My Heisman Ballot
by Beergut on Dec 13, 2008 1:23 AM CST
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Print#1: Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford
302-448 passing for 4,468 yards, 68.3% completion percentage, 48 TDs passing, 5 rushing, 6 INTs on the year, an 8:1 TD:INT ratio, the numbers just get more and more obscene as you look at Bradford's season this year. Under his leadership, Oklahoma's offense was pretty much unstoppable; the lowest score they were held to on the season was 35 points, twice, once in a win against TCU, and again in their lone loss on the season, to texas. If you score 35 points a game on offense, you're going to win a lot of games, and OU won 12 of them behind Bradford's arm this season. He's led OU back to the BCS national title game for the first time since 2003, and led them to their third consecutive Big 12 title. Accounting for 53 total TDs passing and rushing gets my vote this year.
#2: Florida QB Tim Tebow
174-268 passing for 2,515 yards, 64.9% completion percentage, 28 TDs passing, 12 TDs rushing, 2 INTs on the year, an unbelievable 14:1 TD:INT ratio, and lead his team to the SEC Championship and their second BCS national title game appearance in 3 years. Tebow would be my top pick if he had only managed at least 3,000 yds passing on the season. I would love to see a back-to-back Heisman winner, but Tebow's statistics don't support calling him the best player in college football this year.
#3: texas QB Colt McCoy
291-375 passing for 3,445 yards, 77.6% completion percentage, 32 TDs passing, 10 TDs rushing, 7 INTs on the year, roughly a 4:1 TD:INT ratio. McCoy finishes last of the three finalists on my ballot because his numbers just don't measure up to what the other two finalists did on the field. He has the worst TD:INT ratio of the three finalists, and is responsible for the most interceptions. While he did manage to break 3,000 yards passing, unlike Tebow, he also failed to average at least 300 yards passing per game. McCoy's average of 287.1 yds per game passing would be acceptable if he was a constant dual-threat, but he only had one 100 yd rushing game on the season, and that was in the opener against Florida Atlantic. McCoy is also hurt by the lack of a signature late-season win; while texas did beat Oklahoma, they lost to a Texas Tech team that Oklahoma obliterated. Tebow led Florida to a win over undefeated and #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. McCoy doesn't have that type of a big-game performance late in this season to really push him over the top.
Looking at the resume of all three players, Bradford just stands out above the other two candidates, and for that reason, he is my pick as the Heisman Trophy winner.
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Heisman
McCoy has to be first. He was hit in almost every game but just kept getting back up (See Texas A&M, Oklahoma, OK State, etc). His toughness was something everyone looks for in a Heisman player. His offensive weapons were Shipley and his ability to run. What he did with Texas was far more impressive (to me) than what Tebow did in Florida (yawn, he had one tough game all year and his loss was to Ole Miss AT HOME!!!!!). Another knock on Tebow is that his coach didn’t have enough faith in him to try to score with about 2 minutes left at the end of the first half. People keep bringing up the Florida State win, but they are awful. They had no business being anywhere near Florida at all regardless of weather or rivalry status.
Bradford has a case on numbers, but I think McCoy meant far more to his team than Bradford did. This isn’t even a discussion if Crabtree/Harrel don’t make the most amazing pass/catch of the season (as McCoy led a great 4th quarter comeback in that game).
Meat? They're made out of Meat? Meat.
Gotta go with McCoy
For me, the decision is between McCoy and Tebow. If its about numbers then it should be Harrel. I understand you using numbers to decide to make the decision but you can’t use numbers to be the main factor which you are. Thats what the other awards are for. If the Heisman was always about the best numbers Peyton Manning would have won it ’97 instead of Woodson. I think part of the Heisman criteria should be the value to your team.
I seriously think OU would probably be in the same position with Joey Halzle. He (Bradford) is a guy that has all day to throw and when he was in the only pressure situation the whole season he failed (against UT). Tebow was great but he wasn’t consistent the whole season. You can’t give the award to a guy that didn’t do much the first half of the season. The whole season has to be taken into account and thats why McCoy gets the edge over Tebow because of that. Bradford and Tebow were both a big part of their teams lone defeats this season. Bradford and his offense stalled in the second half against UT and Tebow just had a bad game against Ole Miss. While McCoy had, arguably, his worst performance of the season he still led his team back and got them the lead. His defense failed him. He didn’t fail his team.
you obviously haven't watched Joey Halze very much
Halze is the whole reason Oklahoma lost to Tech in ‘07 and didn’t go to the national title game. Blaming Bradford for the texas loss is laughable; the Sooner scored 35 points and Bradford passed for 387 yds and 5 TDs against texas. You’re going to say he “failed” b/c he didn’t lead the offense to 46 points? That is ludicrous.
Tebow led an offense that averaged 40+ points per game, and had a bad game against Ole Miss. His team was ridiculously consistent, especially in the second half of the season.
Taking the whole season into account is the exact reason why you give the award to Bradford, because Bradford was steadily excellent all season long. When your low scoring games is 35 points, you are going to have a chance to win every game, and Bradford led that offensive machine.
not consistent
There’s no doubt bradford had a heisman-worthy season, but mccoy clearly had one as well. You say 3,000 passing is some sort of magic number for tebow, but then for some reason you downplay mccoy’s 3,000 yards and say 300 yds/game is the new measuring stick, a figure that tebow didn’t even approach. why is 3,000 a valid number for tebow but not mccoy? you say mccoy wasn’t a valid rushing threat b/c he only got 100 yards once; if you saw mccoy play, and I know you did, you’d know his running was a key part of the offense and he was very effective doing so. He had more yards, yards per carry, and yards per game than vaunted runner Tebow. You seem dazzled that Bradford led a powerful offense that kept them in every game when McCoy did the same. They scored 33 in their only loss and he led an impressive comeback in that game as well. McCoy meant more to his team than anyone, and had tremendous statistics to boot. Bradford had a fine season and is deserving, but McCoy beat him and outplayed him.
by the chairman211 on Dec 14, 2008 10:43 PM CST reply actions
the reason I harped on the average passing yds per game stat on McCoy
is because I don’t consider McCoy a true dual-threat QB. texas doesn’t really run many designed running plays for him, most of his runs are off of the zone read and when plays break down.
If you aren’t going to average 300 yds passing per game as a QB because you are a “dual-threat”, then you need to average 200 passing/100 rushing to win the Heisman, which McCoy also didn’t do. If you can’t hit those numbers, you need to do something like Tebow’s 20/20 season last year, with 20+ TDs both passing and rushing, which is a phenomenal accomplishment. Again, McCoy didn’t accomplish that.
My biggest reason for ranking McCoy where I did was this:
McCoy finishes last of the three finalists on my ballot because his numbers just don’t measure up to what the other two finalists did on the field. He has the worst TD:INT ratio of the three finalists, and is responsible for the most interceptions.
You can say what you want about Tebow, but a 14:1 TD:INT ratio is simply obscene.
Tebow had fewer running yards than McCoy in more games
Why does it matter if the play is a “designed” run? McCoy is able to get the best result for his team on most plays, be it throwing or running.
And 14:1 may be obscene, but it’s not that rare. Hell, Robert Griffin started the season with a 10:1 ratio. McCoy’s completion percentage is truly obscene, which is why it is going to break the all time record.
by Texas Wahoo on Dec 15, 2008 10:24 AM CST up reply actions
no value in those thresholds
I agree that a certain level of statistical accomplishment is key to being a top candidate, but setting arbitrary thresholds is silly. McCoy’s had 287 ypg, that’s high enough. Only 6 guys broke 300/game this year, so you’re saying Chase Clement deserves the Heisman more than McCoy or Tebow.
“Pocket Passers” Matt Leinart, Jason White didn’t average 300 ypg. Carson Palmer and statistical monster Danny Wuerffel only did it by the skin of their teeth. Eric Crouch was a whopping 700 passing yards short of meeting your “Dual Threat” criteria and won. You could debate whether Charlie Ward and Troy Smith were more pocket passers or dual threats, but they’re numbers are not enough to meet the marks you set in either category. Also it’s worth noting that no Division I QB in history has averaged 200 passing/100 rushing EVER. Whether or not your personal criteria for your own ballot is valid or not, it’s certainly not historically true. They were all worthy and their numbers match up with most any past winners.
by the chairman211 on Dec 15, 2008 11:19 AM CST up reply actions
Eric Crouch
is the whole reason I don’t really ocnsider the Heisman a valid award. He won the trophy basically b/c he was a 1000/1000 guy, which isn’t hard to do in an option offense, and b/c he made one play against Oklahoma that Nebraska fans have propped up to legend status.
The biggest argument I hear from McCoy backers is that he is the most valuable player to his team, which I think is ridiculous. You take McCoy away from texas, and yes, they aren’t as good on offense without him, but that is more of a statement of the limitations of John Chiles than it is a comment on McCoy. You can make the same statement about Tebow and Florida, b/c their offensive scheme is designed directly for him. If they put another QB in their, they have to change their whole scheme. The same wouldn’t be true for texas.
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