By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Each week, it is a given that the postgame page on Arkansas football will include numbers authored by Ryan Mallett.
Virtually every pass he attempts updates a school record that he set the previous week. Prior to the season, it was a good bet that Mallett would relegate Clint Stoerner to No. 2 in passing yards and touchdown passes for a season, but it didn’t seem like a big deal outside the state.
Besides the best arm in the history of Arkansas football, a nice group of receivers, and a coach willing to bomb away, Mallett was pursuing some pretty pedestrian numbers.
Until Bobby Petrino arrived, an Arkansas coach never heartily embraced the pass. Remember, Casey Dick set the school record when he attempted 357 passes in Petrino’s first year and, just last week, the coach talked about Mississippi State’s determination to stop the run and added, “… part of me wishes I could’ve thrown it every down …”
The Southeastern Conference media guide was perused to validate the assumption that Mallett’s records were meager when compared with those of the great quarterbacks in SEC history. Lo and behold, the facts say differently.
Stats from the current 12-game schedule, plus a bowl game, skew the numbers from days long gone, but most of the passing records belong to quarterbacks of recent vintage.
For simplicity’s sake, let’s stick to the basics — yards passing and touchdown passes.
Mallett has 3,195 yards and 28 TDS. If he maintains his averages through the season finale against LSU and a bowl game, he would wind up with 3,775 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Such yardage would be No. 1 at nine of the 12 league schools, bumping all but Florida’s Rex Grossman, Tennessee’s Peyton Manning, and Kentucky’s Tim Couch, the SEC leader at 4,275 yards.
Gone from the record book would be Mississippi’s Eli Manning, and Georgia’s Eric Zeier, among others.
Mallett’s 33 touchdowns would break the record of all but Florida’s Danny Wuerffel, Tennessee’s Manning, and Kentucky’s Andre Woodson, who had 40 TD throws in 2007. Thirty-three TDs would replace Matthew Stafford of Georgia, Eli Manning, JaMarcus Russell of LSU, Jason Campbell of Auburn, and others.
Nationally, Mallett is No. 6 in total yards and the only sophomore among the first nine. The numbers bear out the perception that the Razorbacks have a quick-strike capability beyond that of many teams. Mallett’s 328 attempts are less than any other quarterback among the top 28 in total yards.
His average of 16.55 yards per completion is almost five yards better than that of Case Keenum, the Houston quarterback who leads the nation with 4,599 yards. Freshman Andrew Luck of Stanford is the only other quarterback in the top 65 averaging more than 16 yards per catch.
The raw numbers are just that and do not appease critics who hearken back to Mallett’s 12 completions per vs. Alabama, Florida, and Ole Miss. Still, by a wide margin, Mallett is No. 1 in the SEC in total offense, passing offense, and passing efficiency — a compelling case for All-SEC honors.
Like it or not, the first team quarterback was predetermined when Tim Tebow decided to return to Florida for his senior season. Second team behind Tebow, who will be a three-time Heisman Trophy finalist, is a good jumping off point for 2010.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
