College Football Countdown: 89 Days
By Matt Green
There’s 89 days remaining till the start of the college football season, and today we talk about one of the greatest to ever play the game.
Before Peyton Manning was playing golf with President Donald Trump, he was breaking records and winning Super Bowls in the NFL as a member of the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. And before all that, he was in the SEC, playing for the Tennessee Volunteers.
And that brings us to no. 89 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.
89
Peyton Manning’s career touchdown passes at Tennessee.
Peyton Manning is actually third in SEC history in career touchdown passes. Georgia’s Aaron Murray is first in SEC history with 121 career touchdown passes, and Florida’s Danny Wuerffel is second with 114.
Manning finished second in the Heisman Trophy in 1997 behind Michigan’s Charles Woodson and ahead of Washington State’s Ryan Leaf and Marshall’s Randy Moss.
In that ’97 season, Manning threw 36 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, which is tied for the fifth-most touchdown passes in SEC history.
In Manning’s four years in Knoxville, he threw 89 touchdowns to just 33 interceptions. He also led the Volunteers to 39 wins and 6 losses in his time at Tennessee, which is the fifth-most wins for a starting quarterback in NCAA history.
But despite the accolades, Manning had two glaring marks on his college resume. For one, The Volunteers went 0-4 against the Florida Gators in Manning’s time in Knoxville. And second, Tennessee went 13-0 and won the national championship the year after Manning graduated.
The current SEC leaders in career passing touchdowns are Drew Lock and Danny Etling with 27. But with several returning starters at the quarterback position in 2017, someone could be approaching Manning’s numbers in the near future.