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2006 Heisman Discussion (merged all)

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cfn

Handicapping the Heisman
374040.jpg


By Richard Cirminiello
Collegefootballnews.com
Posted Nov 6, 2006

Can Troy Smith be caught? That?s the question on everyone?s mind as we enter the final turn on another regular season. The short answer? Of course.

However, it?s going to take an Ohio State loss to either Northwestern or Michigan for the senior to relinquish the lead he began building moments after leading the Buckeyes to a 24-7 win over Texas more than two months ago. That?s the cold reality in a year where support is going to be fractured among many candidates across the country, while Smith is likely to be the one contender that?ll find his way on to the majority of ballots. Out of reach? Not quite, but even after the front-runner played poorly in Champaign last week, if you want some Heisman intrigue next month, you ought to start learning the lyrics to Hail to Michigan.

The following ranking is not a personal opinion, rather a handicapping of how the contenders would fare if a vote was taken today.

1. QB Troy Smith, Ohio State ? Did Smith leave the door open for the competition by suffering through his worst game of the 2006 season against lowly Illinois? Probably not, but he did provide some fodder for those voters looking for a reason to champion someone other No. 10. Considering how well he?s played in 2006 and the cushion he currently enjoys, Smith gets a mulligan as long as the Buckeyes are winning.
Last Week: 13-of-23 for 108 yards and 1 INT ? 11 carries for 37 yards (Illinois)
This Week: at Northwestern
2006 Season: 158-of-237 for 2,006 yards, 22 TDs and 3 INTs ? 53 carries for 206 yards and 1 TD
Barometer: Steady

2. QB Brady Quinn, Notre Dame ? Another week, another sterling effort from Quinn against a less-than-stellar opponent. The senior has done exactly what he?s had to since the Michigan game two months ago, building up his numbers, winning six straight games and forging ahead as others fall by the wayside. If the Irish win out, including ending USC?s winning streak at the Coliseum, Quinn will do no worse than third place in this year?s Heisman vote.
Last Week: 23-of-35 for 346 yards and 4 TDs (North Carolina)
This Week: at Air Force
2006 Season: 216-of-338 for 2,579 yards, 25 TDs and 4 INTs ? 2 rushing TDs
Barometer: Steady

3. RB Mike Hart, Michigan - Where would the Wolverines be without Hart, the one constant in an otherwise flaky offense? Michigan has put the ball in the hands of its workhorse 259 times this year?most of any back in the nation?because he moves the chains, wears out defenses and never turns the ball over. Well, almost never. Hart?s fumble that led to a Ball State safety Saturday was his first in two years that was recovered by the opposition.
Last Week: 25 carries for 154 yards and 1 TD (Ball State)
This Week: at Indiana
2006 Season: 259 carries for 1,281 and 10 TDs ? 13 catches for 122 yards
Barometer: Steady

4. RB Ray Rice, Rutgers ? Faced with the exact same situation last Thursday, Steve Slaton fumbled away his opportunity to make up ground on the Heisman leaders. Rice hopes to do better this Thursday night with the entire nation focused on Rutgers and Louisville looking to preserve its No. 3 spot in the BCS rankings. If Rice is the reason that the BCS is thrown into a state of chaos Friday morning, he?ll soar into the top 3.
Last Week: Idle
This Week: vs. Louisville
2006 Season: 223 carries for 1,203 yards and 13 TDs
Barometer: Steady

5. QB Colt McCoy, Texas ? Stats. Check. Playing for a championship contender. Check. Playing quarterback or running back. Check. McCoy easily passes the Heisman eye test, but has just now begun to generate some chatter among the voters. Is it too late? To win, absolutely. To be a finalist, no way. With the field wide open behind Troy Smith and Brady Quinn, a strong finish could catapult the freshman to New York City in one of the biggest upsets of 2006.
Last Week: 23-of-29 for 346 yards and 3 TDs (Oklahoma State)
This Week: at Kansas State
2006 Season: 170-of-246 for 2.051 yards, 27 TDs and 4 INTs ? 62 carries for 180 yards and 1 TD
Barometer: Rising

6. RB Steve Slaton, West Virginia ? The numbers suggest Slaton had a banner night against Louisville last week, but reality is singing a completely different tune. More than his 230 yards and gutsy effort with an injured wrist, what voters will remember about showdown with the Cards was that Slaton coughed up the ball twice in the third quarter to change the tenor of what had been a competitive game. His chances to win the Heisman have vanished, but with a quick rebound, he still could finish in the top 5.
Last Week: 18 carries for 156 yards and 1 TD ? 3 catches for 74 yards (Louisville)
This Week: vs. Cincinnati
2006 Season: 169 carries for 1,215 yards and 10 TDs ? 12 catches for 161 yards
Barometer: Falling

7. RB Marshawn Lynch, Cal ? A week of rest wound up being real good for Lynch, who returned from Cal?s bye week with a solid, 126-yard, two-touchdown effort in a 38-24 win over UCLA. When he wasn?t softening the Bruin front on the ground, he was providing QB Nate Longshore with one more weapon in the passing game. With no USC candidates to contend with for a change, Lynch should do very well in the Western region when votes are cast next month.
Last Week: 20 carries for 81 yards and 1 TD ? 4 catches for 45 yards and 1 TD (UCLA)
This Week: at Arizona
2006 Season: 152 carries for 988 yards and 9 TDs ? 23 catches for 261 yards and 4 TDs
Barometer: Steady

Heisman Contender of the Week
8. RB Darren McFadden, Arkansas ? If there was a doubt whether McFadden belongs in this discussion before the weekend began, he dismissed it with a career-high 219 yards and two touchdowns in front of a nationally-televised audience. With games still left against Tennessee, LSU and possibly Florida for the SEC championship, the ascending sophomore is still nowhere near his Heisman ceiling.
Last Week: 25 carries for 219 yards and 2 TDs (South Carolina)
This Week: vs. Tennessee
2006 Season: 167 carries for 1,038 yards and 10 TDs ? 7 catches for 109 yards and 1 TD
Barometer: Rising

9. QB Colt Brennan, Hawaii ? No defense looks capable of stopping Brennan, who threw at least four touchdown passes for the seventh straight game on Saturday. He?s got the Warrior offense humming as well as it ever has in June Jones? eight years with the program, which is saying a mouthful. Brennan is on pace to smash David Klingler?s single-season record for touchdown passes against Oregon State, which could really resonate with undecided voters.
Last Week: 18-of-29 for 413 yards, 6 TDs and 1 INT (Utah State)
This Week: vs. Louisiana Tech
2006 Season: 248-of-340 for 3,347 yards, 39 TDs and 6 INTs ? 46 carries for 206 yards and 2 TDs
Barometer: Rising

10. WR Ted Ginn, Ohio State ? For the second consecutive week, Ginn was a non-factor in an Ohio State win, amassing just 68 total yards and no touchdowns in an uneventful afternoon. Barring a monster finish to the season against Michigan, he?s going to have an awful hard time convincing voters to put a pair of Buckeye offensive players on the ballot.
Last Week: 5 catches for 26 yards (Illinois)
This Week: at Northwestern
2006 Season: 49 catches for 637 yards and 7 TDs ? 1 punt return TD ? 1 TD pass
Barometer: Falling

Also Getting Votes .?. QB Pat White (West Virginia), WR Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech), RB P.J. Hill (Wisconsin), RB James Davis (Clemson), QB Chris Leak (Florida), RB Ian Johnson (Boise State), QB JaMarcus Russell (LSU), QB John David Booty (USC), QB Chad Henne (Michigan), QB Erik Ainge (Tennessee), QB Brian Brohm (Louisville), RB Garrett Wolfe (Northern Illinois), QB Nate Longshore (Cal), QB John Beck (BYU) and QB Kevin Kolb (Houston)
 
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From Fuitak's weekly Cavalcade of Whimsy

cfn

My Heisman ballot this week would be ?

1. Troy Smith, QB Ohio State,
2. Mike Hart, RB Michigan,
3. Brady Quinn, QB Notre Dame,
4. Colt Brennan, QB Hawaii,
5. Ray Rice, RB Rutgers

 
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Buckeye1;656875; said:
Why does Mike hart gets so much love for the Heisman race and Pittman is not even on the same map when their numbers are practically identical? Pittman even has more TDs???
:oh: :io:
Click to expand...
OSU just has too much star power right now. AP will be a front runner for Heisman next year... :)
 
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Link

[FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica]Don't give Smith Heisman just yet[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica]Ohio State star is playing with a sore thumb and coming off subpar game.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Published November 10, 2006[/FONT]

[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica] Hold on to your Heisman Trophy ballot (if you have one).

Perhaps the race for college football's most prestigious award isn't such a foregone conclusion after all.

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith still has one hand on the trophy as the clear frontrunner, but his grip isn't as firm as it was just a week ago.

And not just because Smith revealed this week that he's playing with a sore right thumb on his passing hand. Smith turned in his poorest performance of the season in Saturday's 17-10 victory against Illinois.

``It happened a while ago,'' Smith said in revealing the injury for the first time in a teleconference call this week. ``To tell you the truth, I can't pinpoint one thing that made it start hurting.

``It's sort of like a sore ankle. It's going to take that pressure, and it's going to take those hits. But you'll never find me crying or whining about it or making excuses. I have to play ball.''

Smith will lead the Buckeyes to Northwestern on Saturday. The national title and the Heisman should be on the line when No. 1 Ohio State is host to No. 2 Michigan in eight days.

Smith, a senior, seized control of the Heisman race with his highly efficient and mistake-free running of Ohio State's offense. He threw 21 touchdown passes to just two interceptions through the first eight games while averaging more than 200 yards passing.

Something seemed to happen after he threw four touchdowns against Indiana on Oct. 21. Smith posted his lowest totals the last two weeks, throwing for 183 yards against Minnesota and 108 yards against Illinois. He has thrown one touchdown and one interception over the past two games. He was 3 of 8 for 9 yards in the second half against Illinois.

Heisman ballots are due Dec. 6 with the presentation scheduled Dec. 9 at New York's Nokia Theater in Times Square.

If Smith stumbles down the stretch, it opens the door to Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, who still has a chance to impress on a big stage at USC a week after the Ohio State-Michigan game.

While it looks like no more than a two-man race, a couple of bad performances by both QBs open the door to an upset. Junior Michigan tailback Mike Hart could steal the show against Ohio State. Rutgers sophomore tailback Ray Rice and Texas freshman quarterback Colt McCoy have impressive numbers, but their youth works against them, and West Virginia's Steve Slaton appears to have fumbled away his chances in the Louisville loss last week. Hawaii's Colt Brennan also has a chance.

Smith still has commanding leads in the ESPN, Scripps Howard and the CBS Sportsline experts polls.[/FONT][/FONT]
 
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looked around a little bit and i haven't seen them anywhere. but a friend just forwarded me 4 political campaign sounding spoofs for troy for heisman. if anyone wants to host them ill forward them to you.

they're probably old news, but i hadn't heard them before.
 
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Quinn is on an above average team who has beat zero quality opponents. He also choked on the big stage and throws about ten more passes than Troy a game. Here's to hoping the voters have sense and don't fall for the Domer charm (barf).

If ND loses to USC and we beat scUM, I think it's sealed.
 
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With between 1 and 3 games left for almost all of the candidates, Troy Smith's solid performance against Northwestern prevented anybody from further closing the gap. If Ohio State defeats TSUN on Saturday, Smith will win the Heisman, regardless of what anybody else does in their remaining games.

Troy is still 6th in the country in passing efficiency, with 26 TDs and 4 interceptions. His throw to Ginn in the last 10 seconds of the first half was the obvious addition to the Heisman highlight reel this week. He was 12 of 19 for 184 yards, with 4 TDs and 1 pick, and 15 yards on 5 carries.

I believe that these are the only 6 other players that have a reasonable chance of getting an invitation to the ceremony, in alphabetical order:

Colt Brennan
Mike Hart
Darren McFadden
Brady Quinn
Ray Rice
Steve Slaton

Colt Brennan (Hawaii) still leads the nation in both passing efficiency (188.98) and TD passes (43, with 7 picks). He's third in passing yards with 3753, completing 72.4% of his passes. He was 27-40 for 406 yards with 4 TDs and 1 interception, and ran for 60 yards, as Hawaii blasted La. Tech 61-17. Unfortunately for Brennan, most of the voters never see any of his games, but he has thrown 34 TDs in his last 7 games. In my opinion, he should be in the top 5 of the Heisman race, and deserves a trip to New York City if he continues to perform at the same level.

Mike Hart had 19 carries for 92 yards and 1 TD. He is gaining just under 125 yards per game, with 4.9 yards per carry, and 11 TDs. He'll make some All-America teams, but he isn't going to get many 1st place Heisman votes.

Darren McFadden (Arkansas) had 30 carries for 181 yards and 2 TDs, taking several shotgun snaps, and had a 12-yard TD pass, as Arkansas downed Tennessee 31-14. Now 7th nationally in rushing with 1219 yards and 12 TDS; he has remaining chances to help his cause with a home game against LSU and the SEC title game. Voters, however, may note that he averages 6.2 yards per carry while backup Felix Jones averages 7.8; and that McFadden missed their opener against USC due to injuring his toe in a 4 a.m. fight in a bar's parking lot.

Brady Quinn had another good statictical day against Air Force, 14 of 19 for 209 yards and 4 TDs. He has risen to 12th in the nation in in passing efficiency, which doesn't account for the fact that 3 of his turnovers were returned for TDs. Yesterday's upsets again raised the profile of the ND-USC game, but Quinn needs Troy Smith to have a bad game in a losing effort in order to have a chance to catch him with a huge game against USC.

Ray Rice (Rutgers) had 22 carries for 131 yards and 2 TDs, including 75 yards in the 4th quarter, as Rutgers got the biggest win in their history on Thursday night. Rice is averaging 148 yards per game rushing, with 5.4 ypc and 15 TDs, but has 3 games left to add to his stats.

Steve Slaton had 12 carries for 148 yards and 2 TDs, and caught 2 passes for 4 yards in a 42-24 win over Cincinnati. He has 1363 yards rushing with 12 TDs and a fine 7.5 average, so he still has a chance to get to the ceremony.

Candidates who had good weeks, but probably won't make it to New York:

- DeSean Jackson (Cal) - Had a 95-yard punt return TD, and caught 6 passes for 131 yards, including a 62-yard TD. He has 811 yards receiving for 9 TDs and 4 punt returns for TDs on the year, but Cal's loss takes the spotlight off of him.

- Ian Johnson (Boise St.) - had 29 carries for 149 yards and 1 TD, and caught 1 pass for 12 yards, in their last minute win at San Jose St. Although he leads the nation in scoring with 21 TDs, he appears to be a good player on a very good team that plays weaker competition, and will get little attention the rest of the way.

Candidates who didn't help themselves this week:

- John David Booty (USC - Was 16-25 for 176 yards, with 1 TD and 1 interception in a 35-10 win over Oregon. He's 29th in passing efficiency, and the loss at Oregon State ended his slim chances.

- Ted Ginn, Jr. (tOSU) - Caught 2 balls for 40 yards and 1 TD, and had 81 yards in kickiff returns. Has 677 receiving yards (42th nationally), 1 punt return TD and 1 passing TD.

- P.J. Hill (Wisconsin) - Had 28 carries for 77 yards and 1 TD, with 2 catches for 21 yards, as Wisconsin downed Iowa 24-21. His 1370 rushing yards are second in the country; he's getting 5.6 ypc and has 13 TDs. Only has a game against Buffalo remaining.

- Calvin Johnson (Ga. Tech) - Had 3 catches for 13 yards and 0 TDs in a 7-0 win over North Carolina. He's 18th in receiving yards with 795, and tied for 4th with 11 receiving TDs.

- Nate Longshore (Cal) - Was 17-36 for 250 yards with 1 TD and 3 picks, including the game-deciding pick-6, in their crushing 24-20 loss to Arizona. He's now 18th in passing efficiency and no longer a candidate.

- Marshawn Lynch (Cal) - Had 16 carries for 102 yards and no TDs, plus 2 catches for 4 yards, in Cal's 24-20 loss at Arizona. His 1090 rushing yards rank 12th in the country, but he has a fine 6.5 average

- Colt McCoy (Texas) - The redshirt freshman was knocked out of the Kansas State game when he scored on a QB sneak in the first quarter. He was 4 of 4 for 51 yards, with no TDs or interceptions. He's now 4th in the country in passing efficiency, including an excellent 27/4 TD/pick ratio. The loss ended Texas's national championship hopes and McCoy's budding Heisman campaign.

- Pat White (West Virginia) - He was 7 of 13 passing for 98 yards and 1 TD, and ran 10 times for 93 yrds and 2 TDs (one of his fumbles after a long run was advanced for a WV TD). His 7/5 TD/interception ratio drags him down, depsite his outstanding running ability.

- Garrett Wolfe had 54 yards on 16 carries in a 17-13 loss to Toledo on Tuesday, his 4th straight game below 100 yards. Although still the nation's leading rusher, with 1533 yards (6.7 per carry), his chances to win are now zero, and he is unlikely to get a trip to NY.


My vote as of today (based on performance - not intended as a prediction of the votes):

01. Troy Smith
02. Colt Brennan
03. Ray Rice
04. Brady Quinn
05. Darren McFadden
06. Mike Hart
07. Steve Slaton
08. Ian Johnson
09. Pat White
10. Marshawn Lynch
11. P.J. Hill
12. Garrett Wolfe
13. Colt McCoy
14. Calvin Johnson
15. Ted Ginn, Jr.

Once a candidate, but now barely on the Heisman radar:

Eric Ainge
John David Booty
Chase Daniel
James Davis
Chad Henne
DeSean Jackson
Chris Leak
Nate Longshore
Tyler Palko
JaMarcus Russell

Sorry, but injuries cost you any chance you had:

Adrian Peterson (Oklahoma)
Brian Brohm (Louisville)
Michael Bush (Louisville)
Dwayne Jarrett (USC)
Bobby Reid (Oklahoma St.)
 
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Most oft worn heisman number

Did a quick thread search and google search but didn't find an answer (the sun was in my eyes, the dog ate my newspaper, etc. etc.):!...but what is the uniform number that is worn by more heisman award winners than any other
 
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nwbuckeye;659222; said:
Did a quick thread search and google search but didn't find an answer (the sun was in my eyes, the dog ate my newspaper, etc. etc.):!...but what is the uniform number that is worn by more heisman award winners than any other
Click to expand...

I know a certain #45 worn by the winner two times...
 
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