Ward breaks D-I passing TD record, sits 2nd half
ORLANDO, Fla. — Cam Ward made NCAA history in his final college game.
The Miami Hurricanes quarterback threw a record-setting 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 through 2011.
Ward finished with three touchdown passes in the first half, pushing his total to 158. As was the plan, Emory Williams started and played the second half for Miami, which went on to lose 42-41 to Iowa State.
“All meetings with players, and decisions like that, we made them in private, we keep them in private,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said after the loss in a news conference that did not include Ward. “So, I’ll prefer not to answer any questions as it relates to that. But I know he played his best while he was in there.”
Ward might 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 assured of finishing college with one of the top careers by any quarterback at any level.
“I think Cam’s DNA, his upbringing, everything that he is made of and stands for is the right kind of stuff; the stuff you want your team made of,” Cristobal said. “He’s had a tremendous impact on our community, our team, our program, alumni.”
Ward ended the first half Saturday with 18,189 yards — 6,908 at Incarnate Word, 6,968 at Washington State and 4,313 at Miami — 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 as well.
The all-division NCAA record is 162 touchdown passes by John Matocha from Division II’s Colorado School of Mines from 2019 through 2023.
Tyson Bagent of Division II’s Shepherd threw for 159 touchdowns from 2018 through 2022. Braxton Plunk of Division III’s Mount Union threw for 158 from 2019 through 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.
And now Ward has 158, as well.
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, 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).
Where the Hurricanes go from here is a different story. Miami spent most of the season in first place in the ACC and seemed on track for a College Football Playoff berth. In the end, though, they closed a 10-3 campaign with a two-game losing skid in which they allowed 84 points.
“In three games, we fell short by a play, a drive, a series,” Cristobal said. “And those things are painful, it makes you realize how all of the details of football come into play against really good teams.”
When asked about the quarterback position next season — a schedule that opens with Notre Dame at home on Aug. 30 — Cristobal said that “position wise, I think you know we always assess every position on our team, and it’s something I never discuss publicly, out of respect for our program, out of respect for the players involved.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
