College Football Stat Leaders

2016 Big Ten College Football Passing Yards Per Game Leaders

Average net passing yards gained per game.

Seasons Covered

2004-2025

Current Leader

Purdue (294.9)

Best Season

Ohio State 2021 (380.9)

Scope

Big Ten • 2016

Browse Metrics

Crawl sibling stat pages without leaving the shared leaderboard template.

What The Numbers Say

Route-specific context pulled from the current leaderboard, winner trend, and historical baseline.

How Passing Yards Per Game Reads

Passing yards per game highlights how aggressively a team can move the ball through the air after sacks and negative plays are accounted for, which separates explosive passing attacks from volume-only offenses. On this 2016 leaderboard, the visible range runs 294.9 to 222.3, with Purdue setting the pace.

Big Ten Context

Big Ten teams have claimed 100% of the yearly titles in this filtered dataset, and USC is the latest winner at 296.0.

Spread At The Top

The gap from No. 1 Purdue to No. 5 Michigan State is 72.6, which shows how tightly packed the top of this leaderboard is.

Recent Trend And Baseline

The yearly winning mark improved from 291.9 in 2024 to 296.0 in 2025, a swing of 4.1. Purdue's current mark of 294.9 sits above the all-time average leader benchmark of 294.0 held by USC.

Leaderboard

Top 14 rows for the current route scope.

1PurdueBig Ten Conference2016294.9
2IndianaBig Ten Conference2016273.8
3Penn StateBig Ten Conference2016260.7
4NorthwesternBig Ten Conference2016245.1
5Michigan StateBig Ten Conference2016222.3
6Ohio StateBig Ten Conference2016213.9
7MichiganBig Ten Conference2016212.0
8NebraskaBig Ten Conference2016211.7
9WisconsinBig Ten Conference2016179.1
10MarylandBig Ten Conference2016178.2
11IllinoisBig Ten Conference2016174.6
12MinnesotaBig Ten Conference2016173.6
13IowaBig Ten Conference2016153.2
14RutgersBig Ten Conference2016138.3

Trend Chart

Yearly winning values for the current filter scope.

Historical Leaderboard

Average across seasons for each team in the current filter scope.

RankTeamSeasonsAverageBest Season
1USC2025, 2024294.02025 (296.0)
2Oregon2025, 2024266.62024 (279.5)
3Purdue2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004259.12021 (355.4)
4Washington2025, 2024253.12024 (261.7)
5Indiana2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004243.12012 (311.2)
6Ohio State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004238.92021 (380.9)
7Michigan State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004236.22005 (285.5)
8Penn State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004232.72017 (290.2)
9Maryland2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014223.62021 (304.6)
10Northwestern2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004221.62007 (324.8)
11Nebraska2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011217.72017 (277.5)
12Michigan2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004212.12010 (255.4)
13UCLA2025, 2024211.22024 (242.2)
14Illinois2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004204.52013 (287.7)
15Iowa2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004203.42005 (267.3)
16Wisconsin2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004195.32011 (246.7)
17Minnesota2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004194.72019 (253.3)
18Rutgers2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014174.62025 (266.1)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads the Big Ten passing yards per game leaderboard in 2016?

Purdue ranks first at 294.9 in 2016.

Which Big Ten program has the best long-term passing yards per game profile?

USC owns the strongest all-time average at 294.0 across 2 tracked seasons in this conference scope.

How does the Big Ten race compare with the recent trend?

USC is the most recent yearly winner in this conference scope, so the route combines the current leaderboard with a recent trend line instead of showing only one season snapshot.