Should one bad game hurt a player’s chance at the Heisman? We will know shortly



… Kyler vs. Tua

In the 2017 race for the Heisman Trophy, the coveted award that is awarded to the top college football player, one player was way ahead of the field.

Then the running back was held to 44 yards rushing in a one-point loss, and suddenly he was relegated to the sidelines.

Certainly, Saquon Barkley’s performance in the NFL this year has demonstrated that he was probably the best player last year in college. But that one game, followed by another one, cost him the big prize.

2018 race could turn on one bad game
Earlier this week, an ESPN story placed the quandary of the voters this week very succinctly: “Can an entire season's worth of production be undone during the course of a single game?”

That refers to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and his lackluster performance in the Southeast Conference championship game against the University of Georgia. ESPN called the game the “worst performance of Tagovailoa's career.”

Tua was just 10-of-25 passing for 164 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. You could argue that had he not been injured late in the game and replaced by Jalen Hurts, who threw a TD pass to tie the game and the scored the winning touchdown on a run, the Tide could have lost the game.

His coach, Nick Saban, came to his defense, obviously concerned that Alabama’s chance to have its first QB Heisman winner was going down the drain. "Everybody should look at the whole body of work when they're deciding who the best player is," Saban said, according to ESPN.

Kyler Murray now the favorite

After losing the Heisman Trophy winner last year, Baker Mayfield, the Oklahoma Sooners were concerned about the QB position. Enter Kyler Murray, who had just signed a $4.6 million contract with the MLB Oakland Athletics.

Despite his desire to be a baseball player, Murray has been tremendous in leading the Sooners to the Big 12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoffs.

According to ESPN, “Not only has Murray seamlessly replaced 2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield in orchestrating the Oklahoma attack, he is on pace to shatter the FBS season passing efficiency record set by his predecessor last year.

“As a result, Murray, who is the first FBS player to enter a bowl averaging at least 300 yards passing and 60 yards rushing, is primed to give the Sooners the first back-to-back Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks from any school in the history of the award.”

Stats also favor Murray

Prior to the Georgia debacle, Tagovailoa was leading the voting by six points. Now, Murray has a two-point lead over him, so he might pull off the upset.

However, Murray leads in most categories. He has a higher QB rating (96-94.2), more yards passing per game (312-258), most passing TDs (40-37), more TDs (51-42), a better completion percentage (71-68), and more yards per attempt (11.9-11.4).

In short, Murray appears to be the better candidate, despite the fact that the SEC voters will never stray from their beloved.

Murray deserves the award, and a bad game — particularly one in a championship — should be a factor.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the toughest loss I ever experienced in approximately a quarter-century of coaching football. George Pasierb was a great coaching adversary.

Image
R.I.P. George Pasierb, 1946-2020 Shade-Central City High School football coach Photo: Tribune-Democrat No high school football fan could ask for anything better than this. On a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon on Saturday, October 30, 1982, in Nanty Glory, Pa., the battle featured a clash of two undefeated titans of the Appalachian Conference.  One was the preseason unanimous favorite to win the title, the other a veritable surprise that season, one that had built an 8-0 record entering that game.  This battle lived up to the pre-game hype, ending in a one-point decision that was not certain until the final play of the game.  I thought of this because the coach of the powerful Shade-Central City High School Panthers, George Pasierb, passed away earlier this week. He coached the Panthers for 20 years, but his best team was arguably that 1982 team that battled the Blacklick Valley Vikings on that Saturday afternoon before more than 3,000 ebullient fans.  And, the one-po...
Read more

Why did Tennessee-Chattanooga hire trainer Tim Bream despite his role in the alcohol-induced death of Tim Piazza at a Penn State frat?

Image
… was a live-in advisor at the fraternity On paper, Tim Bream has an impressive resume. Actually, very impressive — up to a point. That seems to be when Bream’s life appears to careen out of control. Bream, who resigned as Penn State trainer in Feb.,  was a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, specializing in athletic training. He then attended West Virginia as a grad assistant trainer, where he received a master’s degree in Physical Education with an emphasis on Sports Science. All of this information is from his bio on the Penn State athletic site. He then worked his way up the ladder impressively, working at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and finally at the University of Richmond, where he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer. Then he received his big break, being name as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bears in 1993, and four years later, Head Athletic Trainer. He was with the Bears for 19 years when inexplicably,...
Read more

Why did Mike Tomlin start hiring black coaches after 15 years?

Image
Brian Flores … hiring Flores probably rankled Goodell To place this into context, understand that the only reason that the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin 15 years ago is because he was black.  Why? He had never even been a coordinator anywhere, never in the NFL. The only reason that he was interviewed was because of the “Rooney Rule.” That rule is one named after the late Dan Rooney who led the effort to force every NFL team to interview at least one black coach when it had head coaching openings.  The Steelers had focused their coaching search after Bill Cowher left on Ron Rivera, then a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. Their interview with Tomlin was a peremptory one, something to satisfy the smell test.  After all, why interview a guy who was just a defensive coach? Coordinators are the people who are hired for the big gig.  Tomlin, though, is a great talker, and he wooed Dan Rooney so much that he was hired for the position.  Which begs the q...
Read more