Who will win the Heisman Trophy?

As for the guy who has had the best individual season, I'd take Marquis Lee, WR from USC. Probably won't win it, but you'd have to look long and hard to find someone who has had a better season. Maybe Varner from Oregon.

 

Mainly, I was just busting your balls.

So, who should win it if not Manziel? And again, I think T'eo deserves consideration. Love how he plays. Hate how little attention he gets for it. I wouldn't be pissed if he wins.

For Manziel, the dates weren't changed, so we deal with what actually happened. He came up huge against the number one team in the country, which happened to be your school. So yea, color me shocked that you don't think he should win it. And I haven't looked them up, but I'd imagine his stats compare pretty well to a couple recent Heisman winners. Personally, his stats and all around performance this year trump when certain things happened.

Either way, the Heisman is, and probably always will be, a joke. Hard to really get bent out of shape about it. Fun to debate, though.

 

Neither Johnny Manziel nor Collin Klein favorably compares to recent Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks.

Tim Tebow
Passing: 66.9%, 3,286 yards, 9.4 per attempt, 32 touchdowns, six interceptions, 172.5 rating
Rushing: 895 yards, 4.3 per carry, 23 touchdowns

Sam Bradford
Passing: 67.9%, 4,720 yards, 9.8 per attempt, 50 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 180.8 rating
Rushing: 47 yards, 1.1 per carry, five touchdowns

Cam Newton
Passing: 66.1%, 2,854 yards, 10.2 per attempt, 30 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 182.0 rating
Rushing: 1,473 yards, 5.6 per carry, 20 touchdowns

Robert Griffin III
Passing: 72.4%, 4,293 yards, 10.7 per attempt, 37 touchdowns, six interceptions, 189.5 rating
Rushing: 699 yards, 3.9 per carry, 10 touchdowns

Johnny Manziel (projected for 13 games)
Passing: 67.7%, 3,601 yards, 8.6 per attempt, 25 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 155.1 rating
Rushing: 1,317 yards, 6.5 per carry, 20 touchdowns

Collin Klein (projected for 13 games)
Passing: 66.7%, 2,725 yards, 8.9 per attempt, 17 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 155.0 rating
Rushing: 930 yards, 4.6 per attempt, 23 touchdowns

If you're keeping track, they project for fewer touchdowns and lower passer ratings than any of the past four quarterbacks to win Heisman. They do compare well with Troy Smith, though, for whatever that's worth. Smith's team was undefeated.

Regarding Manti Teo, well ... I have mixed feelings on defensive players winning the Heisman. On one hand, I am not sure Teo is exceptional enough to buck 77-year-old trend. On the other, I think he and Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones are the best players in the country.

My biggest issue with Manziel's candidacy was his god-awful performance against LSU. He was much worse against LSU (no touchdowns, three interceptions) than Klein was against Baylor (three touchdowns, three interceptions).

 

Manziel vs. LSU was one of the five or 10 best defenses in the country.

Klein vs. Baylor was one of the five or 10 worst defenses in the country.

 

I know. But if Kansas State's defense plays better and the Wildcats win, Collin Klein is winning the Heisman in a landslide. Meanwhile, Texas A&M's defense was fine against LSU. Manziel was the problem.

That's what bothers me.

I don't think either deserves it.

 

Who does, then? All you've said so far is no on Manziel, no on Te'o, no on Klein.

Vinny Testaverde ain't walking through that door.

 

If there was ever a year and player when a defensive player could actually win it, this might be the year.

 

I am not sure. I am interested to see what Collin Klein does against Texas and what Johnny Manziel does against Missouri. A huge game would be enough for me to pick either.

It's not so much that I am opposed to either winning as it bothers me Manziel is being viewed as a superior candidate. He fits the narrative sports writers want, the hot-shot freshman leading Texas A&M into the SEC and knocking off Alabama. But I don't think he has been better.

Now, if you were asking me who the most outstanding college football players have been this season:

1. Manti Te'o, Notre Dame
2. Jarvis Jones, Georgia
3. Chance Warmack, Alabama
4. Marqise Lee, Southern Cal
5. Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M

 

Then it sounds like your vote is Te'o.

This is one of the things that puzzles me, the semi-annual hand-wringing that there is nobody out there who "deserves" the Heisman. There are 11,000 players in FBS and tens of thousands of more in the lower divisions. One of them has to be the best. It is not possible for a season to be played where no player is the best.

 

My problem is that the award at hand is full of horseshit. I wouldn't vote for any award run this way.

 

I can understand the reservations about the Heisman. There are probably years where some offensive lineman on a 9-3 team is the best player. For me, Marvin Jones not winning in '92 was forever proof that it isn't about the best player.

But the question itself is pretty simple. Who's the best player in college football? You have to have an opinion on that. So you have an opinion on who should win the Heisman.

 

I don't see those things as the exact same question. Similarly, I have no issue with Miguel Cabrera winning the Baseball Writers Assocation of America's American League Most Valuable Player Award, but I would take (and have taken) time to argue that Mike Trout was the best and most valuable player in the American League.

I don't like award voting. The awards inherently are built on expectations and history, which is why Shaquille O'Neal won one MVP in his five-year stretch as the NBA's best player and why Ryan Howard beat Albert Pujols in the 2006 NL MVP voting and why David Price beat Justin Verlander in the 2012 AL Cy Young voting.

But no award is more flawed than the Heisman Trophy, and in a way, I guess I think the voters now rightfully uphold those biases. If we started voting for defensive players all the time, what would that say about Ndamukong Suh or Orlando Pace or Hugh Green or Marvin Jones? The award is flawed, and everyone knows it. Why should we bother fixing it?