Over his almost three years quarterbacking the Oregon Ducks football team, Marcus Mariota has amassed some truly astounding numbers. He’s the school’s all-time leader in just about every quarterback statistic, including both the single season and career marks for passing yards, completions, passing touchdowns, total touchdowns, total yards, and total points accounted for, among many, many others.
He is also among the all-time national leaders in single season and career passing efficiency (currently 2nd in both), as well as on the verge of becoming only the second player in NCAA Division I history to amass 10,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards, and the only one from a Power 5 conference to have accomplished that feat.
Most impressively, barring a meltdown of epic proportions in his final games, he will absolutely decimate the NCAA mark for touchdown to interception ratio. He currently stands at 7.83 touchdowns for every interception thrown for his career (92 TDs, 12 INTs), a full 2.33 ahead of the current best mark of 5.50, jointly held by a pair Heisman Trophy winners, Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford. His 36 to 2 ratio this year is, quite simply, bonkers. That’s nearly impossible to do in a video game, let alone real life.
I could probably write 10,000 words just covering his records and milestones, and still not cover them all. Without question, he is one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time. Statistically, that is. Of course, statistics are only a small part of what makes a college quarterback’s legacy.
I’m sure if you asked Mariota, though, he’d prefer to not simply go down as one of many statistical freaks of the game, such as the mostly forgotten names of, say, Timmy Chang, David Klingler or Troy Davis. Statistical monsters who achieved absurd levels of numerical greatness, but, are mostly an afterthought when it comes to college football lore.
He’d much prefer take things a step further, and firmly supplant himself into the discussion as one of the true greats of the game. The guys that you tell your kids about. The guys who didn’t just rack up the huge numbers, but those that won the big games that went along with them, and became college football immortals in the process.
The Tim Tebows and Tommy Fraziers and Cam Newtons of the world. The guys who not only leave their marks on the record books, but, also capture the minds of fans, become larger than life figures and leave an indelible print on their university.
To be mentioned alongside legends like Tony Dorsett, or Roger Staubach, or Archie Griffin. Guys whose stories will be told for generations to come, whose greatness grows with each passing year, and who your dad won’t ever let you forget about.
Maybe even one day create the timeless legacy of a Doc Blanchard, a Paul Hornung, or a Davey O’Brien. The types of players which schools build traditions on, name awards after and who get pulled into random articles published on those mystical interwebs machines seven decades after they last played a down for their school.
These are the players who college football remembers, not just as great players, but as legendary figures. This is the final mountain for to climb, the pantheon to join, in a collegiate career. This is the level that Marcus Mariota wants to get reach. He’s not there yet, though. In fact, at this moment, he’s not even really that close.
Because, even with all the records, Mariota is still probably not even the greatest quarterback in Oregon history. As of this writing, that title still has to belong to Joey Harrington. Not necessarily because Joey was ostensibly better than Mariota has been individually, but, because of what his teams accomplished and what he meant to the university.
Harrington became an Oregon legend in 2001 by leading his team to a Pac-10 Championship, a Fiesta Bowl berth (in lieu of the Rose Bowl, which was the de facto National Championship Game that season), and a still-to-this-day-Oregon-best #2 final ranking. Being a Heisman Trophy finalist and a master of late game heroics only sealed his place atop the pantheon of great Duck signal callers. (Oh, and did you know that he can play the piano?)
For all he has accomplished, Mariota has (surprisingly) not even taken home a single conference championship during his time in Eugene. He was the Heisman frontrunner for most of last season, but, after stumbling down the stretch, he didn’t even receive an invite to New York. He does have a Fiesta Bowl title to his name, but, that came as the consolation prize after finishing behind Stanford in the Pac-12 North and failing to even make the conference championship game that year.
It’s a resume filled with excellence, and almost-greatness. Exemplary, but, not legendary.
Of course, his final epitaph as a collegian is far from complete. He has time to re-write the script; time to give it a storybook ending.
Starting tonight in the Pac-12 Championship Game, Marcus Mariota has a chance to elevate his standing, not just among Oregon quarterbacks, but, as one of the all-time greats of the game.
Secure a Pac-12 title, and it’s almost certain that a Heisman Trophy and a berth in the first ever College Football Playoff will follow. Hello and goodbye, Mr. Harrington. We have a new King of the Ducks. I hope you weren’t too fond of buying your own drinks around the local Eugene watering holes, Marcus. That will no longer be an option for you.
However, if the Ducks are able to exercise their desert dwelling demons tonight, there will be no laurels rested upon. Ahead will lie the chance for the Mariota and the Ducks to finish what could arguably be called the greatest season in college football history.
Hyperbole, you say? Maybe. But, think about it a moment. The Ducks would have a FBS record tying 14 wins to their name, and would be the only team to have not just one, but two, elite bowl wins on their resume in the same season. Taking down two top 4 ranked teams in consecutive weeks, with the national championship directly at stake in each game is, quite simply, something no team in college football history could lay claim to.
Win these next three games, and suddenly, the narrative changes dramatically. No longer are we talking about “Marcus Mariota, the immensely talented underachiever,” but instead, we’re talking about “Marcus Mariota, quite possibly the greatest quarterback in college football history.”
That’s quite the distance to travel over the course of about six weeks’ time, yet, that’s precisely what potentially lays ahead for Mariota and this Oregon Ducks team. A chance to, like the men’s basketball team 75 years before them, win their sport’s first national championship tournament. To permanently etch their names upon the college football landscape for all eternity.
Of course, with a loss tonight, all of that hope for glory and grandeur will be for naught. The most painful example of almost, in a career full of close calls and what-could-have-been moments.
Sure, pinning it all on Mariota may not seem fair, and it likely wouldn’t be. This is a very talented Arizona team that the Ducks are facing, and they are led by Rich Rodriguez, the newly minted Pac-12 Coach of the Year and one of the pioneers of the spread offense that will be so heavily featured by both teams. If there’s someone who knows a prolific read-option attack inside and out, it’s strengths and weaknesses, and how to scheme against it, it would be RichRod.
They also possess freshman sensation Nick Wilson and the exact type of straight ahead, downhill running attack that has given the Ducks defense fits for years. The type of prolific rushing attack that this year’s version of Stanford sorely lacked, crippling any chance they had to pull off the very same Oregon three-peat that Arizona is now attempting.
Yet, having said all that, is there a soul out there who doesn’t think this game will come down to anyone other than Marcus Mariota? Even if the Wildcats are able to put up 60 points of their own, would anybody be surprised to see Mariota and the Ducks put up 61?
This is his game, his time to shine and his chance to give himself the legacy that all those gaudy stats say he deserves. The chance to prove any remaining naysayers wrong, and elevate himself from just another Oregon stat machine to legendary status. Simply put, everything he’s done up until now has simply been a setup for these next few weeks.
Starting with tonight’s chance at Arizona redemption in Pac-12 Championship Game, his journey towards greatness truly begins. It will be the first honest to goodness, legacy defining test of Marcus Mariota’s career. If he’s going to be a true legend of the game, however, it certainly won’t be his last.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
