The star-studded, big man on campus, Heisman trophy winner, projected number one overall pick, millionaire and junior quarterback Caleb Williams. NFL scouts and fans are comparing him to NFL stars such as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. A veteran NFC scout has even said, “He’s the best prospect maybe ever at both [running and passing].”

Now, after a couple bad losses to Notre Dame (7-2) and Utah (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) and a few subpar performances from Williams, experts are disregarding Williams’ hype. Former NFL quarterback and NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky said Williams is “at worst going to be the number two pick in the draft. .. but he does not play a ton in structure, he does not play a ton on time.” He’s also slipping on some draft boards out of the top pick in the draft.

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All of this leads to some questions: Is the skepticism for Williams warranted? Has he played well enough this season? Are the losses his fault?

Williams threw three interceptions in the first half in the loss against Notre Dame and threw for zero touchdowns for the first time in his Trojan career in the loss against Utah, so through a naked, untrained eye, they’re his fault, right? No. Football is a team sport. For the quarterback to be successful, the offensive line needs to block, and the skill players need to catch the ball. You need all 11 players to be successful on the field. Yes, Williams has made some pretty poor throws, but these mistakes are not all on him.

To put it in context, Williams was sacked six times against Notre Dame and four times against Utah. The offense line is only giving him an average of 2.96 seconds to throw. He’s flat-out not getting enough time to throw and make the Caleb-esque plays we’re so accustomed to seeing. False starts and sacks are major drive killers, so to beat worthy ranked opponents, these mistakes cannot happen from the offensive line.

Drops from wide receivers are another aspect of these struggles but are shadowed by the big stature of Williams. Excluding the UC Berkeley (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) game, USC (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) has had 11 drops on the season, with the most coming against Notre Dame with three. 1.375 drops per game doesn’t seem like very much because the flat-out obvious drops aren’t the problem; the problem has to do with the catchable balls that aren’t necessarily drops that the Trojan receivers are not catching. I’ve personally seen senior wide receiver Brenden Rice drop a couple of easy first downs, also with junior wide  receiver Mario Williams still struggling with drops earlier in the season.

Critics seem to forget Williams is still second in the entire FBS in passing yards with 2,646. He is tied for first in the country in passing touchdowns with 25. He leads the country in points responsible for with 208, significantly ahead of LSU senior quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is in second place by 26 points.

The Orlovskys of this world could argue that Williams doesn’t look anything like his Heisman self last season, but stats don’t lie. Through his first nine games last season, Williams amassed 2,743 passing yards — only 95 more than this season — and had 32 total touchdowns, two less than he has this season. The only abnormally large stats that distort this season to last are his interception numbers. He only had one at this point last season, where this season he already has four.

I want to repeat that stats do not lie. Nobody cares how it looks on the field; it is all about execution, and based on these numbers, Williams is executing at the rate he did during his Heisman campaign.

The one thing I am consistently seeing with Williams is his exceptional ability to be a leader. He blocks out all the noise while focusing on his career, whether on the field or off, through his business adventures with Wendy’s, Dr Pepper or Beats by Dre, or having a career record of 23-7 as a starter.

So, to answer the earlier questions, no, the skepticism is not warranted. Yes, he has played well enough for the Trojans to be perfect in Pac-12 play, and although the Notre Dame loss might fall in his hands, he does need some help from the 10 other players on offense. And don’t even get me started with the “help” he’s getting from the defense.

Williams isn’t going anywhere. He is still the best quarterback in the country, the consensus number one overall NFL draft pick, and he’s going to be showing up on your televisions not just on Sundays, but every single day eating Wendy’s, drinking a Dr Pepper or vibing in the Nissan Heisman House.