Nate Peterman has 18 touchdown passes so far this season. If he throws 2 more over the next 2 games, it will be the 13th time in Pitt history that a Panther QB has thrown at least 20 touchdowns in a season.
At the same time, of those previous 12 times a Pitt QB threw 20 TDs, only one - Tino Sunseri in 2012 - had fewer than 7 interceptions. Sunseri had 3 in 2012 and Peterman already has 4, so Peterman can't beat Tino on that one, but he can definitely stay under 7. Since throwing 2 picks in the first quarter at Iowa, Peterman has just one interception in his last 239 pass attempts.
Of course, the most remarkable part of all of this is that none of those previous 12 quarterbacks who threw 20 touchdown passes opened the season as the backup - or at least weren't the starter all season. That makes Peterman's situation pretty unique.
Here are the other 12 seasons with 20+ touchdown passes:
1981 - Dan Marino - 2,876 yards, 37 touchdowns, 23 interceptions
1992 - Alex Van Pelt - 3,163 yards, 20 touchdowns, 17 interceptions
1997 - Pete Gonzalez - 2,829 yards, 31 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
2000 - John Turman - 2,482 yards, 20 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2001 - David Priestley - 2,399 yards, 20 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2002 - Rod Rutherford - 2,783 yards, 22 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
2003 - Rod Rutherford - 3,679 yards, 37 touchdowns, 14 interceptions
2004 - Tyler Palko - 3,067 yards, 24 touchdowns, 7 interceptions
2006 - Tyler Palko - 2,871 yards, 25 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
2009 - Bill Stull - 2,633 yards, 21 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2012 - Tino Sunseri - 3,288 yards, 21 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
2013 - Tom Savage - 2,958 yards, 21 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
At the same time, of those previous 12 times a Pitt QB threw 20 TDs, only one - Tino Sunseri in 2012 - had fewer than 7 interceptions. Sunseri had 3 in 2012 and Peterman already has 4, so Peterman can't beat Tino on that one, but he can definitely stay under 7. Since throwing 2 picks in the first quarter at Iowa, Peterman has just one interception in his last 239 pass attempts.
Of course, the most remarkable part of all of this is that none of those previous 12 quarterbacks who threw 20 touchdown passes opened the season as the backup - or at least weren't the starter all season. That makes Peterman's situation pretty unique.
Here are the other 12 seasons with 20+ touchdown passes:
1981 - Dan Marino - 2,876 yards, 37 touchdowns, 23 interceptions
1992 - Alex Van Pelt - 3,163 yards, 20 touchdowns, 17 interceptions
1997 - Pete Gonzalez - 2,829 yards, 31 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
2000 - John Turman - 2,482 yards, 20 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2001 - David Priestley - 2,399 yards, 20 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2002 - Rod Rutherford - 2,783 yards, 22 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
2003 - Rod Rutherford - 3,679 yards, 37 touchdowns, 14 interceptions
2004 - Tyler Palko - 3,067 yards, 24 touchdowns, 7 interceptions
2006 - Tyler Palko - 2,871 yards, 25 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
2009 - Bill Stull - 2,633 yards, 21 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2012 - Tino Sunseri - 3,288 yards, 21 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
2013 - Tom Savage - 2,958 yards, 21 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
