With all the hype surrounding this year’s crop of college quarterbacks there are a couple of guys who are off to monster starts while flying under the radar.

You can’t blame anyone for talking about great pocket passers like Aaron Murray, Zach Mettenberger and Jameis Winston or great dual threat guys like Brett Hundley, Marcus Mariota, Braxton Miller, Tajh Boyd, Johnny Manziel or Keith Price.  Even others like to talk about all out leaders like AJ McCarron.  During all of these conversations there always seem to be a couple of names that get over looked though.

The first is a guy who everyone in the PAC 12 knows very well but can’t seem to stop.  It is a guy who had to battle to get his starting gig back after being injured a year ago.  He is the starting quarterback for the Oregon State Beavers, Sean Mannion.

After a very unexpected loss in game one to FCS power Eastern Washington, Mannion and the Beavers fell off the national radar.  That didn’t make much sense to me, at least in Mannion’s case.  He was lights out against the Eagles, throwing for 422 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-46 loss.

Since then, the Beavers have won five straight games including three against PAC 12 foes.  In every game Mannion has been masterful.  In his six games behind center in 2013, Mannion has thrown for 2511 yards and 25 touchdowns to only three interceptions.

The other quarterback who is owning the field but has managed to avoid too much national love is Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty out of the Big 12.

The Bears are 5-0 thanks to an incredible Baylor offense loaded with talent, including running back Lache Seastrunk along with wide receivers Tevin Reese and Antwan Goodley.  The guy who drives the offense however is Petty.  Petty has thrown for more than 300 yards in every game this season even though He has only played one full game.  Every other game Petty is on the bench by the third quarter because the Bears are destroying teams.  For the season, Petty has completed 69.9 percent of his passes for 1680 yards and 13 touchdowns against only one interception.  That’s more than a little impressive when you consider how much time Petty has been on the field so far this year.

Both quarterbacks have really difficult schedules the second half of the season so replicating their early season numbers will be next to impossible, but they are both extremely talented and deserve a fair amount of recognition for what they have done to this point.