Notre Dame football: Top 5 quarterbacks in school history
It’s not fair that Joe Theismann is mostly remembered for the horrific leg injury which ended his football career, and not the brilliance of his career itself. Theismann took over starting from Terry Hanratty during his sophomore season, and never looked back.
Over the course of his career he threw for 4,411 yards and 16 touchdowns, for a career passer rating of 136.1. This, in the era of ‘three yards and a cloud of dust’ was incredibly impressive. His career record as the starter at Notre Dame was 20-3-2.
Theismann led the Irish to the Cotton Bowl in both the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He went 1-1 in those games, losing to Texas in the 1970 Cotton while beating the Longhorns in the 1971 Cotton Bowl. Had it not been for a shocking loss to a mediocre USC team, that 1970 would have been an undefeated, National Champion.
The kicker about the USC loss is that it was likely the best individual performance of Joe Theismann’s college career. He threw for 526 yards in a torrential downpour. To this day, that stands as the Notre Dame record for passing yards in a single game. He also set a record, at the time, for completions in a game against the Trojans with 33.
At the time, 2,429 yards passing and 16 touchdowns were a single season, school records for passing. His 31 career touchdowns are 10th all-time in Notre Dame history for a quarterback. Meanwhile, his 526 passing yards against USC still stands as the most yards passing in a single game in program history.
Joe Theismann was an All-American during the 1970 season, while also being an Academic All-American. In 2003, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
During his Heisman trophy campaign, Notre Dame publicly changed the pronunciation of Theismann’s name. It had been pronounced “Thees-man,” but was switched to “Thighs-man” so it would rhyme with Heisman. He, unfortunately, he only came in second place for the 1970 Heisman Trophy. This, and his lack of a National Championship, remain the only black marks in his career with Notre Dame.