Players from 60 different college football programs recorded passing stats during the 2016 NFL season. Some — such as Georgia Southern, LSU and Texas — barely made the books with a pass attempt or two, while others — such as Cal, Michigan State and USC — filled box scores with gaudy numbers.
The yardage, touchdown and win totals for most programs were earned predominantly by one player (e.g. Matt Ryan for Boston College), while a few were compiled by multiple players (e.g. Kirk Cousins and Brian Hoyer for Michigan State). This is hardly an accurate measuring stick for the talent development of college football programs, but still an interesting look at which programs were most represented in the NFL last season.
Scroll down for a breakdown of the programs whose alums had the most passing touchdowns, passing yards and wins in the NFL in 2016.
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Of the 60 programs with alums who recorded passing stats, 43 threw at least one touchdown pass. Thirty programs had 10 or more touchdowns, 19 had 20 or more, seven had 30 or more and just two programs had more than 40 touchdown passes.
Here are the top 10 for passing touchdowns:
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Because of Cal's top-heavy two-man attack, the Golden Bears do not have the most passing yards. In fact, they're not even close, sitting more than 2,000 yards behind USC and 1,000 yards behind Michigan State.
The Trojans benefited from a large group, with six players recording passing yards. Though Carson Palmer, Matt Barkley and Cody Kessler secured the top spot, the trio of Matt Cassel, Mark Sanchez and Marqise Lee delivered an additional 397 yards.
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Wins are even more significantly driven by one player, with nine of the top 10 teams getting victories from a single player, including the leader Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs haven't been an NFL factory for quarterbacks. Before the Dallas Cowboys selected Dak Prescott in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft, only one other quarterback had ever been drafted — Joe Reed in the 11th round in 1971.
Prescott made up for lost time, racking up 13 victories in his rookie season to give his alma mater the top spot.
