Katin Houser

#4 · QB · 5th-year · Illinois6′3″ · 225 lb · Anaheim, CA · St. John Bosco

ZPR6331st of 119 QBsLast gameW 20–17at Maryland · Oct 31
Nextvs NebraskaFri Nov 6 · 8 pm ET
via fightingillini.com ↗

Started again at Maryland, the first start since at Michigan State, week 6.

W 20-17 at Maryland, Oct 31: 18 of 32 for 223 yards, a touchdown, an interception · 2 carries for 18 yards.

Illinois’s next game: vs Nebraska, Fri Nov 6, 8:00 p.m. ET · FOX

Illinois is 4-3 in the seven games played. A vertical passer.

Strongest: sacked on 2% of dropbacks, 19th lowest of 158 starters.

Passing yards

1,663

140 of 216, 65%

TD–INT

13–5

7.7 per throw

NCAA rating

144.7

52nd of 119

ZPR

63

31st of 119

How ZPR works

Solid or better in 6 of 7 graded games.

Best by our grade: UAB. Lowest: Purdue, with 1 interception. Biggest game: at Ohio State, No. 7.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Oregon

W 21–10·Unranked

Did not play

I mean, it's been over since Houser went down. Now it's all about seeing what we have in Clayton and finding who we want to keep for next year

Illinois fan

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Dashed outlines on the Season row are last season’s average. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Vertical passer

Why this word
Runs3.4 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws10.2 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes64% by play-by-playFewerMore
Takes sacks2% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws deeper than most and runs some. 3.4 carries a game. Closest matches: Coleman, Veltkamp, Bailey, Chambliss.

Where the throws go

Behind the line16%typical 17%
Short39%typical 47%
Middle29%typical 22%
Deep16%typical 14%

Runs 3.4 times a game; 62% of starters run more.

Closest in style

ColemanVeltkampBaileyChamblissThis QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Coleman James Madison · Balanced
    1,743 yards, 16 TD, 4 INT so far. Both score a lot and rarely run.
  • Veltkamp Florida Atlantic · Precision passer
    2,534 yards, 23 TD, 5 INT so far. Both score a lot and are efficient.
  • Bailey NC State · Chain-mover
    1,955 yards, 13 TD, 4 INT so far. Both avoid sacks and score a lot.
  • Chambliss Ole Miss · Balanced
    2,189 yards, 18 TD, 8 INT so far. Both are efficient and score a lot.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

  • RecordIllinois is 5-3.
  • Fans after Maryland

    Dixon saves Houser on so many passes

    Illinois fan

What’s being said

11 stories this week, from 7 outlets.

Oct 29: 2Oct 30: 1Oct 31: 7Nov 3: 1W 20-17 at MarylandWOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 7
Oct 29: 2Oct 30: 1Oct 31: 7Nov 3: 1W 20-17 at MarylandWOct 29Nov 4Most in a day: 7
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Illinois QB Katin Houser likely a game-time decision at Maryland

247Sports +1 Oct 31

All 76 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Katin Houser played at Michigan State and East Carolina before joining Illinois.

His most important play this season

  1. Q2, 0:21 · Illinois down 13Katin Houser finds Collin Dixon for a 7-yard touchdownPurdue at Illinois, week 5Q2, 0:21 · Illinois 7, Purdue 13Illinois answered right backIllinois answered right backK.Houser pass complete short right to C.Dixon caught at PUR00, for 7 yards to the PUR00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this playCFB ON FOX

All 10 of his plays on video

Katin Houser

QB · Illinois · #4

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 4

Katin Houser takes over from Luke Altmyer at Illinois.

1,663passing yards13passing TD138rushing yards

Passing value per play

+0.39

our model · 2026 · 171 plays

Read the story so far

Katin Houser arrived as a 4-star prospect, the No.215 recruit nationally. Katin Houser lines up at QB for Illinois.

On the field, the headline is 1,663 pass yds, with 13 pass td.

Katin Houser inherited the QB job from Luke Altmyer (4-star).

The number to watch: +0.39 — passing value per play.

QB successionleap of faith
  • Inherited fromLuke Altmyer 4★

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04