I got to vote for the Heisman Trophy this season.
It was an honor – something pretty cool for a guy who’s passionate about college football and has watched it for years and years.
So I put a ton of thought into my choice – and that was especially necessary this season with plenty of players who could make a case for the award.
I studied potential candidates, watched as many games as I could and read as much as I could. I argued the merits of candidates with my buddies who watch tons of college football both for a living and a hobby. And I even asked some coaches without a dog in the fight for their opinions (something I used to do all the time when picking all-county and all-met teams as a prep sports reporter).
I struggled with it, sweated it and adjusted my ballot numerous times. But then late Monday morning, just a few hours before my ballot was due, I reminded myself that this was a simple task. Throw out all the hype, the discussions about who “deserves” it and who had a “Heisman Moment,” and just pick the best collegiate player.
Once I thought about it that way, the choice seemed pretty simple. It was a boy named Suh.
Nebraska nose guard Ndamukong Suh was the best player in college football this season. Not just because of what he did against Texas – dominating the game and leading the Cornhuskers to the brink of an upset (which would have thrown the BCS into chaos). It was what he did all season. He changed the way teams played against Nebraska and he changed the way Nebraska played defense (allowing the Cornhuskers to play nickel and dime almost exclusively).
So here’s my official ballot. I only submitted the top three (that’s all the Heisman asks for – top choices receive three points, second choices two points and third choices one point), but I thought I’d put my top five up there because there were some pretty deserving candidates.
1. Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska)
2. Toby Gerhart (Stanford)
3. Mark Ingram (Alabama)
4. C.J. Spiller (Clemson)
5. Golden Tate (Notre Dame)
Great choice….good ballot…why the guy from ND?
Concur with your choice of Suh. When I think of the word “DOMINATING,” he automatically springs to mind. Very cool you got to vote, and I think it’s great that you took your job so seriously.
Great Johnny Cash reference. A side note…..Are you aware who wrote that song? No fair “googling” to cheat. Or if you do, at least tell us you had to do so. Hint—It’s a famous author of children’s books.
Jens -
No “homerism” involved there. I think if Notre Dame had three or four more Ws, Tate and Clausen would have been legit candidates. Tate was the best WR in the country this season (borderline uncoverable and made big plays in key situations), he was dangerous out of the Wildcat formation and he returned punts too.
Anon -
Thanks. I can see arguments for four or five guys this season, but I felt most comfortable defending a choice of Suh.
And, no, I don’t know who wrote that song (one of my favorites) … What’s the answer?
The lyrics were written by Shel Silverstein—author of “The Giving Tree”—one of his many marvelous children’s books.
Anon -
How ’bout that! Great piece of trivia.
Jake, if Notre Dame had a quarterback who had become the winningest quarterback in the history of college football; if that quarterback had led his team to 13 wins, a conference championship and the national championship game and who had done what he needed to do to beat Suh’s team despite the presence of Suh, would he have earned a place on your ballot? Or would you just look at his last game and decide that he just didn’t do enough in that one, even though he won, and ignore the 12 other games?
Falcon,
I’ll ignore your snarky inference that I’d give a Notre Dame quarterback preferential treatment — something that’s a funny thing to joke about but that would be a serious journalistic violation — and play along:
First of all, I wouldn’t look at career achievements for this supposed ND quarterback because the Heisman is awarded for one season, not a career (a big reason why Tebow won’t get it).
Second, I wouldn’t look solely at what his team did. That’s something nice for the resume, but the award isn’t supposed to go to the best player on the best team. It’s supposed to go to the best player.
Third, I would probably look at how said quarterback did in the biggest games of the year, as I did for McCoy. Here were the two biggest games Texas had this year, along with McCoy’s stats:
v. OU (21-of-39, 127 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 14 rushes 33 yards)
v. Nebraska 20-of-36, 184 yards, 0 TDs, 3 INTs; 17 rushes, minus-20 yards)
Not only are those not Heisman numbers, those are pretty ugly numbers. So if said ND quarterback rolled up big numbers on the likes of Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, Central Florida and Baylor, I probably wouldn’t give it to him.
If I had a vote last year, it would have gone to McCoy. He doesn’t deserve it this year. Not even close.
I think 1 and 2 should be switched. Gerhart is 1 in rush yds, 1 in tds, and is a workhorse with 311 attempts in the year. That’s 145 yds/gm, 2 tds/gm, and 26 att/gm. Don’t get me wrong Suh is a TREMONDOUS player and I can see him winning the Heisman, but Gerhart’s stats are too good, to me, to ignore. Plus Gerhart was the focal point of the Stanford offense, defenses knew what was coming, but he still was a horse. He’s not a cocky player either, just goes out there and plays the game. But I guess that’s why I dont have my own Heisman vote.
Joe,
Gerhart would be a worthy winner. I had him number one on my ballot for a while. I liked him a bit more than Ingram because he didn’t have as much talent around him as Ingram did. He’s a load and you’re right that defenses totally knew what was coming and he still chewed up yardage.
Here’s how SI.com guys voted:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/12/09/heisman/index.html#?eref=sihp
Jake, I didn’t mean to sound snarky, but based on the fact that Golden Tate was on your ballot this year, it seems to me that if a Notre Dame quarterback had done what I described, I think he obviously would have gotten your vote. And as far as his big games, well, like Notre Dame, Texas is the biggest game on just about everyone’s schedule. You don’t think Texas is a big game for A&M? McCoy played in six other games against tough Big 12 opponents in which he rolled up big numbers. He was gone in the third quarter against the ones you mention. But his biggest stat this year is in the win column. I was at Cowboys Stadium when a ranked, 9-3 Nebraska team took the lead on a field goal. There was calm among the Texas fans that surrounded me. One of them said, “Colt will do what he has to do to win it. Don’t worry.” McCoy did just that as he completed a pass to put the team in field goal range. I think you might agree, Jake, that if McCoy had played for, say, Ohio State this season with the same results, he would have been the runaway Heisman winner. Look at Troy Smith. Three other less partisan awards went to McCoy, you might have noticed. With regional bias taken out, and those coaches you mentioned voting for the award, he wins the Walter Camp Award as the Player of the Year. Many of the voters have looked, as you did, for a reason to exclude him. You can look at any of the other candidates and find the same reasons if you want. I would rather look at the reasons to vote FOR a player, but I’ll never have a vote, so it’s irrelevant.
It does set up a scenario we have seen before. The Heisman winner is a running back on a team playing for the national championship. The quarterback on the opposing team, the underdog, is the best player in college football but didn’t win the Heisman. We know how that one turned out.
Again, my “snarky” remark was intended to point out the relative accomplishments this season of Colt McCoy compared to Golden Tate, whom you placed on your Heisman ballot, and McCoy, whom you didn’t. Beano Cook explained this morning why he had McCoy #1 on his ballot. It’s just sports, Jake, but if you characterize those who read and particpate in your blog as “snarky,” I think I’m in the wrong place.
Jake,
Great choices. Personally I’d have dropped Ingram and moved Spiller up a notch. Suh was the most dominating player in the sport. He was the best player in College Football. Spiller was a one man game changer. It’s a shame that you have to be a running back or a QB to actually win it.
Ingram was simply a good back on a great team. You could have put up the numbers he did, if you ran for bama. It’s a shame the award goes to flash, hype and publicity and not substance. Suh deserved it, Ingram got it, life is not fair. Move on.
Gotta agree with Falcon. Tate was a surprise on your ballot. I caught a number of ND games and he was good, but the fifth best player in the land? Better than Tebow and McCoy? Your overexposure to him just may have influenced you a little with this choice, but then again maybe I just didn’t see him enough.
Falcon -
I apologize for how I characterized your remark. It was an overreaction. I’m just very sensitive to any charges of “bias,” especially when it comes to my alma mater. If anything, I am too critical of Notre Dame, and it typically ends up in the AP Top 25 before it gets a spot on my balllot.
As for my “ballot,” Heisman voters only submit three players, so I didn’t get to put down any more players than Suh, Gerhart and Ingram.
As far as McCoy, he is a great player. And as I said previously, if I’d had a vote last year he would have gotten it.
He just, in my opinion, didn’t deserve it this year. For one, his stats are down across the board from last year. Second — and what stands out to me — is that his performances in the biggest games were mediocre. Yes, you can make the argument that he did enough to win in the Nebraska game, but I think you also can make the argument that Texas beat Nebraska in spite of him. And that last drive against Nebraska? They got the ball on the 40 because the Nebraska kicker booted it out of bounds and they got an extra 15 yards because of the horse collar penalty. And they were fortunate that college football has replay so his lofted pass out of bounds didn’t end the game.
I didn’t look for a reason to exclude him, but what were the reasons to put him on? Yes, Texas is unbeaten, but that wasn’t exactly a murderers’ row of a schedule. And if I had used the “he led one of the best teams to an unbeaten record” argument … well, wasn’t that the argument for Troy Smith?
So to go back and answer your initial question, No, if a quarterback at Notre Dame (or Texas or USC or Air Force or wherever) did what you described (and played average in his biggest games), I wouldn’t have voted for him this year. Especially — and most importantly — if I thought there were more worthy candidates.
Again, sorry for how I characterized your remarks. I appreciate any and all comments on the blog. But remember, just because I don’t agree with your choice for the outstanding college football player in the country this year, that doesn’t mean I am voting with any sort of bias. That’s a pretty serious charge — the kind that gets people’s votes revoked.
Thanks again to you and everyone else who comments on the blog.
Good choices Jake. Sometimes I wonder if the ‘best’ player really gets selected because the Heisman winner usually is on a top team. Can you imagine the numbers CJ Spiller would have if he were on a top 3 team? Gerhart too? I wonder what Ingrams stats would look like if he swapped spots with Spiller. Or maybe a bottom 10 team.
As for McCoy, I don’t think he deserved it. Sorry Falcon. He didn’t look impressive at all against Nebraska. Especially with everything on the line on that last play he ran. Kinda dumb for a senior QB to loose track of the clock like that. Longhorns were darn lucky to have the chance to kick that field goal to come from behind and win with 1 second left. Darn lucky.
Great Blog Jake, thanks again, for outstanding reporting all season.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Why I voted McCoy for the Heisman
By Tim Griffin
ESPN.com
The Heisman Trophy balloting was tougher than I can ever remember it being.
I labored long and pondered my vote for several days before I finally made it late Monday afternoon.
Voting for Colt McCoy isn’t an easy decision and after reading countless e-mails and letters this week
assuredly wasn’t a popular one. But I think it’s the right one for a lot of good reasons.
Like an electorate that is swayed by the last thing they hear at a debate, I fear that some of my fellow voters
and most fans across the country put too much importance on what happened in the most recent game. I
don’t think they considered the body of work for a season.
McCoy was intercepted three times in a tight 13-12 victory over Nebraska. One of the picks was tipped at
the line of scrimmage. Another one was snatched by DeJon Gomes on an outstanding athletic play were he
ripped it away from a Texas receiver.
I don’t think it was McCoy’s fault that he was sacked nine times against Nebraska. Instead, it was most
indicative of playing behind the weakest offensive line he’s had during his career.
But in the end, McCoy persevered to take his team to the conference championship and advance to the
national championship game. Detractors talk about how he disappeared in that Nebraska game. I actually
look at the toughness he showed to engineer his team to its biggest victory during the time he has been
Texas’ quarterback — despite the fierce pounding he took.
And other Heisman finalists struggled through bad games this season as well.
Mark Ingram produced 30 yards against Auburn — a defense that was ranked 80th nationally in rush
defense. Earlier in the season, he rushed for 50 yards against Arkansas’s defense, which finished 68th in rush
defense.
I also hear from some of my friends that cover the Southeastern Conference that other backs on Alabama’s
team could have done the same thing as Ingram if they had gotten the opportunity.
People talk about the Heisman not being a career award and how previous years shouldn’t matter.
But I think Colt McCoy did enough this season to take his team to the brink of the national championship.
On top of becoming the winningest quarterback in FBS history with a 45-7 career won-loss record.
That statistic resonates in a year where one candidate doesn’t stand out to me.
ESPN.com – Why I voted McCoy for the Heisman 12/20/09 10:39 AM
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/print?id=8241&imagesPrint=off Page 2 of 3
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had phenomenal individual numbers. But I still can’t get away
from the biggest statistic in my mind: 9-4. As in Nebraska’s won-loss record.
Suh also had a few clunkers thrown in as well. There was the game against Texas Tech when he had four
tackles and no sacks in a 21-point loss to the Red Raiders. He had four tackles and no sacks against
Oklahoma. And three tackles and no sacks against Kansas.
It’s also likely that Suh played as a part of one of the great defensive lines in Big 12 history. Jared Crick set
a school record for sacks against Baylor. Barry Turner was an underrated defensive end who repeatedly beat
Adam Ulatoski last week. Pierre Allen had his moments as well.
The argument could be made that those opponents schemed to take him away from the game. But shouldn’t
a Heisman Award candidate be able to overcome those offense plans, particularly playing with as strong a
defensive front as the Cornhuskers had this season?
The top individual statistics belong to Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 1,736 yards and
26 touchdowns. But his numbers were swollen by playing six teams with rushing defenses ranked 60th or
worst, including a 205-yard season-ending effort against a Notre Dame defense that ranked 90th in rush
defense this season.
But Gerhart rushed for 82 yards in a loss against a Wake Forest team that was 5-7 and ranked 82nd in run
defense. He also rushed for 96 yards in a loss against Oregon State. The Cardinal were 8-4.
I’m not here to belittle the other candidates, but merely to show that all of them had their failings over the
course of the season. They all struggled through games that weren’t as good as their best.
And in the end, there’s something to be said about a quarterback who took his undefeated team to the
national championship game while completing 70 percent of his passes. He had the biggest single rushing
game and the longest rushing play of the season for a team that had no backs that rushed for more than 520
yards.
McCoy had one consistent receiver and an offensive line — at least if Saturday night’s performance is an
indicator –that left a lot to be desired.
One Heisman moment for him came on that 65-yard touchdown sprint through the Texas A&M defense.
But another one came six games earlier after one of his biggest disappointments.
After McCoy had thrown a fourth-quarter interception in the red zone, he made a crunching form tackle that
saved many yards on a return and likely saved the Longhorns’ 16-13 victory over the Sooners.
A play like that showed me more than any mere statistic could have.
I voted McCoy for first place, Suh at second place and Gerhart at third.
I think it’s the right vote.
ESPN.com – Why I voted McCoy for the Heisman 12/20/09 10:39 AM
http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/print?id=8241&imagesPrint=off Page 3 of 3
But because of the late interest, I’m more interested in this Heisman balloting than any I can remember in a
long time.
It ought to be fun Saturday night.