Taulia Tagovailoa: QB · Maryland · #3.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Taulia Tagovailoa
Keeps the offense on schedule and doesn't lose the game. Played for two head coaches across five seasons and two programs. That makes three seasons with an honor, the latest All-Big Ten in 2023. A game that shows it: 361 passing yards and 3 passing TD against Rutgers — Week 13, 2023.
Play style
Consistent underneath passer who protects the lead. Rarely loses games; rarely wins them alone.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
51.1% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 22.0% conversion-per-dropback — 54.2% 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
3 of the team's 29 inside-the-5 carries (10.3%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-6vs Towson | 22/33 | 260 | 3 | 0 | 7.9 | 86.3 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 2 | W 38-20vs Charlotte | 25/36 | 287 | 1 | 2 | 8.0 | 42.5 | |
| Wk 3 | W 42-14vs Virginia | 19/30 | 342 | 1 | 0 | 11.4 | 79.5 | |
| Wk 4 | W 31-9@ Michigan State | 21/36 | 223 | 3 | 1 | 6.2 | 78.6 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 5 | W 44-17vs Indiana | 24/34 | 352 | 5 | 0 | 10.4 | 95.0 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 6 | L 17-37@ No. 4 Ohio State | 21/41 | 196 | 1 | 2 | 4.8 | 67.2 | |
| Wk 7 | L 24-27vs Illinois | 27/39 | 266 | 2 | 0 | 6.8 | 72.1 | Clean 2-TD game |
| Wk 9 | L 27-33@ Northwestern | 30/47 | 274 | 3 | 1 | 5.8 | 43.3 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 10 | L 15-51vs No. 9 Penn State | 29/39 | 286 | 2 | 1 | 7.3 | 80.3 | |
| Wk 11 | W 13-10@ Nebraska | 27/40 | 283 | 1 | 1 | 7.1 | 79.6 | |
| Wk 12 | L 24-31vs No. 2 Michigan | 21/31 | 247 | 0 | 2 | 8.0 | 50.2 | |
| Wk 13 | W 42-24@ Rutgers | 24/31 | 361 | 3 | 1 | 11.6 | 96.0 | Season-high 361 yds |
| Total | 290/437 | 3377 | 25 | 11 | 7.7 | — |
Week 5 · 2023
W 44-17
vs Indiana
352 yds · 5 TD · 0 INT · QBR 95.0 · 15 rush yds (3 car) · 1 TD
Dominant 27-point win at home against Indiana.
With J. Jones — 6 rec · 121 yds · C. Spangler — 44.3 yards per punt · 3 punts · 3 inside the 20
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 423 passing plays (283 completions) against the box score's 437 attempts (290 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
7.0873 of 212 QBsSack rate
4.4%68 of 212 QBsRarely sacked (68 of 212 QBs) and still 73 of 212 in Adjusted ANY/A.
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 66.4% completion on 437 attempts · 49 deep completions averaging 31.6 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2023 baseline
No situation moves him more than 47 percentile points from his baseline.
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 · 12 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 291 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 0.7 |
| Road5g | 267 | 2.2 | 7.1 | 1.2 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 275 | 2.3 | 7.9 | 0.7 |
| Weeks 8+5g | 290 | 1.8 | 8.0 | 1.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mike Locksley
Pass share
55.8%
477 pass / 378 run
Plays / game
65.8
13 games
Scheme: Pass-leaning.
Player standing · 2023
Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #31 at the position.
How it ended
Five seasons, at Alabama and Maryland, 11,356 passing yards — the college career is complete.
A blue-chip recruit with honors.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-BIG TEN · 2ND TEAM
All-Big Ten 2nd team (2023)
Weekly recognition
2 weekly honors (2023)
4 career weekly honors across 3 seasons
Coaching lineage · 2019–2023
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Nick Saban and Mike Locksley.
