ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cam Ward made NCAA history in his final college game.
The Miami quarterback threw a record-setting 156th touchdown pass of his college career Saturday, connecting with Jacolby George for a 4-yard score with 4:12 left in the first quarter of the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Iowa State.
That broke the Division I — FBS and FCS — record, one more than Houston's Case Keenum threw for from 2007 through 2011.
“Just blessed, man,” Ward told WQAM radio, Miami's flagship station. “I think I’ve grown so much as a person this year, outside of football. This is the best team that I’ve been around ... I was just blessed to be here.”
Ward finished with three touchdown passes in the first half, pushing his total to 158. Emory Williams played the second half for Miami.
Ward may not hold the record for long. Oregon's Dillon Gabriel — whose team could play as many as three games in the College Football Playoff — has 153 touchdown passes so far in his career, spanning six seasons at UCF, Oklahoma and now Oregon.
Either way, Ward — a first-team Associated Press All-American this season, along with the Atlantic Coast Conference's player of the year, ACC offensive player of the year and the fourth-place finisher in the Heisman Trophy voting — is assured of finishing college with one of the top careers by any quarterback at any level.
“I think Cam’s DNA, his upbringing, everything that he is made of and stands for is the right kind of stuff; the stuff you want your team made of,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He’s had a tremendous impact on our community, our team, our program, alumni.”
Ward ended the first half Saturday with 18,189 yards — 6,908 at Incarnate Word, 6,968 at Washington State and 4,313 at Miami — for the third-most in NCAA history behind only Keenum (19,217) and Gabriel (18,423).
And when it's all done, Ward will be on the touchdown list for a while as well.
The all-division NCAA record is 162 touchdown passes by John Matocha from Division II’s Colorado School of Mines from 2019 through 2023.
Tyson Bagent of Division II’s Shepherd threw for 159 touchdowns from 2018 through 2022, for No. 2 on the NCAA list. Braxton Punk of Division III’s Mount Union threw for 158 from 2019 through 2023; North Central’s Luke Lehnen, whose team will play in the Division III national championship game next month, also has 158 in his career. And now Ward has 158 as well.
Ward rewrote Miami's record book in 2024, his lone season with the Hurricanes. He will leave as Miami's single-season leader in yards (4,313), completions (305) and touchdown passes (39). He also will depart as the Hurricanes' leader in completion percentage — both for a season (65.8%, set in 2023 by Tyler Van Dyke) and for a career (64.3% by D’Eriq King in 2020 and 2021).
Ward completed 67.2% of his passes this season and has made enough passing attempts to qualify for the Hurricanes' career list.
“His play was spectacular,” Cristobal said.
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Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward, of Miami, speaks at a college football press conference, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)
