Ranking college football's top 60 QBs of the 2000s: Oklahoma dominates the list

Six Sooners appear on the list of the greatest quarterbacks of the last 20 years — or 10 percent of all of college football

John E. Hoover | Mar 4, 2021

ESPN’s Bill Connelly recently took on the Herculean — and wholly entertaining — task of ranking the top 60 college quarterbacks since the turn of the century.

Connelly said that task was “even more difficult than I imagined” because it’s hard to compare an historic one-year pinnacles (Cam Newton, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray) to guys who sustain excellence over their careers (Case Keenum, Baker Mayfield).

“Everything we thought was evolving at the turn of the century did so, and then some,” Connelly wrote. “Quarterback play in the 2000s has evolved to include numbers we never thought imaginable: 3,500/1,000 seasons, 200 passer ratings, completion rates nearing 80%.”

Of course, Oklahoma had a significant presence on Connelly’s list, with six Sooner QBs landing in the top 36, including three in the top 15 and only one at the very top. Since 2000, OU has had four QBs win the Heisman Trophy and two others finish second, plus landed three other Heisman finalists.

The full story requires a subscription to read. Here are some excerpts:

36. Landry Jones, Oklahoma

Years: 2009-12
Stats: 16,646 passing yards, 64% completion rate, 123 TD, 52 INT, 3 rushing TD

Here's a complete list of power-conference QBs who have thrown for more yards than Jones:

[null]

It was hard to appreciate Jones' steady excellence in real time, but by the time he had graduated he had put together a four-year statistical résumé that, even in the near-decade that has followed, no one has surpassed.

30. Jason White, Oklahoma

Years: 1999-2004
Stats: 7,922 passing yards, 63% completion rate, 81 TD, 24 INT, 2 rushing TD

BCS title game losses dampened White's legacy a bit, but his evolution from athletic dual-threat to statuesque ball-distributor following knee injuries was awe-inspiring. He didn't win one Heisman vote and finish third in another by accident.

23. Jalen Hurts, Alabama/Oklahoma

Years: 2016-19
Stats: 9,477 passing yards, 65% completion rate, 80 TD, 20 INT, 3,274 rushing yards, 43 rushing TD

Hurts was a starter for three years, averaged 2,900 passing yards and 1,036 rushing yards per season and led three CFP bids; as a backup to Tua Tagovailoa in 2018, he helped to save a CFP bid as well. He was the SEC's offensive player of the year as a freshman and Heisman runner-up as a senior. What a career.

15. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma

Years: 2007-09
Stats: 8,403 passing yards, 68% completion rate, 88 TD, 16 INT, 5 rushing TD

The 2008 OU offense was, at the time, the best spread attack in history. Bradford threw for 4,720 yards and 50 TDs, and the Sooners scored at least 58 points in six consecutive Big 12 games that year. Only a 2009 injury (and a couple of goal-line failures in the 2008 national title game) kept him out of a potential top-10 spot here.

Kyler Murray / Photo: Mickey Welsh-Montgomery

7. Kyler Murray, Texas A&M/Oklahoma

Years: 2015-18
Stats: 5,406 passing yards, 67% completion rate, 50 TD, 14 INT, 1,478 rushing yards, 13 rushing TD

Murray was a first-round draft pick in baseball but decided to play college football one last season in 2018. We were all better off for it. As Baker Mayfield's OU successor, he threw for 4,361, rushed for 1,478 more and posted 54 combined TDs. IN ONE YEAR. And then he became a first-rounder in another draft.

1. Baker Mayfield, Texas Tech/Oklahoma

Years: 2013-17
Stats: 14,607 passing yards, 69% completion rate, 131 TD, 30 INT, 1,083 rushing yards, 21 rushing TD

(Cam) Newton, (Vince) Young and (Joe) Burrow had the best seasons. Mayfield had the best career.

It began with him walking on at Texas Tech, quickly winning the starting job and throwing for 413 yards in his debut. He lost his job to injury, then traded up, landing at OU. The Sooners hadn't won an outright conference title since 2010, but he led them to three in a row, with three top-five finishes and two CFP bids. His storybook career ended with him throwing and rushing for 4,938 yards and 48 TDs, winning the Heisman and bringing OU to within an eyelash of the national title game. He was so good that, despite non-prototypical size, the Cleveland Browns couldn't resist making him the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft.

Published Mar 4, 2021

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.