NCAA Division I FBS passing leaders

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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
Current Record Holder
Previous Record Holder
Statistics accurate as of January 15, 2025. Career 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 1,000 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

In 2024, Dillon Gabriel tied Case Keenum's passing touchdowns record of 155. Gabriel played in 64 career games compared to Keenum's 57.

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

To qualify, a player must attempt 14 pass attempts per school game. [4] 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 8th 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.

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

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<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 college football for the Houston Baptist Huskies and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, where he set the FBS season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns before being selected by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft.

<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:

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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.
  4. ↑ "Pass Completion Percentage Single Season Leaders and Records". sports-reference.com. January 15, 2025.
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