Josh Pate Names the Best Quarterback in SEC After College Football Week 4

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss didn't lose his grip on the top spot in college football analyst Josh Pate's SEC quarterback rankings, even after the Rebels gave up 52 points in their first loss of the 2026 season.

Pate posted his updated top 10 on Sept. 29 and put Chambliss at No. 1 again. He called it the "John Mateer Memorial" list, a dig at himself after he ranked the Oklahoma passer first early last season before a hand injury.

Why Josh Pate still ranks Trinidad Chambliss No. 1 in the SEC

🚨UPDATED SEC QB RANKINGS🚨 pic.twitter.com/dv6NbXNQbZ
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) September 29, 2026

Through four games, Chambliss has completed 102 of 144 passes (70.8%) for 1,222 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. He's also run for 108 yards and four scores.

He has two 300-yard passing games. His best came in Week 3, when he threw for a career-high 363 yards in Ole Miss' 32-24 win over LSU and former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin. Chambliss also ran in the go-ahead 14-yard touchdown in that game.

Pate's belief in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, native goes back to August, when he made Chambliss the top name in his preseason SEC quarterback rankings.

"He's the most dangerous player in college football to me," Pate said at the time. "He had eight games last year of 300-plus passing yards, obviously a really dynamic run element, and theoretically, his best could still be ahead of him."

That's a big jump from a year ago, when Pate had Chambliss sixth in his SEC rankings ahead of Week 9.

How did Chambliss play in Ole Miss' loss at Florida?

Josh Pate Names the Best Quarterback in SEC After College Football Week 4 — Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall and Mississippi Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) embrace after a game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ole Miss lost 52-28 at Florida on Sept. 26, and the Rebels fell to 3-1. Chambliss still threw for 298 yards. But Ole Miss played without injured star running back Kewan Lacy, and the defense couldn't get stops.

"This isn't going to define our season," Chambliss said after the game.

"I'm super confident in our team still," Chambliss added. "I feel like we can still compete for an SEC championship and national championship, but now we just have to go 1-0 every week."

Ole Miss has a bye in Week 5, so Chambliss gets two weeks to fix the errors.

Who else made Josh Pate's SEC quarterback top 10?

Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor is No. 2. He has 14 touchdown passes, which is tied for the most in the country.

Alabama's Keelon Russell is third. He and Taylor meet Saturday when No. 7 Alabama visits No. 16 Mississippi State.

Missouri's Austin Simmons is fourth. He lost the Ole Miss job to Chambliss after he got hurt last season. Georgia's Gunner Stockton is fifth, and Florida's Aaron Philo is sixth.

LSU's Sam Leavitt is seventh, Kentucky's Kenny Minchey is eighth, Texas' Arch Manning is ninth and Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis is 10th.

Where did Arch Manning and John Mateer fall?

Manning was second in Pate's preseason list. Now he's ninth, while Texas sits at No. 1 in the AP poll. In his past two games against UTSA and Tennessee, Manning threw for 362 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Mateer was third in August, and he didn't make the new top 10. South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Texas A&M's Marcel Reed and Auburn's Byrum Brown also fell out. Russell climbed from sixth to third, and Simmons went from 10th to fourth.

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