NCAA Division I FBS passing leaders

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.

All statistics are current through the completion of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season.