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 29 | 51 | 56.9% | 388 | 7.6 | 1 | 2 | 119.4 | -- |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 6 | 8 | 75.0% | 75 | 9.4 | 0 | 1 | 128.8 | -- |
| Career | 712 | 1,107 | 64.3% | 8,213 | 7.4 | 50 | 23 | 137.4 | 45 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Northwestern | 60 | −33 | −0.6 | 4 | 15 |
| 2022 | Cincinnati | 47 | −118 | −2.5 | 0 | 16 |
| 2021 | Eastern Michigan | 87 | −43 | −0.5 | 2 | 39 |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 6 | 65 | 10.8 | 1 | 40 |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 22 | 35 | 1.6 | 1 | 21 |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 2 | −4 | −2.0 | 0 | 4 |
| Career | 224 | −98 | −0.4 | 8 | 40 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 9 games
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| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 7-24@ Rutgers | 20/36 | 169 | 0 | 2 | 4.7 | 17.2 | |
| Wk 2 | W 38-7vs UTEP | 11/17 | 116 | 1 | 0 | 6.8 | 41.3 | |
| Wk 3 | L 14-38@ No. 21 Duke | 17/34 | 123 | 1 | 1 | 3.6 | 24.3 | |
| Wk 4 | W 37-34vs Minnesota | 33/49 | 396 | 4 | 0 | 8.1 | 67.5 | Season-high 396 yds |
| Wk 5 | L 13-41vs No. 6 Penn State | 14/25 | 122 | 0 | 0 | 4.9 | 33.0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 24-10@ Wisconsin | 18/26 | 195 | 2 | 0 | 7.5 | 94.1 | |
| Wk 12 | W 23-15vs Purdue | 13/24 | 230 | 1 | 1 | 9.6 | 39.5 | |
| Wk 13 | W 45-43@ Illinois | 24/32 | 234 | 2 | 2 | 7.3 | 76.0 | |
 Bowl | W 14-7vs Utah | 23/34 | 222 | 2 | 0 | 6.5 | 74.5 | |
| Total | 173/277 | 1807 | 13 | 6 | 6.5 | — |
Week 4 · 2023
W 37-34
vs Minnesota
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 256 passing plays (168 completions) against the box score's 277 attempts (173 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
5.37145 of 212 QBsSack rate
8.6%175 of 212 QBsSacked on 8.6% of dropbacks (175 of 212) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (145 of 212).
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 62.5% completion on 277 attempts · 21 deep completions averaging 32.0 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2023 baseline
+81
percentile points better on third down or later
Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.
Splits · Per-game
2023 season · 9 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 216 | 1.5 | 7.3 | 0.2 |
| Road4g | 180 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 1.2 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 191 | 1.3 | 5.8 | 0.5 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 220 | 1.7 | 8.1 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
David Braun
Pass share
46.4%
384 pass / 443 run
Plays / game
63.6
13 games
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2023
About as many passes and runs a game as a typical FBS quarterback who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #94 at the position.
How it ended
Six seasons, at Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan and Northwestern, 8,213 passing yards — the college career is complete.
Played for three programs.
The role got bigger.
Coaching lineage · 2018–2023
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 3 schools: Luke Fickell, Chris Creighton and David Braun.
