Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel continues his excellent season with pair of noteworthy recognitions

Joining Gabriel as Davey O'Brien award finalists are Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. It's a fascinating tale of individual performance vs team performance. Let's look at the stats for the three quarterbacks.

For any player, context matters. Ward and Sanders both have higher raw statistical numbers, both in passing yards and touchdowns, while Gabriel leads the group in completion percentage. 

For Gabriel, he simply hasn't had to do as much as the others. It feels like Ward and Sanders are involved every week in adrenaline-filled games that go down to the wire, where the two quarterbacks are forced to shoulder the load for their teams and lead them on heroic comebacks. That surely will lead to higher counting stats. Gabriel, on the other hand, has largely gotten out to comfortable first half leads where the offense has coasted to victory in the second half, choosing instead to play conservatively while milking the clock. 

Oregon gives Gabriel a leg up in the competition — he's undefeated and is at the helm of the No. 1 team in the country. How they finish out on Saturday will be a final opportunity to put a bow on the resume for award season.