Kellen Moore completed his career in a fitting fashion last night as the Boise St. Broncos beat the Arizona St. Sun Devils in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas 56-24. Moore captured his 50th college football win in 4 seasons and once again proved that despite being apart of a non-AQ conference, the Broncos can beat the so called "big boys." Moore also threw for over 275 yards for the 9th time in 2011 and the 27th time in his career.
Some fans would argue that Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was the greatest quarterback to ever play the college game. Not only did the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner play with more passion and bring more excitement to the game than any other quarterback in history, but he also achieved a lot in his career. In his freshman year in 2006, Tebow helped Florida win the BCS National Championship as a key contributor to the team, despite being the backup quarterback. In 2008, Tebow led Florida to a National Championship once again, as the 13-1 Gators beat Sam Bradford and the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 in the title game. In that championship game, Tebow put together one of the most memorable 4th quarters in college football history, as he was 11 of 11 for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also rushing for 45 yards in the final period.
Although Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier never won a Heisman trophy, he is often given consideration as the best college football quarterback of all-time. Frazier, who started for the Cornhuskers from his freshman year, led Nebraska to a BCS bowl game every year during his four year career and his Cornhuskers didn't lose a regular season game in his final three seasons. Despite losing the 1994 National Championship to Florida St., Frazier led the Cornhuskers to two straight National Championships in 1995 and 1996, including a 62-24 beatdown of Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. He won three straight National Championship Game MVP awards as well.
There are also arguments for many other college football quarterbacks as the greatest of all-time at the position. "Slingin" Sammy Baugh of TCU, Vince Young of Texas, Archie Manning of Ole Miss, Matt Leinart of USC, Doug Flutie of Boston College, John Elway of Stanford, Charlie Ward of Florida St., and Davey O"Brien of TCU are also all in the discussion.
Looking back at the career of Boise St.'s Kellen Moore, the Broncos star should also be in the discussion as one of the best college football quarterbacks of all-time.
Just looking at the pure statistical numbers that Moore put up don't tell the whole story of his impressive career, but they are still among the most impressive of any quarterback in college football history. Kellen's Moore passer rating was in the top 4 of the FBS every year in his final three seasons at Boise and his 182.6 passer rating in 2010 was the 3rd highest passer rating for a single season at the time. Moore's career passer rating of 169.2 is the third highest in FBS history, only slightly behind Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford. Kellen Moore was in the top 4 of the FBS in completion percentage in 3 of his 4 year's at Boise St and his 74.1 completion percentage in 2011 was the 3rd highest completion percentage for a single season in FBS history. Moore's career completion percentage of 69.6 is the 4th highest in FBS history. Moore also ranks 7th in career pass completions, 4th in career passing yards, 7th in career passing yards per attempt, 2nd in career passing touchdowns, and 3rd in career passing efficiency.
As good as those numbers are, the most impressive stat of Moore's is his ability to win games. In four seasons, Moore had an incredible record of 50-3, as his Broncos won 12 games in 2008, 2010, and 2011 and 14 games in 2009. His 50 wins are the most in college football history, 5 more than Colt McCoy's 45 wins from 2006 to 2009 with the Texas Longhorns. Moore's three losses were by a combined 5 points. Although many of Moore's wins came against far weaker opponents, it still takes outstanding play to win 50 games no matter what conference you play in. When Moore and his Broncos did play against AQ schools, they always ended up in the winning circle. Moore was 6-0 in his four year career against AQ opponents including victories over #17 Oregon on the road in 2008, another victory over #16 Oregon in 2009, a huge win over #10 Virginia Tech last year, and finally a win over #19 Georgia this season.
Moore may have even played a larger role in the grand scheme of college football. Because of the strong play of Moore and his Broncos, the BCS is likely going to scrap its automatic qualifying system to give every team a so called "even" opportunity to play in a BCS game. In fact, the 2009 Boise St. team is the only non-AQ school to ever receive an a-large bid into the BCS.
Whether the 6-foot Moore, who has limited arm strength, can be a good NFL quarterback remains to be seen. However, his college football career will go down as one of the greatest for a quarterback in history.
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