Marcus Mariota Could Cement Himself As All-Time Great College QB

Although he hasn’t said anything publicly, all signs point to Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota entering the NFL Draft. If that’s the case, he has a couple games left in his college career, including Saturday’s Civil War game against Oregon State.

Last week, Mariota joined two other Power Five Conference QBs with 9,000 career passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards, with the other two being Tim Tebow and Robert Griffin III. Mariota has already proven to be a great college quarterback, staying the Heisman race for three years, and he’s poised to take home the trophy this year.

The only thing he’s missing is some hardware. In his final games at Oregon, Mariota will be looking to cement himself among the best college quarterbacks of all time. Assuming the Ducks defeat the Beavers and enter the College Football Playoff as they’re already in line for, Mariota will have two additional games this season.

That’s plenty of time to tack on a couple hundred passing and rushing yards. He already has 9,445 passing yards and 2,064 rushing yards. Former University of Nevada quarterback Collin Kaepernick was able to reach 10,000 and 4,000, which is impossible for Mariota to reach, but Kaepernick played in the Mountain West Conference.

Never has Mariota thrown for a completion percentage worse than 63.5 percent in a season, and he has thrown at most six interceptions in a season. In fact, his 94 touchdowns to 12 INTs ranks among the best TD:INT ratios of all time. He’s had the benefit of playing for a powerhouse of a football team under two very good head coaches, but he still deserves a ton of credit for what he’s accomplished.

While he’s never reached the BCS Championship, he has played in and won two Bowl games. He led the Ducks to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Kansas State 35-17 in 2012, and again led his team to a Bowl victory in 2013 when the Ducks defeated the Texas Longhorns 30-7 in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Nearly as important as Bowl games are each team’s rivalry games, and Mariota has defeated Oregon State in both games he’s played against them in his career. In 2012, Oregon won 48-24 with Mariota passing for 140 yards, rushing for 85 yards and scoring two total touchdowns. In 2013, Oregon won by a slimmer margin, 36-35, with Mariota passing for 285 yards and scoring three touchdowns, in addition to putting up 53 yards on the ground.

A dominant win over Oregon State could be enough to propel Oregon to the College Football Championship.

Right now, everything is looking bright for Mariota. Winning out will give him his National Championship and should earn him his Heisman. With those two in his trophy case, Mariota could go down in history as one of college’s best quarterbacks.

Matt Turner is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. “Like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @MturnerNY, or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google.