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. These lists are disproportionately represented by more recent players for several structural and historical reasons: Since 1955, the length of the regular season has expanded from 10 games to 11 and later to 12 games, with some programs now playing additional postseason games, including conference championship games, bowl games, and the College Football Playoff. The NCAA did not permit freshmen to compete in varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of World War II–era seasons), preventing earlier players from accumulating statistics over four full seasons. Bowl games were not included in single-season or career statistics until 2002. As a result, many pre-2002 players are underrepresented; for example, Ty Detmer would have 16,206 passing yards and 127 passing touchdowns if bowl statistics were included, which would improve his rank in both categories. Beginning with the Southeastern Conference in 1992, FBS conferences introduced championship games, which have always counted toward official single-season and career statistics. The NCAA ruled that the 2020 season, which was heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, would not count against a player’s athletic eligibility, effectively granting an additional year of eligibility to players active that season. Since 2018, players have been allowed to participate in as many as four games in a redshirt season; previously, playing in even one game "burned" the redshirt. Since 2024, postseason games have not counted against the four-game limit. These changes to redshirt rules have given very recent players several extra games to accumulate statistics. Only statistics accumulated while a player’s team competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) are included. For example, Cam Ward threw 158 combined touchdowns across Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) (71) and FBS (87) competition, but only his 87 FBS touchdowns are counted here. Several other players—including Shedeur Sanders, Taylor Heinicke, Chad Pennington, Vernon Adams, and Bailey Zappe—also spent portions of their careers at the FCS level. In some cases, excluding FCS statistics alters statistical outcomes; for example, Sanders would have a lower career completion percentage and Zappe a lower passer efficiency rating if those seasons were included.
Legend Active FBS Player Current Record Holder Previous Record Holder
All statistics are current through the completion of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football 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.
# Player Yards Seasons 1 Case Keenum19,217 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Houston 2 Dillon Gabriel 18,722 2019 2020 2021 UCF ᛫ 2022 2023 Oklahoma ᛫ 2024 Oregon 3 Timmy Chang 17,072 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Hawaii 4 Landry Jones 16,646 2009 2010 2011 2012 Oklahoma 5 Graham Harrell 15,793 2005 2006 2007 2008 Texas Tech 6 Sam Hartman 15,656 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Wake Forest ᛫ 2023 Notre Dame 7 Bo Nix 15,352 2019 2020 2021 Auburn ᛫ 2022 2023 Oregon 8 Ty Detmer 15,031 1988 1989 1990 1991 BYU 9 Will Rogers 14,773 2020 2021 2022 2023 Mississippi State ᛫ 2024 Washington 10 Kellen Moore 14,667 2008 2009 2010 2011 Boise State 11 Baker Mayfield 14,607 2013 Texas Tech ᛫ 2015 2016 2017 Oklahoma 12 Luke Falk 14,486 2014 2015 2016 2017 Washington State 13 Seth Henigan 14,278 2021 2022 2023 2024 Memphis 14 Colt Brennan 14,193 2005 2006 2007 Hawaii 15 Rakeem Cato 14,079 2011 2012 2013 2014 Marshall 16 Holton Ahlers 13,927 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 East Carolina 17 Michael Penix Jr. 13,741 2018 2019 2020 2021 Indiana ᛫ 2022 2023 Washington 18 Mason Rudolph 13,618 2014 2015 2016 2017 Oklahoma State 19 Sean Mannion 13,600 2011 2012 2013 2014 Oregon State 20 Brett Rypien 13,581 2015 2016 2017 2018 Boise State 21 Philip Rivers 13,484 2000 2001 2002 2003 NC State 22 Corey Robinson 13,477 2010 2011 2012 2013 Troy 23 Colt McCoy 13,253 2006 2007 2008 2009 Texas 24 Aaron Murray 13,166 2010 2011 2012 2013 Georgia 25 Kevin Kolb 12,964 2003 2004 2005 2006 Houston
# Player Yards Seasons 26 Dan LeFevour 12,905 2006 2007 2008 2009 Central Michigan 27 Cooper Rush 12,894 2013 2014 2015 2016 Central Michigan 28 Brandon Doughty 12,855 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Western Kentucky 29 Derek Carr 12,843 2009 2011 2012 2013 Fresno State 30 Jayden Daniels 12,749 2019 2020 2021 Arizona State ᛫ 2022 2023 LSU 31 Tim Rattay 12,746 1997 1998 1999 Louisiana Tech 32 Ryan Lindley 12,690 2008 2009 2010 2011 San Diego State 33 Luke McCown 12,666 2000 2001 2002 2003 Louisiana Tech 34 Chris Redman 12,541 1996 1997 1998 1999 Louisville 35 Chase Daniel 12,515 2005 2006 2007 2008 Missouri 36 Mason Fine 12,505 2016 2017 2018 2019 North Texas 37 Brent Stockstill 12,495 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Middle Tennessee 38 Trevor Vittatoe 12,439 2007 2008 2009 2010 UTEP 39 Kliff Kingsbury 12,429 1999 2000 2001 2002 Texas Tech 40 Connor Bazelak 12,349 2019 2020 2021 Missouri ᛫ 2022 Indiana ᛫ 2023 2024 Bowling Green 41 Matt Barkley 12,327 2009 2010 2011 2012 USC 42 Kenny Pickett 12,303 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Pittsburgh 43 Jake Browning 12,296 2015 2016 2017 2018 Washington 44 Jared Goff 12,200 2013 2014 2015 California 45 Drew Lock 12,193 2015 2016 2017 2018 Missouri 46 Chevan Cordeiro 12,191 2018 2019 2020 2021 Hawaii ᛫ 2022 2023 San Jose State 47 Brock Purdy 12,170 2018 2019 2020 2021 Iowa State 48 Zach Terrell 12,088 2013 2014 2015 2016 Western Michigan 49 Zac Dysert 12,013 2009 2010 2011 2012 Miami (OH) 50 Clayton Tune 11,996 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Houston
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.
# Player Yards Season 1 Bailey Zappe 5,967 2021 Western Kentucky 2 B. J. Symons 5,833 2003 Texas Tech 3 Graham Harrell 5,705 2007 Texas Tech4 Case Keenum 5,671 2009 Houston Joe Burrow 5,671 2019 LSU 6 Case Keenum 5,631 2011 Houston 7 Anthony Gordon 5,579 2019 Washington State 8 Colt Brennan 5,549 2006 Hawaii 9 Ty Detmer 5,188 1990 BYU 10 David Klingler 5,140 1990 Houston
# Player Yards Season 11 Graham Harrell 5,111 2008 Texas Tech 12 Derek Carr 5,082 2013 Fresno State 13 Paul Smith 5,065 2007 Tulsa 14 Brandon Doughty 5,055 2015 Western Kentucky 15 Patrick Mahomes 5,052 2016 Texas Tech 16 Bryant Moniz 5,040 2010 Hawaii 17 Case Keenum 5,020 2008 Houston 18 Kliff Kingsbury 5,017 2002 Texas Tech 19 Matt Johnson 4,946 2015 Bowling Green 20 Tim Rattay 4,943 1998 Louisiana Tech
# Player Yards Season 21 Mason Rudolph 4,904 2017 Oklahoma State 22 Michael Penix Jr. 4,903 2023 Washington 23 Bryce Young 4,872 2021 Alabama 24 Dwayne Haskins 4,831 2018 Ohio State 25 Brandon Doughty 4,830 2014 Western Kentucky 26 Gardner Minshew 4,779 2018 Washington State Kyle McCord 4,779 2024 Syracuse Orange 28 Austin Reed 4,744 2022 Western Kentucky 29 Sonny Cumbie 4,742 2004 Texas Tech 30 Will Rogers 4,739 2021 Mississippi State
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.
# Player Yards Date / Team 1 Connor Halliday 734 Oct. 4, 2014 Washington State Patrick Mahomes 734 Oct. 22, 2016 Texas Tech 3 David Klingler 716 Dec. 2, 1990 Houston 4 Matt Vogler 690 Nov. 3, 1990 TCU 5 B. J. Symons 661 Sep. 27, 2003 Texas Tech 6 Geno Smith 656 Sep. 29, 2012 West Virginia 7 Graham Harrell 646 Sep. 22, 2008 Texas Tech 8 Cody Hodges 643 Oct. 15, 2005 Texas Tech 9 Brian Lindgren 637 Oct. 6, 2001 Idaho 10 Scott Mitchell 631 Oct. 15, 1988 Utah 11 K. J. Costello 623 Sep. 26, 2020 Mississippi State 12 Jeremy Leach 622 Nov. 11, 1989 New Mexico 13 Dave Wilson 621 Nov. 8, 1980 Illinois 14 John Walsh 619 Oct. 30, 1993 BYU 15 Jimmy Klingler 613 Nov. 28, 1992 Houston
# Player Yards Date / Team 16 David Neill 611 Oct. 10, 1998 Nevada 17 Drew Mestemaker 608 Oct. 24, 2025 North Texas 18 Anthony Gordon 606 Nov. 23, 2019 Washington State 19 Alan Bowman 605 Sep. 15, 2018 Texas Tech20 Luke Falk 601 Nov. 22, 2014 Washington State Daniel Meager 601 Sep. 7, 2007 North Texas Dillon Gabriel 601 Oct. 17, 2020 UCF 23 Ty Detmer 599 Nov. 16, 1991 BYU24 Patrick Mahomes 598 Nov. 29, 2014 Texas Tech Baker Mayfield 598 Nov. 4, 2017 Oklahoma 26 Drew Anderson 597 Oct. 7, 2017 Buffalo 27 Brandon Doughty 593 Sep. 13, 2014 Western Kentucky 28 Chris Redman 592 Nov. 14, 1998 Louisville 29 Nick Mullens 591 Oct. 1, 2016 Southern Miss 30 Tim Rattay 590 Aug. 26, 1998 Louisiana Tech
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.
# Player TDs Seasons 1 Case Keenum 155 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 HoustonDillon Gabriel 155 2019 2020 2021 UCF ᛫ 2022 2023 Oklahoma ᛫ 2024 Oregon 3 Kellen Moore 142 2008 2009 2010 2011 Boise State 4 Graham Harrell 134 2005 2006 2007 2008 Texas Tech Sam Hartman 134 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Wake Forest ᛫ 2023 Notre Dame 6 Colt Brennan 131 2005 2006 2007 Hawaii Rakeem Cato 131 2011 2012 2013 2014 Marshall Baker Mayfield 131 2013 Texas Tech ᛫ 2015 2016 2017 Oklahoma 9 Landry Jones 123 2009 2010 2011 2012 Oklahoma 10 Ty Detmer 121 1988 1989 1990 1991 BYU Aaron Murray 121 2010 2011 2012 2013 Georgia 12 Luke Falk 119 2014 2015 2016 2017 Washington State 13 Timmy Chang 117 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Hawaii 14 Matt Barkley 116 2009 2010 2011 2012 USC 15 Tim Rattay 115 1997 1998 1999 Louisiana Tech 16 Danny Wuerffel 114 1993 1994 1995 1996 Florida 17 Derek Carr 113 2009 2011 2012 2013 Fresno State Bo Nix 113 2019 2020 2021 Auburn ᛫ 2022 2023 Oregon 19 Colt McCoy 112 2006 2007 2008 2009Texas 20 Brandon Doughty 111 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Western Kentucky 21 Russell Wilson 109 2008 2009 2010 NC State ᛫ 2011 Wisconsin 22 Will Rogers 108 2020 2021 2022 2023 Mississippi State ᛫ 2024 Washington 23 Tajh Boyd 107 2010 2011 2012 2013 Clemson 24 Brent Stockstill 106 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Middle Tennessee 25 Marcus Mariota 105 2012 2013 2014 Oregon