A Second Look: Ohio State beats San Diego State; see photos not included in the game-day photo gallery

Ohio State backup QB Kenny Guiton could start for a lot of teams, but not all but 15, as some might think.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – How many college football teams could Ohio State backup Kenny Guiton start for?

The conversation started in the preseason when Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman said Guiton could start for at least half of the 125 teams in the FBS level of major college football. Then Guiton came out against San Diego State on Saturday after Braxton Miller went down on the seventh play of the game and played like a starter in a 42-7 win, completing 19 of 28 passes for 152 yards, two touchdown and an interception. He also ran nine times for 83 yards.

People got more excited. Monday night on Buckeye Roundtable, the weekly state-wide radio show about Ohio State, former OSU quarterback Craig Krenzel said that Guiton could start for every school in the country “with the exception of maybe a dozen, 15 schools around the country.”

So I decided to check that out.

This isn't to pretend that I hold expertise on every quarterback situation in the nation. Far from it. But I went through all 125 teams in FBS ball and looked at the starting quarterback. I tried to make a quick assessment on who has played well, or who has some experience at quarterback, researching the borderline situations and trying to ask, “Would this team take Kenny Guiton as its starter next week instead of the guy they have right now?”

If it was a close call, I tried to lead toward Guiton. So taking Ohio State out of the equations, of the other 124 schools in the nation, Kenny Guiton could start for … 75.

That's 49 he wouldn't start for.

A backup QB who could start for 75 teams is a pretty good backup. Among the teams I think would take Guiton right now are Lane Kiffin and USC and the four-headed quarterback situation at Michigan State. Overall, I said nine teams in the ACC, four teams in the Big 12, six teams in the Big Ten, four in the Pac-12 and five in SEC would take Guiton as a starter.

Again, that's leaning toward the OSU backup on anything close.

That fits with Herman's assessment of at least half. Get out of the BCS conferences, and there are teams all over the place that would take a smart, fifth-year senior with a solid arm, decent speed, a complete understanding of the offense and an unflappable demeanor.

But there are a lot of major talents out there, too, beyond Braxton Miller. Quarterbacks who can change a game, not just manage it. And Guiton isn't at that level.

So here's the list of teams who wouldn’t take Guiton, listed with the starting quarterback. If you don't see a team, in my opinion they'd at least think about trading for Guiton if they could. Not that Ohio State would make the deal.

Big Ten

Michigan – Devin Gardner

Nebraska – Taylor Martinez

Northwestern – Kain Colter

Illinois – Nathan Scheelhaase

Penn State – Christian Hackenberg (close, but the freshman's talent is obvious)

SEC

Georgia – Aaron Murray

Missouri – James Franklin

Florida – Jeff Driskel

South Carolina – Connor Shaw

Ole Miss – Bo Wallace

LSU – Zach Mettenberg

Texas A&M – Johnny Manziel

Alabama – A.J. McCarron

Pac-12

Oregon – Marcus Mariota

Stanford – Kevin Hogan

Washington – Keith Price

Oregon State – Sean Mannion

Colorado – Connor Wood

Utah – Travis Wilson

Arizona State – Taylor Kelly

UCLA – Brett Hundley

Big 12

Baylor – Bryce Petty

Oklahoma State – J.W. Walsh

Texas Tech – Baker Mayfield

TCU - Casey Paschall (broke his arm, but was the starter)

Texas – David Ash

ACC

Clemson – Tajh Boyd

Florida State- Jameis Winston

Maryland – C.J. Brown

Miami – Stephen Morris

North Carolina – Bryn Renner

American Athletic

Louisville – Teddy Bridgewater

Central Florida – Blake Bortles

SMU – Garrett Gilbert

Mountain West

Fresno State – Derek Carr

San Jose State – David Fales

Utah State – Chuckie Keeton

Wyoming – Brett Smith

MAC

Ohio – Tyler Tettleton

Ball State – Keith Wenning

Northern Illinois – Jordan Lynch

Bowling Green – Matt Johnson

Conference USA

East Carolina – Shane Carden

Marshall – Rakeem Cato

Southern Mississippi – Allan Bridgford

Sun Belt

Troy – Corey Robinson

Arkansas State – Kolton Browning

Louisiana-Lafayette – Terrance Broadway

Independents

Notre Dame – Tommy Rees