Which Pac-12 school has the greatest history of elite quarterbacks?
Recently, ESPN ranked the top 75 QBs of the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, many of the names featured in that list were QBs that played for schools in the Pac-12. Since its inception, the Pac-12 — and both the Pac-10 and Pac-8 before that — has demonstrated a focus on high-quality passing offense, which naturally attracts quality QBs.
Today, I won’t be ranking QBs. Instead, I’ll be ranking schools. I’ll be ranking schools based on every QB throughout their history, to see which school has the greatest history of QBs in the Pac-12.
To do this, I examined a lot of quarterbacks — statistically speaking and otherwise. For the sake of brevity, many of the QBs I examined to determine the rankings aren’t included, but each school’s best and most iconic QBs are included in each section.
Some of the main criteria I considered were career yards and touchdowns (passing as well rushing for the dual-threat QBs), Bowl victories, NFL success, and individual accolades.
There have been a lot of great quarterbacks to come through the Pac-12 over the past several decades, but a few schools have been home to some of the best. Here are my final rankings of the best QB schools in conference history:
USC Trojans
Nobody was going to top the USC Trojans on this list.
With three 10,000-yard passers (Matt Barkley, Matt Leinart, and Cody Kessler) and three Heisman QBs (Leinart, Carson Palmer, and most recently Caleb Williams), the history of USC QBs is nothing short of remarkable. Palmer went on to have a quality long-term NFL career, Williams is the prospective No.1 overall pick for 2024, and Matt Leinart led the Trojans to win back-to-back national championship games in 2003 and 2004, though the title in 2004 has since been vacated. In that game, Leinart threw for 332 yards, 5 TDs, no INTs, and had a perfect passer rating.
All of that on top of the fact that 60s outlaw country and movie star, Kris Kristofferson once sat under center for the Trojans is what makes them the best QB school in the Pac-12’s history.
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks have a plethora of great QBs scattered across their history. First came Dan Fouts: a great college QB who was even better in the NFL. Fouts led the San Diego Chargers for 15 seasons, and his sustained greatness earned him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
After Fouts, the Ducks saw many quality QBs such as Chris Miller, Bill Musgrave, Akili Smith, and Joey Harrington. But in 2011, it was Darron Thomas who led the Ducks to their first-ever national championship game. While they lost the game, Thomas did what no Ducks QB had ever been able to do: play for a national championship.
After Thomas left, there came true greatness in Eugene. For the first time, the Ducks had a QB that would throw for 10,000 yards in his career. Marcus Mariota also managed to rush for over 2,000 yards and bring the first-and-only Heisman Trophy to the Oregon Ducks. While Mariota’s NFL career hasn’t been what any Duck fans hoped it would be, his play and his numbers (10,796 passing yds, 2,237 rush yds, and 134 total-TDs) at the collegiate level put him among the greatest college football players ever.
After losing Mariota, the Ducks were graced with another generational talent in 2016 with the arrival of Justin Herbert. In his four-year Ducks career, Herbert had 10,541 passing yards and 95 TDs. In 2020, Herbert was selected in the first round of the NFL draft. And although it is still early in the young QBs career, Herbert has already shown the skill and potential to be the best pro Duck ever.
Stanford Cardinal
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Once known as “Quarterback U,” Stanford has a history of creating generational QBs. While they have had many successful QBs across their vast history, the three names that stand out are Jim Plunkett, Andrew Luck, and John Elway.
Plunkett brought the Cardinal the only Heisman trophy in the school’s history. Luck likely had the best statistical career among all Stanford QBs with 9,430 career passing yards, and 82 TDs to only 22 INTs in three seasons. Luck and Plunkett also put bowl trophies in Stanford’s case, winning the Orange and Rose Bowls, respectively. And While Elway never played in a bowl game, he did play in five super bowls with the Denver Broncos — winning two of them — and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest QBs ever to play in the NFL.
Other notable Stanford QBs to mention are current Houston Texans QB, Davis Mills, who threw for 3,468 yards and 18 TDs in three seasons in Palo Alto, as well as Steve Stenstrom, the school’s only 10,000 yards passer who also tacked on 72 TDs in four years.
Colorado Buffaloes
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The Colorado Buffaloes are a bit different than most of the teams on this list because the two best Buffs’ QBs — former Pittsburgh Steeler, Kordell Stewart and national champion, Darian Hagan — were part of a triple-option offense. Hagan and Stewart were both prolific rushers. In their careers — which both took place in the nineties — Stewart had 1,289 rushing yards with 15 TDs, while Hagan had 2,007 yards and 27 TDs on the ground.
Stewart and Hagan were both good passers as well, each throwing for over 25 TDs in their careers. Hagan led the Buffaloes to their only national title, using his legs and arm equally to helm an offensive powerhouse. After college, Kordell Stewart became a high-octane utility player for the Steelers where he earned the nickname Slash because he played QB slash RB slash WR.
CU saw great passers as well in their two best QBs of the 2010s, Sefo Liufau and Steven Montez. Both Liuifua and Mostez threw for 10,000 yards in their careers and they both threw 60+ TDs during their time in Boulder. While neither player translated to the NFL, both had a strong impact on the Buffaloes program, specifically to the 2016 team that finished 10th in AP and went to the Alamo Bowl.
Washington State Cougars
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Washington has had plenty of quality producers over the years at QB, such as Ryan Leaf and Drew Bledsoe. Both were statistically sound in college (each throwing for 7,000+ yards and 45+ TDs) and Bledsoe had a solid NFL career before it was derailed by injury.
What catapults WSU to No. 5 on this list is the golden boy of the Pac-12, Luke Falk. Falk is the holder of almost every major career passing record in the Pac-12 with 14,481 yards and 119 TDs, which came over the course of a four-year career. Also during Falk’s time as a Cougar, Washington State won a Sun Bowl and appeared in the Holiday Bowl twice, though they lost both. While Falk never panned out as a pro, he is statistically the undisputed greatest Pac-12 QB ever, which certainly elevates the quality of WSU’s all-time QB room.
Arizona State Sun Devils
Perhaps they are a sleeper when thinking about schools known for good QBs, but the Arizona State Sun Devils have had some gunslingers over the years. The Sun Devils have had two QBs reach the 10,000-yard mark: Andrew Walter (their all-time passing leader) and Rudy Carpenter. In addition, both QBs threw for over 80 TDs in their careers. Walter appeared in two bowl games, winning one (the 2002 Sun Bowl) while Carpenter appeared in three, winning the 2005 Insight Bowl.
While Carpenter and Walter may be ASU’s statistical champs, the best QB to wear a Sun Devils uniform was Jake Plummer. Plummer threw for 8,626 yards and 64 TDs in his four years in Tempe. He went on to be a pro-bowl QB in the NFL as well. Plummer played for nine total seasons between the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos, taking Denver to their first AFC championship since their pair of Super Bowls in the late nineties.
UCLA Bruins
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While it may be a surprise to see UCLA this low, much of their team success over the years has come from a strong defense and a solid running game, not necessarily an elite gunslinger. That being said, UCLA still has some all-time greats at the QB position.
The Bruin QB that most quickly comes to mind is Troy Aikman. Aikman only played for two seasons in LA but in those two seasons, he threw for 5,298 yards, 41 TDs, and 17 INTs. Aikman went on to lead the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s where he won three Super Bowls — one of which he was the MVP — and constructed a Hall of Fame career.
Aikman isn’t the only great passer to play in the Rose Bowl. In 1967 Gabe Beban won the school’s only Heisman Trophy two years after a Rose Bowl victory in his freshman year. Much more recently, Dorian Thompson-Robinson cemented himself as one of the all-time Bruin greats, with his 10,710 career passing yards, 88 TDs, and 1,826 career rushing yards. Another statistical great for UCLA was Cade McNown, who threw for 10,708 yards and 68 TDs in his career. McNown played from 1995-1998 and in those four seasons, the Bruins went to the Aloha, Cotton, and Rose Bowls, and won the 1997 Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M.
Washington Huskies
Oregon State Beavers
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While Oregon State hasn’t sent many impactful QBs to the NFL, they have several QBs who put up monster numbers as Beavers, such as Sean Mannion, Derek Anderson, and Erik Wilhelm.
Wilhelm played in the mid-eighties, which makes his 9,393 career passing yards even more impressive. Wilhelm also threw 52 TDs in four years.
In the early 2000s, the Beavers welcomed their first 10,000-yard passer, Derek Anderson. Anderson had 11,249 career yards along with 79 TDs.
Lastly comes Corvallis’ statistical giant Sean Mannion. The most successful NFL QB to come from Oregon State gathered 13,600 passing yards in four years along with 83 TDs. As a Beaver, Mannion went to two bowl games and won the Alamo Bowl in 2012.
California Golden Bears
Arizona Wildcats
Great QBs in Arizona have been few and far between, but they have seen diamonds in the rough over the course of their history. Some of those names include Khalil Tate, Willie Tuitama, and Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles.
Foles was Arizona’s best QB ever. He is the only Wildcat to ever throw for 10,000 yards, he is tied for Arizona’s TD record with 67, and he had a tremendous impact on the 2018 Philadelphia Eagles and their road to a Super Bowl.
The other half of Arizona’s TD record is Willie Tuitama. Tuitama played in the mid-2000s, threw for 9,211 yards, and in his senior season, he led the Wildcats to victory in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl.
Lastly, the wicked athlete Khalil Tate, who in 2017 seemed to take the college football world by storm each week. In his career, Tate had 6,318 yards and 57 TDs in the air as well as 2,285 yards and 18 TDs on the ground. In 2017 specifically, Tate was just shy of having 1,500 yards both as a rusher and a passer in a season that finished in a Foster Farms Bowl loss.
Utah Utes
While currently the Utah Utes are blessed with talent at the QB position with Cam Rising, things have rarely been that way throughout their history. Rising is one of their more talented QBs, along with Scott Mitchell and Alex Smith.
Utah has never had a QB reach 10,000 career passing yards. Mitchell came closest with 8,981. Mitchell also threw for an impressive 69 TDs in his career, but his INT numbers were quite high as well at 38. Though he never reached a bowl game Mitchell did provide consistency for his three years as a Ute.
Far and away the best NFL talent to come out of Utah is Alex Smith. As a Ute, Smith threw for 5,203 passing yards and 47 TDs in three seasons. Perhaps Smith’s most impressive college stat is his eight career INTs. That ability to protect the ball made him an attractive target for NFL GMs and he was drafted 1st overall. Smith played for 15 seasons in the NFL and after returning from a devastating leg injury, he was voted the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
