Caleb Williams' Numbers Against Top 25 Defenses Are Alarming
Caleb Williams is an uber-talented quarterback, has a Heisman Trophy with his name on it, and will likely be the first quarterback selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. But, if you can find one knock against the 21-year-old's game it's what he's done against elite defenses during his college career.
Williams struggled, mightily, against Notre Dame last weekend throwing three interceptions in a game for the first time in his career en route to a 48-20 beatdown in South Bend. His bad outing against the Irish isn't his first tough go at it against high-level defenses.
According to a post from EscapeTomMayflower on the popular CFB Reddit page, Williams has squared off against Top 25 scoring defenses five times in his career and has only looked like a potential first-overall pick on just one of those occasions.
Williams threw three touchdowns and zero interceptions against Oklahoma State during the 2021 season when he was still at Oklahoma. Take that game away, and in the four games against Top 25 defenses he's got just three touchdowns, six interceptions, and a 2-2 record.
Another way to look at these numbers is that Caleb Williams has played in 32 college football games at this point, yet has only seen a Top 25 defense on the other side of the ball just five times. Maybe that's a detriment to the Big 12 and Pac 12 having porous defense more than anything.
Williams certainly doesn't make the schedules, it's not his fault he's not seeing more elite defense, but based on his numbers he probably doesn't mind the fact that he's avoiding them.