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The Pac-12 is the conference of quarterbacks, plain and simple. Super Bowl winners, Heisman Trophy winners, No. 1 draft picks, you name it, the Pac-12, and the Pac-10 before it, has provided some of the best players behind center in the history of the game. Since 1980, the conference has cranked out five No. 1 draft picks (Alex Smith and Utah were in the Mountain West when he was picked No. 1 overall in 2005). The conference is also home to a couple of Heisman Trophy winners. A Pac-12 alum led his team to a Super Bowl title eight times since 1980. But we’re talking what they did in college. Not what they did in the NFL, but what they did with the marching bands playing in the stands, the alumni singing their fight songs, the Heisman Trophy and Roses their preseason aim.

Here are Scout's picks for the top 10 quarterbacks from the Pac-10/Pac-12 since 1980. Hike!

#10 Ryan Leaf Washington State (1995-97) .more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Washington State fans are saying here

As strictly as a college player, Leaf rivaled Elway and Aikman as perhaps the strongest arm to ever throw in the conference. He helped the Cougs win the Pac-10 in 1997, earning Offensive Player of the Year honors and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, one of the best fields of four ever (Charles Woodson, Peyton Manning and Randy Moss were also in New York). He took them to the Rose Bowl as a junior, their first in 66 years, a season in which he threw for 3,968 yards and 34 touchdowns, both tops in the conference. Overall, he was 473-for-880 for 7,433 yards and 59 touchdowns in two seasons as the starter.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Oregon fans are saying here The Duck quarterback who helped Oregon go national, Harrington finished fourth in the 2001 Heisman Trophy voting, after Oregon put up a billboard of him in Manhattan, touting him as “Joey Heisman”. He helped the Ducks win a share of the Pac-10 title in 2000 and then win it outright in 2001, leading them to the Fiesta Bowl, en route to Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year honors. He started in three straight bowl wins for the Ducks and was 21-3 as the starter as a junior and a senior, his final season, helping them to a No. 2 final national ranking. Harrington finished with 6,911 yards on 512-of-928 passing and 59 touchdowns for the Ducks.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what UCLA fans are saying here Almost benched early in his junior year, McNown would instead turn the ship around in Westwood and lead the Bruins to a 20-game win streak over two seasons, leading them to a pair of Pac-10 titles and a Rose Bowl after the 1998 season. He won the Johnny Unitas Award in 1998, also earning Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors for the Pac-10 and finished third in the Heisman Trophy while being an AP First Team All-American. As a junior, he led the nation in pass efficiency and finished 8th in the Heisman Trophy. By the time he was done at UCLA, he was the conference’s all-team leader in total offense (he’s still third all-time) with 11,285 yards.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Huskies fans are saying here One of the finest dual-threat quarterbacks to ever play in the Pac-10, in fact, he may have been the original dual-threat, Tuiasosopo was the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2000 and finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He led the Huskies to an 11-1 record and the Pac-10 title as well as their first Rose Bowl win in nine years. In 1999, he was the first player in college football history to pass for over 300 yards and rush for over 200 yards in the same game. He led Washington to a second place finish as a junior in his first full season as the starter. He finished his career with 5,501 yards on 418-of-761 passing with 31 touchdowns and rushed for 1,374 yards on 346 carries and 20 touchdowns.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what UCLA fans are saying here Aikman started his career in the Big 8, originally playing at Oklahoma. But UCLA’s wide open-passing game was better suited for him than the Wishbone, so he transferred to Westwood and went 20-4 as a starter. His numbers were better than Peete those two seasons, and he was always a better NFL prospect, but Peete got him when the games mattered. The first pick of the 1989 NFL Draft, Aikman won the Davey O’Brien Award in 1988 and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. He finished his career 406-for-627 for 5,298 yards with 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions and was the 1987 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Trojan fans are saying here Peete’s overall numbers weren’t eye popping- he was only 630-for-1,081 for 8,225 yards with a 54-42 TD/INT ratio. But what he did was win. Two Pac-10 championships and one Rose Bowl. He was the first USC quarterback to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Barry Sanders in 1988. Over his final two seasons as the starter in Troy, he was 15-1 in the Pac-10, and beat UCLA both his junior and senior year to go to the Rose Bowl.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Stanford fans are saying here You can make a case that the finest quarterback to ever play in the Pac-10 and the NFL was Elway. Heck, you could make an argument that the finest quarterback to every play, period, was Elway. As a passer, Elway was peerless in the conference. He passed for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns, including a national best 24 his senior season. He owned a number of Stanford and Pac-12 career records. But he never went to a bowl game and was only 20-23 in his time as the starter. He was also the losing quarterback (who had just put his team ahead) in The Big Game, when The Play happened, the final play that Elway would experience as a college football player.

.more-stories {margin:20px 0;} .more-stories a{display:block;width:100%; background:#efb900;height: 52px;text-align:center;line-height:44px;color:#202020;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:bebas_neue;font-size:20px;position:relative;overflow:hidden;letter-spacing:2px;-webkit-transition:all .15s ease-in;transition:all .2s ease-in;border:3px solid #efb900;}.more-stories a:hover{color:#fff;background:0 0;letter-spacing:3px;background:#121212;border:3px solid #121212;} See what Trojan fans are saying here For the better part of two seasons, Palmer fascinated and maddened USC fans. He missed most of the 1999 season with an injury, and then in 2000, the Trojans finished last in the Pac-10. Enter Pete Carrol and Norm Chow his junior year, and by the time Palmer was a senior, he was putting together one of the finest seasons in Pac-10 history, with almost 4,000 yards passing. The Trojans would be co-Pac-10 champs and win the Orange Bowl and Palmer would win the Heisman Trophy, the first for a Trojan quarterback. He finished his career with 11,818 yards on 927-of-1,569 passing and 72 touchdowns. Most importantly, he was the quarterback who who started the Trojans impressive run at the position or the next decade.