ORLANDO — Miami quarterback Cam Ward broke the Division I career touchdown passes record on Saturday in the final game of his college career. Then the Heisman Trophy finalist and projected first-round NFL Draft pick stood and watched from the sidelines as his teammates blew a 10-point second-half lead en route to a 42-41 loss to Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
After the game, Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal opted not to explain why Ward did not play in the second half. Ward’s replacement, sophomore Emory Williams, was 5 of 14 through the air for 26 yards as the Miami offense largely tried to lean on its ground game down the stretch.
“All meetings with players and decisions like that — we make them in private and we keep them in private,” Cristobal said. “I’ll defer to not answering questions as it relates to that. But I know (Ward) played his best while he was in there, and certainly Emory (Williams) tried his best as well. We were rushing the ball really well.”
Ward completed his 156th career touchdown pass to Jacolby George with 4:12 left in the first quarter of the Pop-Tarts Bowl and threw two more touchdown passes in the first half before heading to the bench. The four-yard score to George, Ward’s 37th touchdown pass of the season, broke a tie with former Houston quarterback Case Keenum, who holds the Football Bowl Subdivision-only record with 155 career touchdown passes.
Ward spent his first two years of college football at Incarnate Word, a Football Championship Subdivision program. He threw 71 touchdown passes there before transferring to Washington State for two seasons. Ward threw 48 touchdown passes in two seasons with the Cougars before transferring to Miami in January.
Ward’s 158 touchdown passes may not hold up as the record for too long. Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has thrown 153 career touchdown passes — all at the FBS level — and plays Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. If the No. 1 seed Ducks win, they’ll advance to the semifinals of the 12-team bracket.
Gabriel is already the FBS leader in career touchdowns with 186. Ward finished with 180 career touchdowns, including 20 on the ground.
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Ward completed 12 of his 19 pass attempts for 190 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions before exiting Saturday’s game. Williams replaced Ward at quarterback for Miami’s first possession of the third quarter. The Hurricanes finished with 308 rushing yards as a team but came up empty in their final two possessions, as Williams’ desperation heave toward the goal line was intercepted as time expired.
Williams, an Elite 11 finalist in 2023, is in line to become the Hurricanes’ starter next season. Miami has not signed a quarterback out of the transfer portal yet this winter, though the Hurricanes showed interest in former Washington State quarterback John Mateer before he signed with Oklahoma.
“Quarterback-wise, you always assess every position on your team and do everything you can to make it better,” Cristobal said after the game. “As it relates to personnel and personnel moves, and what we do in that, it’s something I never discuss publicly out of respect for our program and the players involved. But we are always looking for ways to develop the guys within the program and we are always bringing the best possible talent we can.”
(Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)
