Wisconsin Football: 10 Best Quarterbacks in Wisconsin Badgers History
By Jim Oxley
No. 1: Darrell Bevell
Years at UW: 1992-1995
Career Stats: 7,686 passing yards, 59 touchdowns, 39 interceptions, 61.5 completion percentage
No. 1 on our list is the Badgers all time leading passer, Darrell Bevell. Over his four years on campus, Bevell totaled 7,686 yards, the career UW record. He holds plenty of other career records, including most touchdowns (59), most pass attempts (1,052), completions (646), interceptions (39) and starts (42).
Wisconsin Badgers
He also has the Badgers single-game passing yardage record – 423 yards against Minnesota in 1993 – in addition to the career record. Other single-game records include most completions (35), most consecutive completions (14), highest completion percentage (.911 – 17 of 18 against Northwestern in 1993) and most touchdowns (5).
Bevell had 26 wins as the Wisconsin quarterback (fifth best all time) and amassed a career .640 win percentage (26-14-3). His .615 career completion percentage trails only Russell Wilson and Scott Tolzien.
He’s totaled more yards than anyone in Wisconsin history, and sits third in total plays with 1,182. He’s one of six Badgers to play over 1,000 plays in a Wisconsin uniform. He was responsible for 62 career touchdowns, the 4th-best number in Wisconsin history and the second-best number among Wisconsin quarterbacks.
Bevell’s career-defining moment came in the 1994 Rose Bowl, when the best pure passer in Wisconsin history ran in a touchdown from 21 yards out to put the Badgers up 21-10 over UCLA. The points became the game-winning score in the Badgers first New Year’s Day bowl game win in school history.
Bevell went on to coach after playing college football. He got his start as an offensive assistant with the Green Bay Packers, where he was eventually Brett Favre’s quarterback coach. He continued working his way up to the offensive coordinator job at Seattle, winning a Super Bowl with Russell Wilson.
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