Landyn Locke

#8 · QB · Sam Houston6′4″ · 220 lb · Rockwall, TX

ZPR4184th of 119 QBs Last gameL 3–24at Missouri State · Oct 27

Nextat Jacksonville StateSat Nov 7 · 7 pm ET

via gobearkats.com ↗

Did not play in Sam Houston’s last game.

DJ Bailey started the last one, L 3-24 at Missouri State, Oct 27.

Sam Houston’s next game: at Jacksonville State, Sat Nov 7, 7:00 p.m. ET · CBS Sports Network

Sam Houston has lost four straight in the games played. A balanced passer.

Weakest: 7% of throws gain 20 or more yards, 17th lowest of 158 starters.

Plays most like Brown, Iowa.

Passing yards

1,653

147 of 236, 62%

TD–INT

12–5

7.0 per throw

NCAA rating

133.7

80th of 119

ZPR

84th of 119

How ZPR works

Graded Solid against New Mexico State, the last full game; one rough passing grade, against Western Kentucky.

Best by our grade: Nicholls. Lowest: Western Kentucky, with 1 interception and sacked 3 times. Biggest game: at Texas Tech, No. 11. Best play: Completion for 94 yards, touchdown, against Tulsa, Q2 6:48. Win chance 25% to 49%.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

at Troy

L 21–24·Unranked

Solid

335 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT · Rush 5 for -36 · The interception cost about 13 points of win chance · Sacked 2

Biggest swing: a Q2 completion added 23 points of win chance. It flipped the game for the team: 32% to 55%.

Full game page

Tulsa

L 17–23·Unranked

Solid

316 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT · Rush 10 for -24 · Lost a fumble · Sacked 4

Biggest swing: a Q2 completion added 29 points of win chance. Win chance: 50% to 79%.

Full game page

Nicholls

W 59–0·FCS

Solid

322 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT · Rush 4 for 24 · Sacked 0

Biggest swing: a Q1 completion added 19 points of win chance. Win chance: 60% to 78%.

Full game page

at Texas Tech

L 14–49·Ranked #11

Solid

195 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT · Rush 8 for 25 · Interceptions cost about 11 points of win chance · Sacked 1

Biggest swing: a Q2 completion added 11 points of win chance. Win chance: 16% to 27%.

Full game page

at Liberty

L 3–35·Unranked

Shaky

138 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · Rush 5 for -5 · Sacked 2

None of the quarterback’s own plays moved the team's chance of winning by more than a few points.

Full game page

Western Kentucky

L 3–16·Unranked

Rough

112 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT · Rush 6 for -23 · Sacked 3

Biggest swing: a Q1 completion added 9 points of win chance. Win chance: 31% to 40%.

Full game page

New Mexico State

L 24–30·Unranked

Solid

Slow start, strong finish · 235 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT · Rush 3 for 0 · Sacked 0

Biggest swing: a Q3 completion added 20 points of win chance. It flipped the game for the team: 47% to 67%.

Full game page

at Missouri State

L 3–24·Unranked

Did not play

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Dashed outlines on the Season row are last season’s average. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Balanced

Why this word

Runs3.1 a gameRarelyA lot

Throws7.6 yards past the lineShortDeep

Completes61% by play-by-playFewerMore

Takes sacks5% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs some. 3.1 carries a game. Closest matches: Brown, Moss ’25, Milivojevic ’25, Gagliano.

Where the throws go

Behind the line20%typical 17%

Short54%typical 47%

Middle15%typical 22%

Deep11%typical 14%

Runs 3.1 times a game; 66% of starters run more.

Closest in style

Nearer the middle means more alike.

Brown Iowa · Short-game passer
1,190 yards, 8 TD, 3 INT so far. Both hit few big plays and throw short.
Moss ’25 Louisville 2025 · Short-game passer
2,679 yards, 16 TD, 7 INT. Both throw short and rarely run.
Milivojevic ’25 Michigan State 2025 · Pocket passer
1,267 yards, 10 TD, 3 INT. Both rarely run.
Gagliano Middle Tennessee · Balanced
1,587 yards, 12 TD, 4 INT so far. Both hit few big plays and throw short.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

RecordSam Houston is 1-7.
From the game thread
“Did they bench Landyn Locke? Sad, I liked him for his zoomer-maxxed name”
Ohio State fan, r/CFB game thread · at Missouri State, Oct 27

His most important play this season

Q3, 14:40 · Sam Houston down 4, takes the leadLandyn Locke finds Tim Burns Jr. for an 81-yard touchdownNew Mexico State at Sam Houston, week 8Q3, 14:40 · Sam Houston 17, New Mexico State 148181-yard touchdown pass8181-yard touchdown pass81-yard touchdown passTim Burns Jr. 81 yd pass from Landyn Locke (Sam Carpenter Kick)Watch from this play

All 6 of his plays on video

Landyn Locke

QB · Sam Houston · #8

Two seasons in the Sam Houston quarterback room to date. On tape: 335 passing yards and 3 passing TD against Troy, Week 1, 2026.

1,653 passing yards · 12 passing TD · -11 rushing yards

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Sam Houston	147	236	62.3%	1,653	7.0	12	5	133.7	41
2025	Sam Houston	71	141	50.4%	765	5.4	4	4	99.6	22
Career		218	377	57.8%	2,418	6.4	16	9	120.9	35

Season	Team
2026	Sam Houston	41	−39	−1.0	14
2025	Sam Houston	17	−15	−0.9	12
Career		58	−54	−0.9	14

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 7 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	Grade	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	SK	RUSH	Note
Wk 1	L 21-24@ Troy	Solid	30/46	335	3	1	7.3	—	2	-36	Season-high 335 yds
Wk 2	L 17-23vs Tulsa	Solid	24/34	316	2	0	9.3	36.4	4	-24	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 3	W 59-0vs Nicholls	Solid	19/28	322	4	0	11.5	65.1	0	24	4 TD passes
Wk 4	L 14-49@ No. 11 Texas Tech	Solid	23/37	195	2	2	5.3	54.0	1	25
Wk 6	L 3-35@ Liberty	Shaky	20/30	138	0	0	4.6	29.9	2	-5
Wk 7	L 3-16vs Western Kentucky	Rough	13/30	112	0	1	3.7	6.0	3	-23
Wk 8	L 24-30vs New Mexico State	Solid	18/31	235	1	1	7.6	9.4	0	0
Total			147/236	1653	12	5	7.0	—	12	-39

The latest game

Oct. 21 · L 24-30 vs New Mexico State

18 of 31 for 235 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

His season, game by game

The season, game by game

L 24-30 vs New Mexico StateOct. 21235 yds18 of 31, 1 TD, 1 INTPlay by play just above

L 3-16 vs Western KentuckyOct. 14112 yds13 of 30, 1 INTBox score only

13 of 30 for 112 yards and an interception.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

5 more games, with the play by play

L 3-35 at LibertyOct. 8138 yds20 of 30Box score only

20 of 30 for 138 yards.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

L 14-49 at Texas TechSept. 26195 yds23 of 37, 2 TD, 2 INTBox score only

23 of 37 for 195 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

W 59-0 vs NichollsSept. 19322 yds19 of 28, 4 TD

Play by playOn the field

19 of 28 for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns. Sam Houston scored touchdowns on 7 of the 11 drives he played.

8 of 11 of his drives scored
3 of 8 on 3rd and 4th down
3 runs for 20 yds

First quarterbegan tied 0-0
TD1 of 1, 65 yds1
Punt1 of 2, 2 yds2
FG2 of 2, 9 yds3
Punt1 of 2, 2 yds
Second quarterbegan up 10-0
TD4 of 5, 80 yds
Punt0 of 2, 0 yds
TD1 of 3, 18 yds
TD5 of 5, 84 yds
Third quarterbegan up 31-0
TD1 of 1, 48 yds
TD2 of 4, 12 yds
TD1 of 1, 2 yds
FinalW 59-0

a drive that ended in a touchdown or a field goala drive he didn’t playa completion, by its yardshis runincompleteinterceptedsacked, by the yards lost

completea touchdownincompleteinterceptedhis runsacked

1
65-yard touchdown pass to Tim Burns Jr. on 3rd and 6. First quarter, made it 7-0.
2
Incomplete to Tim Burns Jr. on 3rd and 4. First quarter, up 7-0.
3
3-yard run on 3rd and 6. First quarter, up 7-0.

102030405048653853

leftmiddlerightno spot

a completionincompleteinterceptedsacked, below the line

Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.

L 17-23 vs TulsaSept. 12316 yds24 of 34, 2 TDBox score only

24 of 34 for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

L 21-24 at TroySept. 5335 yds30 of 46, 3 TD, 1 INTBox score only

30 of 46 for 335 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

Highs and lows

Only games with 20 or more plays count for best and lowest.
Best by our grade	Nicholls	W 59-0 · Graded solid · 322 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT · Rush 4 for 24 · Sacked 0
Lowest by our grade	Western Kentucky	L 3-16 · Graded rough · 112 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT · Rush 6 for -23 · Sacked 3
Biggest game	at Texas Tech	No. 11 at kickoff · L 14-49 · Graded solid · 195 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT · Rush 8 for 25 · Interceptions cost about 11 points of win chance · Sacked 1
Best play	Tulsa	Completion for 94 yards, touchdown, Q2 6:48 · Win chance 25% to 49%

Where he ranks

3rd among Conference USA quarterbacks in passing yards. Tied for 3rd among Conference USA quarterbacks in touchdown passes.

Stat	His	Nation	Conference USA
Passing yards	1,653	60th of 370	3rd of 28
Yards an attempt	7.0	T-99th of 152	10th of 13
Touchdown passes	12	T-52nd of 370	T-3rd of 28
Passer rating	133.7	T-94th of 152	7th of 13
Completion percentage	62.3	90th of 152	8th of 13
Rushing yards	-39	T-358th of 370	28th of 28
Rushing touchdowns	0	—	—

Counting stats rank all FBS quarterbacks with a pass attempt; the rates rank those with at least 10 attempts a game.

All Conference USA quarterbacks

Rk	Quarterback	Yards	TD	INT	Att	Y/A
1	JJ Kohl	1,801	11	9	255	7.1
2	Caden Creel	1,746	13	8	209	8.4
3	Landyn Locke	1,653	12	5	236	7.0
4	Rickie Collins	1,617	7	6	229	7.1
5	Roman Gagliano	1,587	12	4	258	6.2
6	Nick Minicucci	1,477	14	4	170	8.7
7	Deshawn Purdie	1,453	10	1	152	9.6
8	Henry Belin IV	1,071	8	4	126	8.5
9	Trey Hedden	906	5	6	124	7.3
10	Brock Glenn	887	6	4	165	5.4
11	Rodney Tisdale Jr.	883	4	2	123	7.2
12	Skyler Locklear	788	4	2	108	7.3
13	Adam Damante	638	4	4	118	5.4
14	Tyler Bell	373	3	1	49	7.6
15	DJ Bailey	258	0	0	37	7.0
16	Braden Streeter	175	1	3	35	5.0
17	Landon Varnes	154	0	0	22	7.0
18	EJ Archield Jr.	137	0	0	19	7.2
19	Jaylen Henderson	131	2	0	18	7.3
20	Zach Marker	109	0	0	15	7.3
21	Brett Holloway	64	1	1	5	12.8
22	Riley Trujillo	38	0	0	3	12.7
23	Jack Moran	25	0	0	2	12.5
24	Skyler Williams	12	0	1	4	3.0
25	Elijah Leonard	7	0	0	1	7.0
26	Ethan Vasko	6	1	0	2	3.0
27	Caleb McMickle	3	0	0	2	1.5
28	Peter Costelli	0	0	0	1	0.0

Sorted by passing yards. Gray: under 10 attempts a game, so not ranked on yards an attempt.

Passing yards1,6533rd in the Conference USA this season.

Touchdown passes12tied for 3rd in the Conference USA this season.

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -13 to +18 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Pass targets

O'Neill and Reed saw 87 of the 237 charted throws.

Receiver	Targets	Catches	Yards	Throw depth	After catch
Grady O'Neill	48	30	284	5.2	5.0
Chris Reed	39	18	293	14.6	4.8
Tim Burns Jr.	28	15	329	14.5	5.4
Kyan Berry-Johnson	24	17	134	4.3	3.4
Alton McCaskill	17	13	47	-1.2	4.2
8 others	75	54	576	4.2	7.8
No receiver charted	6	All four interceptions are among these

Play by play: 237 passes, 147 caught, 1,663 yards; the box score counts 236 attempts. Throw depth: average air yards per target. After catch: average yards after the catch per catch. Bar: targets; the blue part was caught.

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

147/236 (62.3%) · 12 TD · 5 INT

All 236 box-score attempts covered (play-by-play lists 238 passing plays)

235 of 238 attempts charted for true throw depth

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 238 passing plays (147 completions) against the box score's 236 attempts (147 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

6.26107 of 185 QBs

Sack rate

5.2%91 of 185 QBs

Rarely sacked (91 of 185), but Adjusted ANY/A hasn't followed (107 of 185).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

23% of attempts (54)

78%comp

Air -3.5 · YAC 8.6 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

52% of attempts (122)

62%comp1 INT

Air 4.8 · YAC 3.8 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

15% of attempts (35)

54%comp1 INT

Air 12.3 · YAC 7.1 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

10% of attempts (24)

38%comp2 INT

Air 35.8 · YAC 6.8 avg

Overall 62.3% completion on 236 attempts · 38% completion on 24 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2026 baseline

No situation moves him more than 10 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

+5 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 4/94 (4.3%) · league sack rate 4.5%

Down 2

+2 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 3/75 (4.0%) · league sack rate 5.0%

Down 3+

-10 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 5/58 (8.6%) · league sack rate 8.3%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

2 seasons under Phil Longo — 3-17 over that span.

2025Sam Houston2-10HC: Phil Longo · Balanced

2026Sam Houston1-7HC: Phil Longo · Pass-leaning

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 34 (#114 of 145). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

34Below cohort / limited sample #114 of 145 · through 7 games?

13 metrics · season cumulative

through 7 games score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Concern: explosive rate (9th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#72 / 157 · 54th pct

2.1%

Sack rate#74 / 157 · 53rd pct

5.2%

EPA / dropback#115 / 157 · 27th pct

0.05

Success rate#128 / 157 · 19th pct

37.1%

Explosive rate#144 / 157 · 9th pct

6.7%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#53 / 159 · 66th pct

Fumbles lost#23 / 142 · 64th pct

Pass yards#61 / 159 · 62nd pct

1653

Completion %#94 / 159 · 41st pct

62.3%

Interceptions#87 / 159 · 37th pct

Yards / att#102 / 159 · 34th pct

7.0

Rush TDs#127 / 159 · 10th pct

Rush yards#148 / 159 · 7th pct

-39

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

7th → 27th percentile

Success rate

16th → 19th percentile

Explosive rate

18th → 9th percentile

Sack rate

79th → 53rd percentile

Interception rate

25th → 54th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

After 227 dropbacks

41Zeitgeist Passer Rating84th of 119 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 133.7 80th of 119 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

44.1%28th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · -0.4% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

7.3039th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · -0.1 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

6.3%40th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · +1.0% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (23 of 250 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 7 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home4g	246	1.8	8.0	0.5
Road3g	223	1.7	5.7	1.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	236	1.8	7.0	0.7
Weeks 8+1g	235	1.0	7.6	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Phil Longo

Pass share

55.6%

278 pass / 222 run

Plays / game

62.5

8 games

Scheme: Pass-leaning.

Sam Houston’s quarterbacks

Landyn Locke	Threw in 7 of 8 games · 147 of 236, 1,653 yds, 12 TD, 5 INT · 7.0 yards an attempt on 236 attempts · ran for -39 yds, 0 TD
DJ Bailey	Threw in 2 of 8 games · 20 of 37, 258 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · 7.0 yards an attempt on 37 attempts · ran for -28 yds, 0 TD
Brett Holloway	Threw in 2 of 8 games · 3 of 5, 64 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT · 12.8 yards an attempt on 5 attempts · ran for 47 yds, 1 TD

Box score. Every quarterback on the team who has thrown a pass this season.

Who threw, quarter by quarter

Who threw in each quarter. Blue: Landyn Locke. Gray: Brett Holloway, DJ Bailey. From the play by play.

Q1Q2Q3Q4@ TroyTulsaNicholls@ Texas Tech@ LibertyWestern KentuckyNew Mexico State@ Missouri State

Awards

Player standing · 2026

Starter

237 pass attempts and 41 carries in 7 games, about as many passes and runs a game as a typical FBS quarterback who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

34 · #114 of 145 QBs · through 7 games

Three-star recruit. Now #114 at the position.

Starter

The No. 1,173 recruit in the country is starting at quarterback in the Conference USA.

Landyn Locke

Style of play

This week

His most important play this season

What fans said

In the game threads

Named in

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

The latest game

The season, game by game

Highs and lows

Where he ranks

Pass targets

Passing profile

Situational

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Sam Houston’s quarterbacks

Who threw, quarter by quarter

Awards

Starter

Starter

Two seasons at Sam Houston

2025 6 games