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Who is the best QB in the MWC?

Here's a more in-depth look at how the conference's top returning QB's stack up to each other.

Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

After seeing a post inquiring as to the lack of hype over Nevada QB Cody Fajardo, I decided to look at the stats for each of the top five Mountain West QBs to see how they compare to each other. The five are as follows: Chuckie Keeton (Utah State), Cody Fajardo (Nevada), Garrett Grayson (Colorado State), Grant Hedrick (Boise State), and Quinn Kaehler (San Diego State).

The first thing I keyed in on for the lack of attention surrounding Fajardo is that there's a problem with the school he is attending; based on the rest of the group, he will need to transfer to Nevada State in order to be taken seriously. Speaking of which, why do Boise and Fresno get to be States? They're clearly not states, and until they get a star on the flag, I'll maintain my assertion that they should remove "State" from their names.

Bad attempts at humor aside, let's look at the actual figures. Here's what I found:

Passing- Career Stats

Player

Attempts

Att/Game

Comp %

Yards

Yds/Game

TDs

TDs/Game

INTs

INTs/Game

Chuckie Keeton

777

30

66.5

5961

229

56

2.2

13

0.5

Cody Fajardo

942

31

67.7

7126

238

39

1.3

18

0.6

Garrett Grayson

693

32

60.3

5184

236

32

1.5

20

0.9

Grant Hedrick

261

29

69.3

1960

218

16

1.8

5

0.6

Quinn Kaehler

389

32

59.6

3007

251

19

1.6

9

0.8

Rushing- Career Stats

Player

Attempts

Att/Game

Yards

Yds/Game

Yards/Att

TDs

TDs/Game

Chuckie Keeton

252

10

1153

44

4.6

14

0.5

Cody Fajardo

459

15

2436

81

5.3

31

1.0

Garrett Grayson

154

7

340

15

2.2

4

0.2

Grant Hedrick

93

10

379

42

4.1

10

1.0

Quinn Kaehler

49

4

-109

-9

-2.2

1

0.1


So Cody has, far and away, the most pass and run attempts of the group, the most overall yards, and the most average total combined yards per game; he also has the fewest TD throws per game, but is tied with Chuckie for most total points scored. His rushing yards exceed the rest of the group combined, even discounting Quinn's negative yards, and the other rushing stats confirm his place as the highest grossing rusher here.

Grant has the highest completion percentage. Quinn barely edges out Garrett for the most attempts per game, and has the most yards per game, even after factoring in the negative rushing yards. Chuckie stands out for scoring the most points per game as well as most total points scored, and having the fewest interceptions per game.

But, as we're all very much aware, the farther back you go in stats history, the less relevant they become. So, in order to get a clearer picture, I put together the stats for last year alone:

Passing- 2013 Stats

Player

Attempts

Att/Game

Comp %

Yards

Yds/Game

TDs

TDs/Game

INTs

INTs/Game

Chuckie Keeton

196

37

69.4

1388

264

18

3.4

2

0.4

Cody Fajardo

357

36

67.8

2633

263

13

1.3

3

0.3

Garrett Grayson

478

34

62.1

3696

264

23

1.6

11

0.8

Grant Hedrick

242

32

69.0

1825

243

16

2.1

5

0.7

Quinn Kaehler

389

32

59.6

3007

251

19

1.6

9

0.8

Rushing- 2013 Stats

Player

Attempts

Att/Game

Yards

Yds/Game

Yards/Att

TDs

TDs/Game

Chuckie Keeton

55

10

241

46

4.4

2

0.4

Cody Fajardo

141

14

621

62

4.4

8

0.8

Garrett Grayson

68

5

130

9

1.9

2

0.1

Grant Hedrick

68

9

277

37

4.1

6

0.8

Quinn Kaehler

49

4

-109

-9

-2.2

1

0.1


Most of the group missed games last year, so the stats per game are probably the most important to note. With that in mind, Fajardo is still the clear rushing leader, with the most attempts per game, yards per game and rushing points per game. Keeton barely edges him out in most yards per rushing attempt.

In the passing area, Keeton was head and shoulders ahead of the group, with the most attempts per game, highest completion percentage, yards per game, TDs per game, and fewest overall interceptions (Fajardo barely edged him out for fewest INTs per game). He also scored .9 more total touchdowns per game than the next highest (BSU's Hedrick).

Given the state of the stats, who do you think is most deserving of the nation's attention?