Revealing Numbers

The evolution of football offenses has made comparing quarterback statistics between eras a dicey proposition. That said, the touchdown and interception numbers compiled for a story on Dartmouth's Dalyn Williams are off the charts.

Dalyn Williams

First, a look at how some of the top Ivy League quarterbacks of the past 30 years have fared in the touchdown and interception categories.

John Witkowski set Ivy League records galore at Columbia before graduating in 1984. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Lions and played four years in the NFL. He finished his Columbia career with 56 touchdown passes and 60 interceptions.

The most prolific passer in Ivy League history is Cornell's Jeff Mathews '14, who threw 72 touchdown passes and was picked off 42 times. He's now with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL.

Dartmouth's Jay Fiedler '94, who played in 76 NFL games over eight seasons, holds the Dartmouth record with 58 touchdown passes but he also holds the record for interceptions with 43.

Current NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick finished his Harvard career in 2004 with 39 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.

How does the current Dartmouth quarterback compare?

Williams tossed seven touchdown passes without an interception as a freshman, 11 TDs the next year with five picks, and he found the end zone 21 times with three interceptions last fall. Add the numbers up and that's 39 TD throws to eight interceptions.

Here's a look at a representative sampling of top Ivy League quarterbacks from the past three decades or so. The list is not complete but rather includes some of the more prominent QBs over that timespan.

James Perry (Brown) 74 touchdowns, 48 interceptions
Jeff Mathews (Cornell) 72, 42
Jay Fiedler (Dartmouth) 58, 43
Jason McCullough (Brown) 57, 34
John Witkowski (Columbia) 56, 60
Ricky Rahne (Cornell) 54, 31
Gavin Hoffman (Penn) 50, 32
Mike Mitchell (Penn) 47, 21
Doug Butler (Princeton) 47, 42
Sean Brackett (Columbia) 46, 32
Alvin Cowan (Yale) 41, 17
Neil Rose (Harvard) 41, 23
Dalyn Williams (Dartmouth) 39, 8
Colton Chapple (Harvard) 39, 12
Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard) 39, 15
Kyle Newhall-Caballero (Brown) 39, 23
Michael Dougherty (Brown) 38, 21
Chris Pizzotti (Harvard) 37, 13
Jeff Mroz (Yale) 37, 20
Patrick Witt (Yale) 37, 37
Billy Ragone (Penn) 36-35
Quinn Epperly (Princeton) 35, 10
Joe Walland (Yale) 35, 13
Bill Lazor (Cornell) 34, 26
Peter Lee (Yale) 30, 11
Connor Hempel (Harvard) 21, 6
Jason Garrett (Princeton) 20, 10

Here are the same players ranked by touchdowns per interception:

Dalyn Williams 4.88
Epperly 3.50
Hempel 3.50
Chapple 3.25
Pizzotti 2.92
Lee 2.73
Walland 2.69
Fitzpatrick 2.60
Cowan 2.41
Mitchell 2.24
Garrett 2.00
Mroz 1.85
Dougherty 1.81
Rose 1.78
Rahne 1.74
Mathews 1.71
Newhall-Caballero 1.69
McCullough 1.67
Hoffman 1.56
Perry 1.54
Brackett 1.44
Fiedler 1.35
Lazor 1.31
Butler 1.11
Ragone 1.03
Witt 1.00
Witkowski 0.93

Going back a little further, Yale's Brian Dowling had 30 TDs and 20 interceptions for a 1.50.

Here are touchdowns per interception for all Dartmouth quarterbacks with 20 or more career TD throws (TD/Ints, TDs  Ints):
                                  TD/Int    TD    Int
Dalyn Williams '16     4.88     39      8
Greg Smith '02         1.80     27     15
David Gabianelli '87   1.38     22     16
Jay Fiedler '94        1.35     58     43
Mickey Beard '67       1.26     24     19
Johnny Clayton '51     1.18     26     22 
Mark Johnson '90       1.00     25     25
Conner Kempe '12       0.89     26     29
Charlie Rittgers '06   0.86     25     29
Brian Mann '03         0.80     33     41
Bill Beagle '56        0.70     21     30