15 Greatest QB/WR Duos of All Time
1964: Tulsa
Jerry Rhome and Howard Twilley
To have been there to see them play. To have been conscious in 1964 to witness the game of football change before our eyes. To have been in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1964 was a golden year for the college football passing game—Tensi and Biletnikoff were flying up and down the field at Florida State, and Huarte and Snow were butchering secondaries at Notre Dame.
But Jerry Rhome and Howard Twilley did things on the field that boggled the traditional football minds of the day. Just as Steve Tensi and Fred Biletnikoff were elevating the Seminoles, just as John Huarte and Jack Snow were shaking the bedrock of Fighting Irish football, Tulsa’s quarterback-receiver tandem of Rhome and Twilley were playing football like the big kids on the playground going up against the first graders.
Twilley led the nation in reception with 95 and would have led the NCAA in receiving yards and touchdown receptions if it weren’t for that Florida State guy. In fact, Twilley’s 1,178 receiving yards were only a single yard shy of Biletnikoff, and his 13 touchdown receptions were just two behind.
In comparison to his rivals at the quarterback position, Tensi and Huarte, who were hovering high in sky above everyone else, Jerry Rhome was in the stratosphere. Neither the Seminole giant nor the Heisman winner put up anywhere close to Rhome’s numbers. You had to look at Arizona State’s John Torok to come close, and even he didn’t.
Rhome was almost 1,000 yards ahead of everyone else in total yards (3,128) and had over 1,000 total yards more than the Heisman winner, Huarte. He also led the nation in nine major categories, including total touchdowns (40), pass completions (224), pass completion percentage (10.2), passing efficiency rating (172.6), and passing touchdowns (32). The next closest competitor for passing touchdowns was over ten behind–ASU’s Torok, who threw for 20.
As if that weren’t enough, Rhome also led the team in rushing touchdowns with eight.
Rhome finished second in the Heisman voting by a mere 30 votes (Huarte, 216; Rhome, 186). The following year, Howard Twilley would also come in second in the Heisman voting, losing to USC’s Mike Garrett.
The Tulsa Golden Hurricanes finished the season at 9-2, winning their Bluebonnet Bowl Game, 14-7, over Mississippi and closing with a six-game winning streak to end the ’64 season.