Heisman Hopefuls Without the Hype

Originally written November 11, 2007.

After week 11 in this upset filled college football season, we finally get to hear some long awaited Heisman talk. The past few years, the media has given away the Heisman to Leinart, Bush, and Troy Smith. Bush and Smith have received the most points in Heisman history, with 2,541 and 2,540 points respectively. Every single week that Bush and Smith highlights were shown, they were commonly referred to as ‘future Heisman winner’ Reggie Bush or Troy Smith. ’05 and ’06 had two of the largest margins from first to second in recent Heisman history.

This year has left the media unsure of who to support because all of the preseason hopefuls have failed to live up to the hype.

This year the preseason (media-dream) hopefuls have not performed as expected. John David Booty has not played in three games and has a 15 to 8 touchdown to interception ratio along with a 4 interception loss to Stanford. Arkansas did not have national title hype, but McFadden was a front runnerHe has rushed for under 125 yards in five games and has rushed for over 200 yards only once in his 321 yard SEC record rushing performance at South Carolina. DeSean Jackson has only two games with more than 100 yards receiving and is on pace for less than 800 yards receiving and only 6 receiving TDs. Currently Cal is 6-4 and in the bottom half of the Pac-10 standings. He also has one rushing and one punt return touchdown. West Virginia’s Heisman hype disappeared with its national title hopes in South Florida. Steve Slaton has seen his production drop with four of the last five games failing to rush for 100 yards. Pat White has been efficient with 11 TDs to 2 Ints and a 69% completion ratio. Tim Tebow and the Gators have three losses, and he has his lowest numbers in those losses. Michigan lost to Appalachian State, end of story, no further explanation needed for Henne/Hart.(that’s good I like that sentence) Brian Brohm’s defense has hurt him more than his play this year for his Heisman campaign. His numbers are pretty ridiculous with already over 3500 yards and a 28 TDs to 9 Ints, but he has three losses of 7 points or less. Heisman winners need to lead their teams to win the close games and not be on a 5-5 team second to last in the Big East. That pretty much wraps it up for the preseason hopefuls. Some preseason players still have a good chance at the Heisman, mainly Pat White and possibly McFadden. It is better for college football that the media has not given away the award prematurely to a player yet. That being said, there have been some Heisman worthy performances this season that people are finally starting to notice. There are three Big 12 quarterbacks on here, which will change because the winner of Kansas vs Missouri will probably play Oklahoma. I expect one of the three QBs to emerge from those three to big a legitimate Heisman contender. Keep in mind, this is a list of top players that did not receive any Heisman hype, not my list of top six Heisman candidates.

1. Dennis Dixon – Oregon. The front runner. He has received the most Heisman hype so far. Dual threat quarterback has rushed for one TD in all of his games this year except at Arizona State last week. He has 20 TD passes to only 3 Ints this year. Oregon’s only loss was to California in the middle of the year, which is always better than losing in the last two weeks. One of probably three teams that have a chance to play for the national title if they win out, which is a big factor for Heisman voting.

2. Todd Reesing – Kansas. The dark horse. He has not received any hype despite an undefeated season because Kansas is the biggest surprise this year. He has helped put up over 50 points five times this year including throwing for a 6 TD 0 Int 76 point game versus Nebraska. On pace to throw for over 3000 yards and 30 TDs. If he can beat Chase Daniels and Sam Bradford, he should on equal footing with Dixon.

3. Colt Brennan – Hawaii. The NCAA all time TD passer. He has too many individual and career passing records to type up here. Brennan and Harrell have the luxury of playing in a passing offense, which allows them to put up monster numbers. I list Brennan ahead of Harrell because of his undefeated record. Hawaii may play an inferior schedule, but Brennan does not play with a team full of blue chippers that some teams have. Hawaii has just now started to look at the possibility of taking recruiting trips off the islands. Any undefeated team should receive some recognition and praise.

4. Michael Crabtree – Texas Tech. The receiver. Big receiver at 6’3” 222 lb, but he plays in a Texas Tech system that throws almost every down. His numbers cannot be ignored. He has over 1700 yards and 20 TD, but receives no hype because “the system” he plays in. Players who played in favorable systems have won the Heisman before and that should not change now. He is only a freshman, so that probably hurts his name recognition and chance to win. But if he keeps performing this way for the next year or two, expect his name to start receiving some hype.

5. Sam Bradford – Oklahoma. The freshman QB. The biggest question on Oklahoma coming into the season was the quarterback position. They had a great defense and offense coming back but had questions after the Bomar debacle. Bradford has fit in perfectly and surprised many people with his stellar play. 70% completion rate with a 28 TD to 6 Int ratio shows how efficient he is. He has the luxury of playing with stellar receivers and a solid two-headed running game. If he leads OU to a Big 12 title, they will have as good an argument as any other team to play for the national title.

6. Chase Daniels – Missouri. The junior. Chase Daniels receives this nickname because is the only junior and received criticism out of high school for his size. He has lead Missouri to a number six ranking and a chance for the Big 12 title if they can beat Kansas. He has a good chance to throw for 4,000 yards and 30 TDs. If he has big games versus Kansas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, he should rise on this list.

Notables not mentioned – Matt Ryan and Graham Harrell