Why Drew Brees Isn’t the Big Ten’s All-Time Passing Yards Leader

Why Drew Brees Isn’t the Big Ten’s All-Time Passing Yards Leader

Over the weekend, Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa became the Big Ten’s all-time leader in passing yards. His 361-yard performance in a victory over Rutgers gave him a total of 11,256 passing yards since transferring to UMD. However, depending who you ask, the Big Ten record holder is really former Purdue QB Drew Brees.

The official Big Ten social media accounts posted graphics honoring Tagovailoa for his achievement. Some Purdue fans chimed in to dispute the new record. Citing the Big Ten’s own media guide, the Boilermaker faithful put forth Drew Brees’ career total of 11,792 passing yards as the true Big Ten record. Sports Reference, in keeping with the official NCAA records, has Drew Brees below Tagovailoa at 10,909 career passing yards. So where did the extra 883 yards go?

Some Bowl Games Are More Equal Than Others

The answer to that question awakens an old debate regarding NCAA record-keeping. It wasn’t until 2002 that the NCAA decided to include statistics from bowl games alongside regular season stats. At the time, the decision was long overdue considering that was how records were kept for every other sport. However, this change wasn’t retroactive: any pre-2002 player does not have their bowl game stats included in their official career totals. Even now, the NCAA has not changed this policy.

This same discrepancy impacts other records, such as the all-time FBS rushing yards leader. Former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey is recognized as the all-time leader in rushing yards with 6,405, a total he compiled from 2013-2016. Right behind him at 6,397 career rushing yards is former Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne. However, Dayne, who played from 1996-1999, recorded 728 rushing yards in four bowl games that are not included in his official career stats. He simply played a few years too early.

The result of this oversight (which is actually quite a big one) by the NCAA is that some stats are left in the ether. The games happened, but the numbers don’t count. It doesn’t make any sense, it should be changed, but it is what it is. Technically, Drew Brees threw for the most yards in Big Ten history. Officially, that honor belongs to Taulia Tagovailoa.

When the NCAA changed their football stats policy in 2002, Purdue sports information director Tom Schott said he would like to see them make it retroactive: “I think it’s doable. I can understand them not wanting to go back right now. I hope at some point they go back.”

Over two decades later, with a former Boilermaker’s record disputed, I’m sure Schott would echo the same sentiment.

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