In 2014, Ohio State did the unthinkable. It lost two-time Braxton Miller, the two-time Big Ten Most Valuable Player, in the preseason, only to unleash redshirt freshman phenom J.T. Barrett on college football. Barrett eclipsed even Miller’s previous best marks. College football history became the stuff of college football legend when Barrett also went down at the end of the year, leaving Urban Meyer’s third-string quarterback, Cardale Jones, to barrel and bomb his way to a national championship.

That fabled season is why even more important than a great quarterback is a great quarterback room. It’s hard enough to find an arm capable of winning a national title but if you’ve got three, or even two, consider yourself really lucky – or really good. With that in mind, we take a look at the best quarterback rooms from starter to the end of the bench and see who can weather the biggest storms this fall. Let's get going, starting from the top.

You want to win a national championship? You’ve got the starter to get the job done. An injury hits? No problem, you’ve got the backup to compensate. In fact, Ohio State has got a couple of backups to choose from that are national title worthy in Dwayne Haskins and Joe Burrow while Barrett runs the show. Ohio State’s fourth stringer, true freshman Tate Martell, would be in the thick of the staring competition at any other school in the country.

Alabama doesn’t have quite the depth as Ohio State but they’re still in good shape with the returning SEC Offensive Player of the Year in Jalen Hurts and a true freshman that I think is even more talented behind him. (Tua Tagovailoa). This is a lofty spot for a quarterback room with only one year of varsity experience but these guys are just that talented.

Between Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, no injury is going to make Oklahoma any less dynamic from the quarterback position and even third-stringer Austin Kendall had some impressive moments last season in relief.

Regardless of your opinion of Trace McSorley’s NFL potential, there’s no arguing what the kid is capable of on the college level. He’s capable of winning the Heisman. He’s capable of winning the national championship. But the athletic, mobile quarterback is also capable of getting hurt. If he does, in steps Tommy Stevens, Penn State’s backup who the staff is sky high on. The Nittany Lions’ national title chances may dim with a McSorley injury but they’d still be capable of winning every game on their schedule with Stevens at the helm.

Lamar Jackson has a chance to be a back-to-back Heisman Trophy winner and when he’s on the field, Louisville can beat anyone in the country. Bobby Petrino’s staff is high on backup Jawon Pass but a raw redshirt freshman is a steep dropoff from the most dynamic player in college football.

The dropoff is even steeper further down this tier. Mason Rudolph, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen could be the top three quarterbacks taken in the NFL Draft. But their backups are, respectively, walk-on Taylor Cornelius, and redshirt freshmen Matt Fink and Devon Modster, all names that smack of inexperience and uncertainty.

Auburn newcomer Jarrett Stidham is as talented as any quarterback in the country and while Sean White will bring experience to his as-yet unofficial backup role, that experience doesn’t inspire much confidence. The same can be said for the guys backing up Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Florida State’s Deondre Francois. Nick Smith was winless in relief as a starter in 2015 for Wyoming while redshirt junior JJ Cosentino, assuming he holds on to the backup gig, has a career mark of 7-for-19 passing.

Mississippi State, Washington State, Washington, Northwestern, West Virginia, USF and Western Kentucky all have Heisman-type talents under center but the average career production of their seven projected backups comes out to 10-for-17 for 108 yards. These aren’t names that are going to resonate outside campus dining halls.

Heading into Year 2 on campus, I believe these guys are as talented as any starters in college football but we’re still waiting to see if the light turns on — and if it does, how bright it’s going to shine.

Georgia’s room tops this tier because along with sophomore starter Jacob Eason, backup Jake Fromm has already flashed major ability as a true freshman in lighting up the spring game. I love Fromm’s competitiveness.

Shea Patterson is the former No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country per the 247Sports Composite and has Ole Miss fans optimistic but backup Jordan Ta'amu also adds some beef to an otherwise skeletal quarterback room by bringing his 334 passing yards per game and 32 touchdown throws from the JUCO ranks.

Jake Bentley at South Carolina, Shane Buechele at Texas (along with true freshman Sam Ehlinger), Brandon Wimbush at Notre Dame and Justin Herbert at Oregon all have the kind of talent that could bring home a title but all still have plenty to prove.

The Heisman may be a pipe dream and a national title run would need a much better supporting cast than any of these guys have but these teams are all heading into the fall with the most important position on the field in good hands.

Arkansas leads the way in this tier not only because of Austin Allen’s gritty season a year ago but because of the buzz in Fayetteville that is building behind both backups Ty Storey and Cole Kelley. The Razorbacks look set at quarterback well beyond 2017.

Drew Lock is trending up for Missouri while Nebraska’s Tanner Lee has already generated some modest NFL buzz. Duke’s Daniel Jones has that kind of upside, too, as do several others in this group such as the 23-year old Tanner Mangum at BYU or the 19-year old Colin Hill at Colorado State.

Thousand-yard rusher Jesse Ertz of Kansas State won’t be playing quarterback in the NFL and MTSU’s Brent Stockstill likely won’t either despite his 7,000-plus career passing yards but both will be among college football’s toughest to defend this fall.

Collectively these are among the most talented quarterback rooms in the country. There just hasn’t been any one guy that has emerged from the competition as a nationally elite arm. Troy Williams at Utah is the closest thing to a safe bet and he’ll have a chance to take a big step forward in 2017 as the Utes shift to a spread passing attack. To do that though, he’ll have to hold off talented sophomore Tyler Huntley and Alabama transfer Cooper Bateman.

At Clemson, true freshman Hunter Johnson could be one of the best pure throwers anywhere in college football but he also may be third on the depth chart behind the more experienced Zerrick Cooper and probable starter Kelly Bryant. A national title is contingent on one of these guys stepping up.

Nobody has seen more good arms come through the program without a great one emerging than Arizona State. Former five-star and Alabama’s opening day starter Blake Barnett arrives in Tempe as the fourth quarterback on the roster to start a game in 2016. This is likely a battle between Barnett and Manny Wilkins but this crew is five deep with high-profile arms extending to Brady White (former Army All-American), to Dillon Sterling-Cole (former Semper Fi All-American), to true freshman Ryan Kelley (former Under Armour All-American).

The quarterback play is shaky this year but we’re on the cusp of seeing something special. That’s the vibe I get out of Michigan, Stanford and Virginia Tech.

At Michigan, Wilton Speight is serviceable but limited. He’ll need to hold off Brandon Peters to win the starting job – and that’s likely - but when Peters gets handed the keys next year, that Michigan offense will get some jet fuel.

Stanford has its starter in Keller Chryst but whether it’s Chryst’s maturation under center this fall, sophomore KJ Costello’s inheritance of the position this fall or next, or maybe even the emergence of the class of 2017’s No. 1 quarterback in the country in Davis Mills, this fall is just a starting point. Stanford at quarterback will be healthy, and likely more dangerous, in the years to come.

And then there’s Justin Fuente. The engineer of first-rounders Paxton Lynch and Andy Dalton, Fuente helped undrafted quarterback Jerod Evans set school records in his first year at Virginia Tech. Record smashing in 2017 will be much tougher. While Josh Jackson is the likely starter, Fuente has his next big-time talent in true freshman Hendon Hooker. Whether he wins the job this fall or not, Hooker will be a nice addition to Fuente’s resume after he breaks out next fall.

Pitt has one of the deepest quarterback rooms in college football. True freshman Kenny Pickett was a steal for the Panthers. Redshirt freshman Thomas MacVittie is raw but brimming with talent and upside. Likely backup Ben DiNucci is better than anyone outside of the Pitt locker room realizes. But we won’t know how good this group is until we see more out of the former five-star, USC transfer Max Browne.

Talented enough to win the job last fall over possible No. 1 draft pick Sam Darnold but bad enough to lose that job in Week 3, Browne will try to learn a new offense in his one redemption season in Pittsburgh. Nothing would surprise me.