NCAA Division I FBS passing leaders

Last updated

Case Keenum is the career record holder in completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Case Keenum.jpg
Case Keenum is the career record holder in completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns.

The NCAA Division I FBS passing leaders are career, single-season, and single-game passing leaders in yards, touchdowns, efficiency, completions, and completion percentage. [1] These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:

Contents

Legend
Active FBS Player
Statistics accurate as of November 13, 2024. Completion percentage to be updated at the conclusion of the 2024 season.

Passing yards

Career

The career leader in passing yards is Houston's Case Keenum. He is the only player to amass three 5,000+ yards seasons. Keenum was granted a fifth year of eligibility after being injured in Houston's third game in 2010, but he would still top the list by over 1,500 yards if 2010 were not included. Keenum passed Hawaii's Timmy Chang, who also received a fifth year of eligibility after being injured in Hawaii's third game in 2001. Chang broke the record previously held by BYU's Ty Detmer, who shattered a record previously held by San Diego State's Todd Santos, who finished his career in 1987 and is no longer in the top 50.

Single season

The single-season leader in passing yards is Bailey Zappe, who transferred to Western Kentucky for his final year of eligibility after starting his career at FCS Houston Baptist (now Houston Christian). He broke a record that had stood for 18 years from Texas Tech's B. J. Symons. Prior to Symons, the record had been held by Detmer, who edged out Houston's David Klingler in 1990.

Single game

The first player to pass for 600 yards in a single game was Illinois' Dave Wilson, whose record stood for eight years. The 700-yard barrier was first breached in 1990 by David Klingler. The current single-game record of 734 is shared by Connor Halliday and Patrick Mahomes.

Passing touchdowns

Career

Keenum is also the career passing touchdowns leader, with 155 over 5 seasons. He broke the record set a few years before by Texas Tech's Graham Harrell.

Single season

Zappe also holds the single-season passing touchdowns record, with 62, after breaking the record set by Joe Burrow 2 seasons before.

Single game

The single-game record holder is Houston's David Klingler, who threw for 11 touchdowns in a 1990 game against Eastern Washington. Five quarterbacks (including Klingler himself) have had a 9-touchdown game, and 7 quarterbacks have had an 8-touchdown game. Many quarterbacks have passed for 7 touchdowns in a game, too many to list here.

#PlayerTDsDate / Team
1 David Klingler 11Nov. 17, 1990 Houston
2 Dennis Shaw 9Nov. 15, 1969 San Diego State
David Klingler 9Aug. 31, 1991 Houston
Case Keenum 9Oct. 27, 2011 Houston
Anthony Gordon 9Sep. 21, 2019 Washington State
Tanner Mordecai 9 Nov. 5, 2022 SMU
7 Jason Martin 8Oct. 19, 1996 Louisiana Tech
Pat Barnes 8Nov. 2, 1996 California
Nick Rolovich 8Dec. 8, 2001 Hawaii
B. J. Symons 8Oct. 4, 2003 Texas Tech
Giovanni Vizza8Nov. 10, 2007 North Texas
Geno Smith 8Sep. 29, 2012 West Virginia
Brandon Doughty 8Nov. 28, 2014 Western Kentucky

Passing efficiency

Passing efficiency is a measure of quarterback performance based on the following formula:

Only passing statistics are included in the formula. Any yards or touchdowns gained rushing or by any other method are not a factor in the formula, and neither are fumbles. Players tend to rank highly on the list when they have a high completion percentage, high yards per completion, and many touchdowns to few interceptions.

Career

The career leader (with a minimum of 325 completions) in effiency is Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa. The career list is dominated by recent players, with no player debuting before the 21st century appearing in the top 25 of the list. To appear on this list, a player must have at least 325 career completions.

Single season

To qualify for the single-season lists, a quarterback must have at least 15 passing attempts per the number of games his team played that season. The record is currently held by LSU's Jayden Daniels, who broke the record in 2023. The record has been broken many times recently, including in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.

Single game

The NCAA does not recognize a single-game leaderboard in passing efficiency, and detailed box scores do not exist for every year going back to the beginning of college football, but the single-game record holder is Cincinnati's Gunner Kiel, who achieved an efficiency rating of 388.6, going 15-for-15 for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 2015 game against UCF. [3]

Completions

Career

Keenum is also the career leader in completions, breaking a record previously held by Harrell.

Single season

Harrell holds the single season record. Of the top 17 players on the list, 13 played under head coach Mike Leach.

Single game

The single-game record is tied between Eastern Michigan's Andy Schmidt and Washington State's Connor Halliday.

Completion percentage

Career

Alabama's Mac Jones holds the NCAA record for completion percentage, with 413 completions on 556 attempts. This is over 1.5 percentage points higher than the second place on the list, Northwestern's Dan Persa. The highest completion percentage among quarterbacks with over 1,000 career attempts is the 70.39% of Hawaii's Colt Brennan.

A quarterback must have at least 500 career attempts to appear in this leaderboard.

Single season

Jones also held the single-season record, until it was broken in 2023 by Oregon's Bo Nix. At the end of the 20th century, the single season record was held by Daunte Culpepper, and while he is still 7th on the list, he is the only 20th century player on either list.

Single game

The NCAA doesn't recognize a full list for single games, but top performances include:

Related Research Articles

Passer rating is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL), and the other used in NCAA football. Passer rating is calculated using a player's passing attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. Passer rating in the NFL is on a scale from 0 to 158.3. Passing efficiency in college football is on a scale from −731.6 to 1261.6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Detmer</span> American football player and coach (born 1967)

Ty Hubert Detmer is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. Detmer broke numerous NCAA records with BYU, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. A late-round pick in the 1992 NFL draft, Detmer played for six NFL teams over 14 seasons, mostly in a backup role. He is currently the Athletic Director at American Leadership Academy – Gilbert North High School in Gilbert, Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Couch</span> American football player (born 1977)

Timothy Scott Couch is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He played college football for the Kentucky Wildcats, where he set the Southeastern Conference record for single-season passing yards and won the Quarterback of the Year as a junior. Selected first overall by the Browns in the 1999 NFL draft, Couch was the franchise's first draft pick following their reactivation as an expansion team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timmy Chang</span> American gridiron football player and coach (born 1981)

Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college football passing records, including the NCAA record for most all-time passing yards; this record was later eclipsed by Case Keenum in 2011, and Dillon Gabriel in 2024, although Chang still remains in third place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kliff Kingsbury</span> American football player and coach (born 1979)

Kliff Timothy Kingsbury is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, finishing in the top three in several school passing records before being selected in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He was a member of several other NFL and CFL teams before entering coaching in 2008.

John Jenkins is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach the University of Houston from 1990 to 1992, compiling a record of 18–15. A proponent of the run and shoot offense, Jenkins also coached professional football in the United States Football League (USFL), the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL). He served as the head coach of the CFL's Ottawa Renegades in 2006, the FXFL's Blacktips in 2014 and the Hudson Valley Fort for part of 2015. During his career as a coach, Jenkins has mentored a number of notable quarterbacks such as Andre Ware, David Klingler, Jim Kelly, Eric Crouch, Kliff Kingsbury, Anthony Calvillo and Doug Flutie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. J. Symons</span> American football player (born 1980)

Brian Jeffrey Symons is an American former professional football quarterback. Symons played for the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), the Frankfurt Galaxy and Berlin Thunder in NFL Europe, and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League (AFL). He was selected by the Texans in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL draft. He played college football for Texas Tech where he was a record setting passer. Symons never played in a regular season NFL game.

David Ryan Klingler is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for six years in the National Football League (NFL) and current Associate Professor of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary. He played college football for the Houston Cougars, earning third-team All-American honors in 1990. Klingler was selected in the first round of the 1992 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, but his career was cut short by an elbow injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Case Keenum</span> American football player (born 1988)

Casey Austin Keenum is an American professional football quarterback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Houston Cougars, where he became the NCAA's all-time leader in total passing yards, touchdowns, and completions. In the 2008 college football season, Keenum ranked first nationally in total offense and second in total passing yards.

The run and shoot offense is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former high school coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison and refined and popularized by former Portland State offensive coordinator Mouse Davis.

Charley Molnar Jr. is an American college football coach. Molnar served head football coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), for two seasons, from 2012 to 2013, compiling a record of 2–22. Molnar had previously been the offensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame.

Connor Halliday is an American former professional football quarterback. He was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2015. After his release for the Redskins he was signed by the BC Lions in the same year and the Montreal Alouettes in 2016 but both teams released him after two days. He played college football at Washington State. Halliday is tied for first on the NCAA Division I FBS single-game passing yardage record with 734 yards, which he set in a losing effort versus Cal in 2014.

Brandon Doughty is an American former professional football quarterback. He played college football at Western Kentucky and was their starting quarterback from 2013 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Cougars football statistical leaders</span>

The Houston Cougars football statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the Houston Cougars football program in various categories, including passing, rushing, receiving, total offense, defensive stats, and kicking. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. The Cougars represent the University of Houston in the NCAA Division I FBS Big 12 Conference.

The 1990 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Cougars were led by first-year head coach John Jenkins and played their home games at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The team competed as members of the Southwest Conference, finishing in second. Due to NCAA sanctions, Houston was ineligible to be invited to a bowl game and was banned from being ranked in the Coaches Poll. The Cougars lost only once in the season, to eventual SWC champions Texas, and were ranked 10th in the final AP Poll of the year. Their last regular season game was played in Tokyo, in the Coca-Cola Classic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bailey Zappe</span> American football player (born 1999)

Bailey Michael Zappe is an American professional football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football for the Houston Baptist Huskies and used his last year of eligibility with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, where he set the FBS season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns. Zappe was selected by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft and mostly served as backup until becoming their primary starter near the end of the 2023 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NCAA Division I FBS total offense leaders</span>

The NCAA Division I FBS total offense leaders are career, single-season, and single-game leaders in total offense yards and touchdown responsibility. Both of these statistics are defined as the sum of passing and rushing yards or touchdowns, and do not include any receiving or returns stats. These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:

Blaine Hawkins is an American former college football quarterback. He played for the Central Dutch football team.

References

  1. ↑ "Football Bowl Sudivision Records" (PDF). NCAA . Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ "NCAA changes policy on football stats". ESPN.com. AP. August 28, 2002. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Cincinnati pummels Central Florida, Barrett, 52-7". ESPN.com. October 31, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.