Who will win the Heisman Trophy?

Manziel: 4,900 total yards, 45 TDs
Tebow: 4,200 yards, 55 TDs
Newton: 4,300 yards, 50 TD.
Griffin III: 5,000 yards, 47 TDs

I'd say he stacks up rather well. His YPA and rating is down, but his YPC is up. Never said he blew them out of the water. But he's got a seat at their table. And I think he'll have a trophy that matches theirs, too, in a few weeks.

And don't forget. He shit all over ROLL TIDE SABAN ALABAMA BEAR BRYANT HOUNDSTOOTH!!!!

 

For accuracy's sake, Sam Bradford won as a sophomore the next season, 2008.

 

FWIW, Te'o is the most consistently excellent player I have seen (and of course ND is on TV more often) of the candidates. Manziel was of course amazing against Alabama, somewhat less so the other times I saw him.

 

All you need to know about the Heisman Trophy is that Danny Wuerrfel and Tim Tebow won, while Payton Manning and Tom Brady never did.

 

Tim Tebow is one of the 10 best college football players of all time.

Tom Brady never started for an entire season at Michigan.

And I don't know who Danny Wuerrfel and Payton Manning are.

 

If West Virginia had just an OK defense as opposed to incredibly bad, Geno Smith would be right there.

 

When you look at Geno Smith's numbers game-by-game, he really put up most of his gaudiest stats in three games against inferior competition. (Granted, Baylor was one of those teams.)

Almost half of his touchdown passes came against James Madison, Marshall and Baylor.

 

What I never really understood about Heisman analysis is how the favorites fluctuate weekly based on the outcome of a single game.

Colin Klein can have nine or 10 great games and be a legit favorite.

One bad game against Baylor and his hopes are dashed, while one great game for Johnny Football bolts him to the top of the list.

Then some voters are going to wait until to conclusion of the USC-ND game to determine if Teo is worthy.

I'm glad we don't decide professional sports MVPs in this manner.

Could you imagine Miguel Cabrera dropping out of the MVP race because he went 2-for-10 in a series against the Twins in September, or Tom Brady not being considered for the NFL award after throwing three picks against Jets on Thanksgiving?

 

That's because voters tend to be short-memoried dumb creatures that can barely remember past last week.

You're right, a week ago I was hearing how Collin Klein was the "clear leader, everybody else in his rear view mirror, etc." Then he has one bad game and the narrative shifts to "he's finished, he blew it, who's next?" It does get silly, but it's how the Heisman race has always worked and presumable always will.

 

Regardless of who wins, it's going to be the fourth year in a row that the winner was nowhere to be found on the preseason lists. (Ingram, Newton, Griffin.)

Maybe a lesson for the media in there?

Nah.

 

Said it all year, even when Geno was going bonkers in that goofy Baylor game -- that team's best true Heisman candidate was never Geno, but Tavon Austin. His 344 yards rushing (despite not playing RB since high school) and 500+ all-purpose yards against Oklahoma confirmed that for me.

 

I have no proof of this on this board, but I had Robert Griffin III fourth on my list of best quarterbacks entering last season, behind Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Kellen Moore.

That said, I agree with your general point and mostly am trying to make myself look smart. Because I am smart.