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Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert is a nice boy, not all showy like that Hawaiian guy that used to play here. He isn’t interested in breaking records, and taking glory away from others. Those other quarterbacks worked really hard to set those records in the first place, and it’d be shame to bury that work down the chart. Instead, Justin Herbert is kind enough to share his records; against Cal, he tied the Oregon record of 6 TD passes in one game, already shared by Marcus Mariota, Vernon Adams, Darron Thomas, Joey Harrington, and Danny O’Neill. Last week against Arizona State, he tied Bill Musgrave’s single-game passing yards record with 489. These are two excellent records that Herbert has attached his name to in only his first three games as Oregon’s starting QB, but there are plenty of others that Herbert can shoot for in the coming weeks and years. I’ve gone ahead and compiled a smattering of them here.
SINGLE GAME RECORDS
Most total touchdowns: 10, set by Charles Taylor vs. Puget Sound 1910. The modern record is 7 (Marcus Mariota vs. Colorado in 2013). 10 seems attainable though.
Pass completions: 41 - Danny O’Neill in the 1995 Rose Bowl. O’Neill went 41-61 in the game for 456 yards, which is a Rose Bowl record that I also wouldn’t mind Herbert going after.
Highest completion percentage: .882 - Kellen Clemens vs. Stanford 2003. Clemens went 15-17 in this game; that few attempts isn’t happening in this offense. 30-34 or 45-51 seems more likely. Herbert’s 31-42 last week isn’t terribly far off from those kind of numbers.
Most consecutive pass completions: ??? I actually can’t find the Oregon record for this one, and going game by game to figure it out is a job for someone else. The NCAA record is 26, set by East Carolina’s Dominique Davis in 2011.
Passing efficiency: 303.1 - Darron Thomas vs. Nevada 2011 Thomas’ line from this game: 13-19 for 295 yards and 6 TDs, and a QB rating of 99.5. Some other stupid high QBR games (this is not comprehensive, just the games where I went, “they played stupid well, I bet their QBR was high”):
- Marcus Mariota’s 2012 debut vs. Arkansas State (18-22, 200 yards and 3 TDs): 98.2 QBR
- Dennis Dixon vs. Michigan, 2007 (16-25, 292 yards, 3 TDs): 89.8
- Jeremiah Masoli vs. Oregon State, 2008 (11/17, 274 yards, 3 TDs): 89.7
- Justin Herbert vs. Arizona State, 2016 (31-42, 489 yards, 4 TDs): 89.4
Most rushing yards: 321 - Kenjon Barner vs. USC 2012 Okay, okay, I know. Let’s try this instead.
Most rushing yards by a QB: 170 - Jeremiah Masoli vs. UCLA 2008 There we go. I feel like that one’s within reach if Herbert breaks a long one or two.
SINGLE SEASON RECORDS
Yards per attempt: 10.2 - Vernon Adams 2015 Air that shit out, Herb!
Touchdown passes: 42 - Marcus Mariota 2014 Gonna be tough to get this one this year, but Herbert is currently averaging 5 touchdowns a game. Put that pace over a full season, and you’ve got anywhere from 60-75 touchdowns, depending on how many games the Ducks play. That would be very good.
Total touchdowns: 54 - Marcus Mariota 2014
Passing yards: 4,454 - Marcus Mariota 2014
Pass completions: 304 - Marcus Mariota 2014
Heisman trophies won: 1 - Marcus Mariota 2014
Dang, Marcus Mariota was good.
CAREER RECORDS
Consecutive passes without an interception: 353 - Marcus Mariota 2012-13 Herbert’s streak currently stands at 41, just fyi. He’s got a ways to go.
Weed smoked: All of it - Cliff Harris 2010-11 I’m not advocating Herbert aim for this one, of course. Just acknowledging this record’s presence, that’s all.
Nissan Cubes driven: 1 - Marcus Mariota 2012-14 Still just boggles my mind that our Heisman winner drove that goofy-ass car in college.
TD/INT ratio: 7.5 - Marcus Mariota 2012-14 I can’t find proof at the moment, but I’m pretty sure remembering at the time that Mariota’s desperation INT at the end of the CFP title game prevented him from ending his career with the all-time best TD/INT ratio in FBS history. Justin Herbert’s current ratio is 6. Keep that up, and Oregon football will be in a good place in no time at all.
Conference championships: 2 - Joey Harrington 2000-01, Darron Thomas 2010-11 This one’s tougher to get in the Pac-12 (the 2000 title was shared with OSU and UW, and neither Harrington nor Thomas had to win a conference championship game), but conference championships are really the mark of a great quarterback, and it’d be great to see Herbert add his name to a list of conference-winning QBs, a list comprised of Harrington, Thomas, Mariota, Masoli, O’Neill, Jack Crabtree, Norm Van Brocklin, Maurice Van Vliet, Bill Steer (I think, shockingly it’s difficult to find advanced stats about the 1919 football season), and Shy Huntington.
Obviously these are not all the Oregon records that Justin Herbert can equal, so if you’ve got more, leave them in the comments!