It's getting down to the nitty gritty for the Heisman Campaign. Right now the top 5 are 1. Marcus Mariota 2. Jameis Winston 3. Johnny Football 4. Bryce Petty 5. A.J. McCarron Big week for those guys. Mariota has the big game with Stanford on Thursday night and Petty has an equally big game with OU also on Thursday night. If either or both of those guys lose Thursday night it will hurt them quite a bit, their games are on Nat'l TV and the voters will not be distracted by other games going on so they will get the full attention of the Heisman voters. Johnny Football is having as good a year if not better than last year completing higher % of his passes and for a bigger average. But no doubt voters will be loathe to give him two in a row given his off season antics. Winston is of course the current darling of the media, he's new he's fresh and he's undefeated. Bryce Petty is the unknown kid. He'll have to go undefeated to win. A.J. McCarron is the guy with all the stuff that means something...like 2 titles. But some say if you aren't the best player on your team how can you win the Heisman. Oh Well. Heisman Watch Having seen Mariota this year I am so impressed with everything he does, sure he's not the riverboat gambler making a Royal Flush out of a pair of duces...but he's fast, he's an accurate thrower both short and long. He's just good. Johnny Football is more daring and has tons more flair but Mariota is good and right now he'd be my pick.
Meh... Mariota and Winston are both amazing QB's. To be honest I have no problem with either of them winning it. BUT I WONDER... If your team is down... and you need a guy who can put the team on his shoulders and will it to score for the win... Who would I rather have behind the center? As far as I know, neither of those guys has been in that situation. Maybe they perform, maybe they don't. All I know is - when the pressure is highest, and need the greatest Johnny Football straps it on and makes plays.
I see that D'Anthony Thomas has promised Oregon will put up 40 points on Stanford Thursday night....lol. Maybe they do, but if I'm his coach I'm not happy about him taunting a team we are going to play at their place and who does have a pretty stout defense, although the did lose a big time player on defense to injury recently. So if Mariota and Bryce Petty stink up things on Thursday night and Johnny Football wins out, esp with last 2 being on the road vs LSU and Missouri, he could be very close to another Heisman. Although looking at Jameis Winston's remaining schedule I think there is a good chance he also finishes strong and I think he's the one kid who will be forgiven a November loss.
I tell you what kp... let's switch teams except the QB. What you think the respective records would be... :wink:
You know that is an interesting proposition. If we switched teams except for qb, I think you would be undefeated, but the defense would have more to do with that than the qb, and no offense but I don't want to switch defenses with you. I don't think Alabama wins the last two NC's without McCarron. Manziel is amazing but McCarron has lost 2 games as a starter. His ability to take what the defense gives him, use all of the tools available and not make mistakes is what makes him so valuable. We have running backs that run the ball pretty well, and a qb that completes 65-70% of his passes and doesn't turn the ball over. That combination of offense and defense that doesn't make the mistakes that beat themselves is pretty good. But if we switched teams except for qb's, it would make A&M pretty damned good. :?
I think Aj is a very good QB... don't get me wrong. He's perfect for that offense. I imagine Nick would lose his mind with a QB like JFF. "Would AJ fare as well against the Bama defense?" was probably the question I should have asked.
McCarron has my vote. He's a proven winner. I don't know what "some" are thinking when they question his eligibility because he's "not the best player on his team". How many Heisman winning QBs had teammates, OL, DL, RB, who went higher in the draft than the Heisman winning QB? It's McCarron.
The reason this is an interesting question is that McCarron runs the Alabama offense so well. Manziel is amazing but if you had running backs like Trent Richardson, TJ Yeldon, Eddy Lacy, and wide receivers like Maze, Jones, Norwood, would he really be putting up the kind of number he is? Would you want him to? A&M doesn't currently have that kind of depth at running back. In my opinion Manziel would suffer tremendously and have to run even more if he didn't have Evans. Evans is amazing as well. Anyway, I'm not trying to say anything bad about Manziel but for Alabama at least, we have a great stable of running backs for the ground game and we have a great stable of wide receivers for the passing game. McCarron gets the ball to both of those groups with accuracy and efficiency. Alabama would have to change it's whole outlook to use Manziel to the max. Then what do you do when he's gone? Good question though, I'm still thinking on that one. 8)
For the record, JFF is my number 2, and I'm trying to not 'punish' him for winning last year. Still, looking at McCarron's body of work, he is equally impressive. He has the discipline to beat you a variety of ways. He can hand the ball off and be an effective clock manager. I've also seen teams take the run away from Alabama, and McCarron beats them through the air. I can tell you from an ND standpoint, we didn't think McCarron was as good as advertised and he killed us. We couldn't afford to even think about loading up on the run because that guy came out and just lit us up every time we tipped toward the run. He's played poorly and bounced back to lead comebacks for wins. It's hard for me to really say 1 or 2 or whatever for either of those guys, but for my money, at this exact moment, I'd vote for McCarron. There's some big games left to play. This is historically when we get those big separation weekends.
On a totally selfish note - I hope Manziel doesn't win it. A lot of things are going to come into play after the season with regard to the NFL. Having two stiff arm trophies in the case could make a fella feel pretty satisfied with his career, and think it's time to move on. I want the kid to come back for one more round... and anything that helps is OK with me.
Scott, both of these guys are at the top of college game. I know you love Manziel and you should. I just wouldn't trade McCarron for him. I think Manziel is the explosive for A&M, McCarron is the catalyst for the explosion for Alabama.
kp, Trade... that would be crazy! Crystal trophies are the ultimate goal, and your guy has TWO with a shot at a third.
Well the Heisman Race is still the same 5 guys. But fair or not the loss at Stanford hurt Mariota, and the win vs LSU helped AJ McCarron. Johnny Football continues to be the best player in college football and if there was an MVP it would have to go to him, his team would be decidedly ordinary without him at QB. Bryce Petty still in the conversation for sure, and he has some very big games coming to boost him up the ladder. Jameis Winston is still having an amazing year for sure but I couldn't sleep at night if he won it over AJ, esp if AJ leads Alabama to an undefeated season. Johnny Football is even better than he was last year, but again people just don't like him anymore.
The biggest surprise for me this year is the disappearance of Braxton Miller in the Heisman conversation. I have to assume it's due to his missing several games with an injury and his backup doing great in his absence. Miller is an awesome college QB and plays on an undefeated high profile team. Before the season I would have expected him to be one of the leading contenders for the Heisman. But he's never even mentioned.
Terry, Meyer is asking a lot more from Braxton this year, staying in the pocket if possible and finding open back or receivers. So far it seems to be working and we have a much more complete offensive package. Personally I will accept the latter option, and it appears Miller is buying into the system as well.