College Football Stat Leaders

2020 Big Ten College Football Passing Yards Per Game Leaders

Average net passing yards gained per game.

Seasons Covered

2004-2025

Current Leader

Purdue (309.0)

Best Season

Ohio State 2021 (380.9)

Scope

Big Ten • 2020

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 2020 leaderboard, the visible range runs 309.0 to 251.4, 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 Indiana is 57.6, 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 309.0 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 Conference2020309.0
2Ohio StateBig Ten Conference2020262.5
3MarylandBig Ten Conference2020258.2
4Penn StateBig Ten Conference2020255.3
5IndianaBig Ten Conference2020251.4
6MichiganBig Ten Conference2020250.3
7Michigan StateBig Ten Conference2020238.9
8MinnesotaBig Ten Conference2020199.1
9NorthwesternBig Ten Conference2020198.9
10RutgersBig Ten Conference2020198.6
11IowaBig Ten Conference2020197.6
12NebraskaBig Ten Conference2020188.0
13WisconsinBig Ten Conference2020181.0
14IllinoisBig Ten Conference2020152.9

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 2020?

Purdue ranks first at 309.0 in 2020.

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.