Bailey Zappe: QB · Western Kentucky · #4.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Bailey Zappe
Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. Transferred to Western Kentucky from Houston Christian. The first one came in 2021: Conference USA Player of the Year. A game that shows it: 577 passing yards and 5 rushing yards against UTSA — Week 14, 2021.
Play style
High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
64.1% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 35.7% conversion-per-dropback — 40.0% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
2 of the team's 17 inside-the-5 carries (11.8%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Western Kentucky | 475 | 686 | 69.2% | 5,967 | 8.7 | 62 | 11 | 168.9 | 84 |
| Career | 475 | 686 | 69.2% | 5,967 | 8.7 | 62 | 11 | 168.9 | 84 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Western Kentucky | 51 | 17 | 0.3 | 3 | 21 |
| Career | 51 | 17 | 0.3 | 3 | 21 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 13 games
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| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 59-21vs UT Martin | 28/35 | 424 | 7 | 1 | 12.1 | 92.1 | 7 TD passes |
| Wk 2 | L 35-38@ Army | 28/40 | 435 | 3 | 1 | 10.9 | 78.8 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 4 | L 31-33vs Indiana | 31/44 | 365 | 3 | 0 | 8.3 | 84.6 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 5 | L 31-48@ No. 17 Michigan State | 46/64 | 488 | 3 | 0 | 7.6 | 66.6 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 6 | L 46-52vs UTSA | 38/60 | 523 | 5 | 1 | 8.7 | 72.5 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 7 | W 43-20@ Old Dominion | 36/54 | 397 | 5 | 1 | 7.4 | 78.5 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 8 | W 34-19@ Florida International | 39/49 | 382 | 3 | 0 | 7.8 | 57.9 | 3 TD passes |
| Wk 9 | W 45-13vs Charlotte | 33/45 | 393 | 4 | 2 | 8.7 | 81.7 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 10 | W 48-21vs Middle Tennessee | 29/50 | 281 | 4 | 0 | 5.6 | 64.6 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 11 | W 42-21@ Rice | 34/42 | 482 | 5 | 1 | 11.5 | 88.9 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 12 | W 52-17vs Florida Atlantic | 39/49 | 470 | 6 | 2 | 9.6 | 90.2 | 6 TD passes |
| Wk 13 | W 53-21@ Marshall | 25/48 | 328 | 4 | 0 | 6.8 | 50.6 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 14 | L 41-49@ UTSA | 36/59 | 577 | 4 | 2 | 9.8 | 84.8 | Season-high 577 yds |
| Total | 442/639 | 5545 | 56 | 11 | 8.7 | — |
Week 1 · 2021
W 59-21
vs UT Martin
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 596 passing plays (402 completions) against the box score's 686 attempts (475 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
9.498 of 204 QBsSack rate
2.0%5 of 204 QBsRarely sacked (5 of 204 QBs) and still 8 of 204 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 69.2% completion on 686 attempts · 77 deep completions averaging 33.3 yds.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 13 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 409 | 4.8 | 8.8 | 1.0 |
| Road7g | 441 | 3.9 | 8.8 | 0.7 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 439 | 4.3 | 9.2 | 0.7 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 416 | 4.3 | 8.5 | 1.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Tyson Helton
Pass share
64.3%
696 pass / 387 run
Plays / game
83.3
13 games
Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2021
First team in his league at the position.
The All-Conference 1st team honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #3 of 126 FBS quarterbacks by CFB Zeitgeist Score.2021 profile
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Unranked recruit. Now #3 at the position.
How it ended
One season at Western Kentucky, 5,967 passing yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2021) — drafted at #137 overall by the New England Patriots.
Recruited without a star rating, and honored since.
The role got bigger.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 1ST TEAM
All-Conference USA 1st team (2021)
Weekly recognition
4 weekly honors (2021)
Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week — a 4+ season has tracked to All-Conference ~83% of the time
Next stop · NFL
New England PatriotsEntering 5th NFL season
New England PatriotsEntering 5th NFL season
