Bradford likely will depart as NCAA's most efficient passer
November, 19, 2009
Nov 19
10:28
AM ET
Sam Bradford's junior season has been one he would like to forget.
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner hoped to take his team to a national championship, perhaps snapping the Sooners' five-game losing streak in BCS bowls in the process.
Instead, he sustained a sprained AC shoulder joint in the Sooners' first game of the season against BYU. After missing three games, he returned to play against Baylor before the same shoulder was re-injured on the second drive of the Texas game. That injury caused Bradford to have season-ending surgery on Oct. 28 that will likely end his college career.
But If Bradford chooses to leave college for the NFL draft, he will depart with one statistical accomplishment that could resonate for years.
Using his career statistics to this point of his career, Bradford would leave college football as the most efficient career passer in NCAA FBS history.
Former Boise State player Ryan Dinwiddie, who played from 2000-03, is the current leader at 168.89. Bradford finished this season with a career mark of 175.62.
The minimum number of passes to qualify for the career NCAA statistical list is 500. Bradford has thrown 604 passes in his two-plus seasons with the Sooners.
Tim Tebow of Florida is in second place among active players with a career mark of 170.35. But it would be virtually impossible for him to post the kind of numbers he would need over the final four games of his career -- two regular-season games, the SEC championship game and a bowl game -- to catch Bradford.
It's the case of something going right for Bradford if he leaves his college career behind after this season.
Little else has played out the way he would have liked during this disappointing, disjointed season.
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner hoped to take his team to a national championship, perhaps snapping the Sooners' five-game losing streak in BCS bowls in the process.
Instead, he sustained a sprained AC shoulder joint in the Sooners' first game of the season against BYU. After missing three games, he returned to play against Baylor before the same shoulder was re-injured on the second drive of the Texas game. That injury caused Bradford to have season-ending surgery on Oct. 28 that will likely end his college career.
But If Bradford chooses to leave college for the NFL draft, he will depart with one statistical accomplishment that could resonate for years.
Using his career statistics to this point of his career, Bradford would leave college football as the most efficient career passer in NCAA FBS history.
Former Boise State player Ryan Dinwiddie, who played from 2000-03, is the current leader at 168.89. Bradford finished this season with a career mark of 175.62.
The minimum number of passes to qualify for the career NCAA statistical list is 500. Bradford has thrown 604 passes in his two-plus seasons with the Sooners.
Tim Tebow of Florida is in second place among active players with a career mark of 170.35. But it would be virtually impossible for him to post the kind of numbers he would need over the final four games of his career -- two regular-season games, the SEC championship game and a bowl game -- to catch Bradford.
It's the case of something going right for Bradford if he leaves his college career behind after this season.
Little else has played out the way he would have liked during this disappointing, disjointed season.
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Tim Griffin
Griffin joined ESPN.com in February 2008. He has covered the Big 12 since its inception, among a variety of beats during a 24-year career at the San Antonio Express-News. Griffin, a Memphis State University graduate, lives in San Antonio with his wife and son.
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