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 comprise the career, single-season, and single-game leaders in passing yards, touchdowns, passer efficiency, completions, and completion percentage. [1] These lists are disproportionately represented by more recent players for several structural and historical 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

Houston's Case Keenum is the NCAA career passing yards leader and the only player to throw for over 5,000 yards in three seasons. Like Timmy Chang of Hawaii, Keenum received a fifth year of eligibility after an early-career injury, which allowed him to surpass Chang, who had also benefited from a fifth year in 2001. Chang had broken BYU's Ty Detmer record, who had previously overtaken Todd Santos of San Diego State, now outside the top 50 in career passing yards.

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

Bailey Zappe holds the NCAA single-season passing touchdowns record with 62, surpassing the mark set by Joe Burrow two seasons earlier.

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

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa holds the highest career passer efficiency rating among players with at least 325 career pass completions. The career leaderboard is dominated by modern-era quarterbacks, with no players who debuted before the 21st century appearing in the top 25. [3]

Single season

To qualify for the single-season passer efficiency leaderboard, a quarterback must average at least 15 pass attempts per game. The current record is held by Jayden Daniels of LSU, who set it in 2023. The record was frequently broken in recent years, with new leaders each year from 2016 to 2021.

Single game

The NCAA does not recognize a single-game leaderboard for passing efficiency, and comprehensive box scores are not available for every season in college football history. However, the highest documented single-game passer efficiency rating with a minimum of 15 pass attempts belongs to Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel, who recorded a rating of 388.6 after completing 15 of 15 passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns in a 2015 game against UCF. [4]

According to Sports Reference, the highest single-game passer efficiency rating with a minimum of 20 pass attempts was recorded by Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray in a 2018 game against Baylor. Murray completed 17 of 21 passes for 432 yards and six touchdowns for a passer efficiency rating of 348.0. In the 66–33 victory, he also rushed 10 times for 45 yards and a touchdown. [5]

Completions

Career

Keenum holds the NCAA Division I FBS career record for completions, surpassing the mark previously set 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 for the single-season completion percentage leaderboard, a player must average at least 14 pass attempts per game. Mac Jones held the NCAA single-season record for completion percentage until 2023, when it was broken by Bo Nix of Oregon. At the end of the 20th century, the record was held by Daunte Culpepper; he remains eighth on the all-time list and is the only player who debuted before the 21st century to appear. [6]

Single game

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

References

  1. ↑ "Football Bowl Subdivision 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. ↑ "Passing Efficiency Rating Career Leaders and Records". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 1, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Cincinnati pummels Central Florida, 52–7". ESPN.com. October 31, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Baylor at Oklahoma Box Score, September 29, 2018". sports-reference.com. September 29, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Pass Completion Percentage Single Season Leaders and Records". sports-reference.com. January 15, 2025.
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