Somewhere in that team-first mind of his, Dillon Gabriel has to know. He has to know how close he is to becoming the career passing leader in major college history.
Sure, there are asterisks attached to a six-year career that has allowed the Oregon quarterback to reach this point in history: a COVID-19 year, two transfers, and now a place in the shotgun leading the nation’s No. 1 team.
But the number he is chasing also has a name attached to it. Former Houston quarterback Case Keenum has held the career passing mark (19,217 yards) for 13 years.
If the Ducks reach the College Football Playoff championship game, Gabriel would need to average 294 passing yards over the next four games to break the record — that is with a bye, should Oregon win this weekend’s Big Ten Championship Game (7 p.m. ET, CBS). With 18,140 total passing yards, he has averaged 292.6 yards in 62 career games. If Oregon loses the Big Ten Championship but still runs the table to the CFP championship, which would mean five more games for Gabriel, the average yards per game would be an easy 215.
The numbers are not top of mind. But all of it is part of the Ducks becoming the nation’s standard this season with Gabriel at quarterback.
CBS Sports spoke to both the record holder, Keenum, and Gabriel, the player immediately behind in a chase for one of the most hallowed records in college football. When it was mentioned to Gabriel that Keenum has seen him play, there was a pause.
“Is he mad?” Gabriel asked CBS Sports.
No, he was told. As if Keenum, now 36 and on injured reserve with the Houston Texans, is upset that Gabriel has had the temerity to approach his record. Instead, Keenum is an admirer, not only of Gabriel but of the times he lives in.
“There are some similarities,” Keenum said of the two.
A little bit in their offenses, certainly. Keenum played in the middle of the Air Raid revolution for Art Briles and Kevin Sumlin at Houston. Gabriel has gotten to this point in his transfer wanderings playing for four head coaches and seven offensive coordinators. All of them have relied on and tried to enhance Gabriel’s escapability and left-handedness, both attributes rare in the same player.
In recent years, think Tua Tagovailoa and Tim Tebow in college. In the NFL, think Ken Stabler and Michael Vick. Maybe a combination of all of them.
But with each comparison, there has to be a “Not quite …”
Gabriel is just different — and not done yet. For current comparison purposes, there are a lot of similarities in how Gabriel and Keenum got to this place in history: longevity, ability to stay healthy, and a gunslinger mentality.
“In football they’re not thinking about throwing counts,” Gabriel said when told Keenum once threw 700 passes in a season. “They’re thinking about toughness and quarterbacks that can physically do stuff.”
| Years Played | 2019–2024 (6) | 2007–2011 (6) |
| Total Games | 62 | 57 |
| Total Attempts | 2,038 | 2,229 |
| Total Yards | 18,140 | 19,217 |
| Top Season Yards | 3,660 (2023) | 5,671 (2009) |
| Schools | UCF, Oklahoma, Oregon | Houston |
| Highest Attempts | 413 (2020 at UCF) | 700 (2009 at Houston) |
We all are nostalgic in some way for our college years. Keenum’s just happened to be spent at one school for two head coaches. He was lightly recruited, then blew up playing in a volume passing offense. That’s rare these days.
Back in the day, Houston could be accused of running up the score. In a 2011 win over Rice (73-34), Keenum threw nine touchdown passes.
“Three series in a row they told me, ‘If they don’t score again, you’re coming out of the game,'” Keenum remembered. “So they’d score again, and I’d throw another one.
“I got to be in the same offense four years in a row,” he added. “I knew it inside and out. I’d teach young freshmen in the summer when the coaches weren’t around — the whole playbook. It wasn’t a huge playbook, but we were really good at what we did.
“We didn’t care who we were playing or where we were playing. We were rolling folks.”
Gabriel has been running to opportunities, playing for UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon during this portal era.
“No situation is perfect,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think I was chasing something [going from school to school]. I was chasing something at the highest level. I was willing to do whatever it took … I’m the type that it will pop at some point if I keep swinging.”
Then what are you chasing?
“The childhood dream. I think that’s long term. That’s the dream,” Gabriel added. “In college I want to win a championship. I want to win a national championship.”
In their version of the Air Raid under Briles and Sumlin, Keenum was allowed to throw on most downs. In 2009, he threw those 700 times, averaging 50 throws a game for a 10-win team. The year before he threw 589 times, following that up with 603 tosses in 2011.
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Some perspective: The last quarterbacks to average 50 passes per game were Mike Leach products at Washington State, Anthony Gordon in 2019 and Gardner Minshew in 2018.
Gabriel isn’t quite that type of player, having averaged 33 throws per game in his career playing for Josh Heupel, Gus Malzahn, Brent Venables and Dan Lanning.
Gabriel is currently second in the country in accuracy (73.5%, trailing Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders) coming off career highs for passing and rushing yards in 2023 with Oklahoma. Keenum’s career total touchdown record (rushing plus passing) fell to Gabriel in Oregon’s win against Maryland on Nov. 9.
Typical of the player, the offense and the times, Gabriel accounted for his 179th career touchdown tossing a short scoring pass to Gernorris Wilson on a tackle-eligible play.
“Very impressed,” Keenum told CBS Sports recently. “A really, really good release. Seems like great vision … There’s just this momentum when you watch him. Wow, they’re rolling.”
Two worlds. Two college careers. One is an NFL veteran, the other grinding like hell to get to the league. One bearing the scars of a long career. In his 13th season, it is a mid-foot injury that has Keenum on IR.
Keenum is trying like hell himself to get back on the field in the winter of his career while Gabriel is laying it all out on the line to win a championship in his final college season.
One (Gabriel) is from Hawaii. The other (Keenum) is from Texas. Together, they have thrown for slightly more than seven miles in college.
“I don’t blame Dillon for coming back and taking a COVID year and transferring …,” said Keenum, who stayed all six years at Houston. “I became more invested in the guys around me. That’s what was important to me.”
The career passing record used to have a Ruthian home run tinge to it. Not quite “61” with the Yankees, but certainly an accomplishment to be able to stay upright, stay healthy and spin the rock that many times.
The record itself is a sign of the times. As the game opened up, the records fell. The top six scoring seasons of all time have been achieved since 2012. It figures that the top seven career passing marks have been achieved this century.
In 2011, Keenum broke the career passing record of Hawaii’s Timmy Chang (then 17,072 yards). At the time, Chang’s record seemed unbreakable. Keenum shattered it by more than 2,000 yards.
“It was hard not to [pay attention to it],” Keenum said. “We weren’t No. 1 in the country or anything. At that point you had to basically be No. 1 or No. 2 in the country to be in the national championship race. We had our eyes on the Sugar Bowl that year. I think nationally it was probably more of a story about the record than it was us being No. 12 in the country or No. 8 or No. 6 at one point.”
Gabriel is the latest (potential) record holder to stand at the brink of history. It is significant to his pursuit that no quarterback in the top 50 of career passing has won a national championship.
“My shit’s going to be broken down the road,” Gabriel said. “Be ready for it.”
