College football teams spend millions on QBs. Why can’t they find a good backup?

As things currently stand, No. 2 Ohio State and Michigan will meet on the last Saturday of November with the Buckeyes likely on the verge of booking an appearance in the Big Ten championship game and the Wolverines looking for an upset to put a bright mark on what has been a difficult season.

While the two rivals may be moving in different directions late next month, they could be united in one respect: both might be starting a three-star freshman quarterback who began the year in the backup role to five-star recruits.

For Ohio State, Luke Fahey is expected to replace Heisman Trophy contender Julian Sayin, who is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury. Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham pulled the plug on former five-star recruit Bryce Underwood earlier this month and handed the offense to Tommy Carr.

These are two of the most well-funded programs in the country. Adapting to a landscape dominated by NIL and the transfer portal, the Wolverines and Buckeyes have spared almost no expense in adapting to college football’s new normal, spending millions on coaches, talent acquisition and roster management.

Yet not even deep pockets can help Power Four programs develop meaningful depth behind their starters. Across the country, teams are struggling to stay relevant offensively and in the chase for the College Football Playoff as a result of inexperience and unreadiness at backup quarterback.

“It's impossible,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said of developing quarterback depth in the portal era.

“I don't think anybody anywhere is recruiting depth out of the portal. I don't think people in the portal go where there is an established starter.”

Ohio State and a changed quarterback picture

The development of Ohio State’s quarterback room over the past decade illustrates this landscape shift.

In 2013, the Buckeyes were blessed with a roster that included two-time Big Ten MVP in Braxton Miller, the Big Ten’s career leader in passing touchdowns in J.T. Barrett and a future fourth-round draft pick, Cardale Jones, who took over for the Buckeyes’ championship run in 2014 and won all 11 of his career starts.

Four years later, they had Barrett as the starter, future Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow as the backup and a future first-round pick in Dwayne Haskins and a five-star true freshman in Tate Martell in reserve.

But even Ohio State in the NIL era has been unable to maintain that level of depth. This past offseason, the Buckeyes lost former backup Lincoln Kleinholz to Louisville, where he’s started all seven games for the Cardinals.

That has left the quarterback room without any experienced depth behind Sayin. While he made only 36 attempts in Columbus, simply spending three years in Columbus would’ve given Kleinholz a deeper understanding of the system than Fahey and five-star sophomore Tavien St. Clair.

“This is a challenge for both Luke and Tavien to step up in a big way,” coach Ryan Day said. “And a coach can always say you're one snap away, until it's real, and it's real now. When someone goes down, someone else has to step up, and this is an unbelievable opportunity for them.”

The dropoff from Power Four starters to backups

Even programs that have invested heavily on their backups have not earned an equal return on their investment. Oregon signed former Nebraska starter Dylan Raiola this past winter, hoping he’d spend the year learning the system and be ready to follow Dante Moore after this season.

But Raiola has fallen short of expectations since replacing Moore during a win against Southern California last month. His 6.7 yards per attempt ranks second from the bottom in the Big Ten among quarterbacks with at least 45 attempts.

On paper, the combination of Moore and Raiola gave Oregon the best quarterback situation in the Power Four. But spending millions on their quarterbacks hasn’t stopped the Ducks’ decline in production and in the standings after losing their starter.

In the three full games since Moore’s injury, Oregon has scored a combined 42 points, been held under 200 yards passing twice, averaged 4.5 yards per play and lost twice, dropping out of the playoff race.

And the Ducks aren’t alone in seeing their postseason goals slip away after a quarterback change.

“Looks like 2026 is the year of the backup,” Big Ten Network analyst and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “So let’s get this backup ready to go, and it’s not easy. There’s a lot involved in this.”

Michigan’s two quarterbacks have seven combined interceptions against six touchdowns. Pittsburgh has dropped three in a row since losing starter Mason Heinstchel earlier this month. Playing without starter Steve Angelli, Syracuse dropped back-to-back league games by a single possession.

Mississippi State won four of five with a healthy Kamario Taylor under center but has dropped two in a row with the former Heisman Trophy contender sidelined with what is now a season-ending toe injury. With veteran Christopher Vezzina struggling from the start of the season, Clemson turned to freshman Tait Reynolds. The pair has combined for two passing scores and five interceptions.

“The situation can change in a blink of an eye,” said Ohio State offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

“You've got to understand your players and you've got to adapt and play to your strengths,” he said of the Buckeyes’ two backups. “You're not asking them to be Julian. You're asking them to be themselves.”

Spending, recruiting misses impact backup QBs

Oregon’s issues under center highlight an important side effect: The money the Ducks put toward Raiola could’ve been earmarked for a defense that has taken a notable step back this season, for example.

But teams don’t have much of a choice. Since the onset of the NIL era earlier this decade, starting quarterbacks have been the largest line item on a Power Four program’s annual roster budget — earning somewhere between $2 and $6 million per season, USA TODAY Sports reported in August.

This can kick off a cycle of spending, where teams that spend seven figures to sign a quarterback are then tied to that investment. Teams can feel pressed to play touted young quarterbacks as soon as possible rather than risk losing them to the transfer portal. The large sums spent on multiple quarterbacks also take money away from the rest of the roster.

Even as some programs begin to spend $40 million or more on their rosters, teams have to weigh the cost-benefit analysis of outlaying a half-million or more for a backup quarterback — the going rate for a Group of Six starter — or using those funds to attract a starting-caliber player at another position.

This conundrum is intensified by costly recruiting mistakes. For example, a highly anticipated quarterback class of 2023 headlined by Arch Manning has been a huge disappointment, with financial and on-field consequences for programs such as the Longhorns, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Another issue in the portal era is the shorter runway for a projected backup to learn the system and the trust of his coaching staff.

One example is No. 14 Texas Tech, which lost projected starter Brendan Sorsby due his NCAA suspension this summer and had to scramble to sign well-traveled backup Thomas Castellanos in August. Castellanos’ development has also been impacted by a temporary restraining order that overruled a previous order granting him a fifth season of eligibility.

But the Red Raiders have barely used Castellanos despite the struggles of starter Will Hammond, who has six touchdowns and six interceptions after playing poorly in last weekend’s loss to Cincinnati.

“I think that’s definitely a fair question, and definitely one, when you have struggles like that, you sit back on Sunday and wish you probably had used him a little bit more, or game planned for him,” Texas Tech offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Leftwich said of Castellanos.

The result is widespread inexperience among Power Four backups, with often disastrous results. In the SEC, for example, the only backup who signed with and has spent more than two seasons at his current school is Georgia junior Ryan Puglisi.

“In the NIL era, you don’t see the third-string backup. You don’t see a lot of backups anymore because they have opportunities to start somewhere else,” Meyer said.

“There’s never been more parity in college football, and you want to know why? There are great quarterbacks all across this land. No longer can one school just keep two or three great quarterbacks.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football teams spend millions on QBs. Why can’t they find a good backup?