Miami’s Cam Ward sets NCAA DI record with 156th TD pass

On By Littum

December 28, 2024, 4:34 PM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cam Ward made NCAA history in his final college game.

The Miami Hurricanes quarterback threw a record 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.

That’s the Division I – FBS and FCS – record, one more than Houston’s Case Keenum threw from 2007 to 2011.

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 is sure to finish college with one of the best careers of any quarterback at any level.

He entered Saturday with 17,999 yards — 6,908 at Incarnate Word, 6,968 at Washington State and 4,123 at Miami — tied 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, too.

The NCAA record for all divisions is 162 touchdown passes by John Matocha of Division II’s Colorado School of Mines from 2019 to 2023.

Tyson Bagent of Division II’s Shepherd threw for 159 touchdowns from 2018 to 2022. Braxton Plunk of Division III’s Mount Union threw for 158 from 2019 to 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.

Trailing them is Alex Tanney of Division III’s Monmouth for fifth with 157 touchdown passes from 2007 to 2011, and Ward’s first touchdown Saturday tied him alone for sixth on the NCAA list.

Ward rewrote Miami’s record book in 2024, his only season with the Hurricanes. He will leave as Miami’s single-season leader in yards, completions and touchdown passes. He was on pace entering Saturday to leave as the Hurricanes’ leader in completion percentage — 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).