Since the turn of the century, the game of college football has seemingly exploded onto the scene. That isn’t to say that it hasn’t always been entertaining and hand a legitimate place in the sporting world, but over the past 20 years or so, it has come to the forefront of the landscape and is covered as closely as any other sport in the nation. With the introduction of the college football playoff, the transfer portal, and NIL, that statement is more true now than ever.
What’s great for Oregon fans is the fact that the Ducks have been at the center of that universe since the turn of the century as well. With a new era ushered in by Joey Harrington and Mike Bellotti in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Ducks have been rapidly accelerating and quickly becoming one of the most popular teams in the nation.
While Harrington laid the groundwork, it’s hard to argue against the fact that Marcus Mariota truly took things to the next level.
With his dominant run from 2012-2014 culminating in a Heisman Trophy and a near national championship, it’s not hard to see the impact that Mariota had on the game. He was the first Hawaiian-born player to ever win a Heisman, and he will go down in NCAA history as one of the most dominant and versatile quarterbacks we’ve ever seen.
Since the turn of the century, though, where does he rank among the best of the best QBs to play college football? ESPN recently ranked the top 25 passers over the last 20-plus years. Here’s where Mariota ended up: