Miami’s Cam Ward sets the NCAA’s Division I record for career touchdown passes

Cam Ward made NCAA history in his final college game.

The Miami quarterback threw the record 156th touchdown pass of his college career on 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 a Division I – FBS and FCS – record, surpassing Houston Case Keenum’s record thrown from 2007 to 2011. Ward added two more touchdown passes in the first half to bring his final career total to 158, before exiting the team in the second half. A thrilling 42-41 victory for Iowa State.

The ward may not hold the record for long. Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel – whose team can play as many as three games in the College Football Playoff – has 153 touchdowns so far in his career, which has spanned six seasons at UCF, Oklahoma and now Oregon.

Either way, Ward is guaranteed to finish college with one of the top careers by 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 — third in NCAA history behind Keenum (19,217) and Gabriel (18,423). He threw for 190 yards against Iowa State to finish with 18,189 career passing yards.

And when all is said and done, Ward will be on the touchdown list for a while.

The NCAA all-around record is 162 touchdown passes by John Matocha from 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 Punk of Division III’s Mount Union threw 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. Ward is now tied with Punk and Lehnen for third on the NCAA list.

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 passing touchdowns (39). He will also depart as the Hurricanes leader in completion percentage – both for a season (65.8%, set in 2023 by Tyler Van Dyke) and a career (64.3% by D’Eriq King in 2020 and 2021).

Ward completed 67.2% of his passes this season, and made enough pass attempts to qualify for the Hurricanes’ active roster.

[Related: Shedeur Sanders vs. Cam Ward: Which QB should go first in the 2025 NFL Draft?]

The 22-year-old is expected to be the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. In his latest FOX Sports mock show, Jason McIntyre projects Ward to be the No. 1 overall pick to the New York Giants.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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