If Florida quarterback Tim Tebow wins his second Heisman Trophy Saturday night, it might all go back to the way he handled the Gators’ only loss.
An embarrassing stunner to Ole Miss, even in Gainesville, he stood up, apologized to the Gator Nation, and said no player in the country would play any harder than he would the rest of the season and he was going to bring his teammates with him.
If Texas quarterback Colt McCoy takes home the statue Saturday night in New York, it will be because his team would have been lost without him. And maybe because he completed almost 80 percent of his passes, ran for 576 yards and was the biggest reason the Longhorns went 11-1 this season.
What McCoy did against Oklahoma was so instructive. He kept so many plays going. Sacks allowed is usually a pretty good indicator of an offensive line’s pass blocking prowess. If only there was a stat for sacks that never happened but should have happened, McCoy’s Heisman candidacy would be bolstered.
When it comes to Sam Bradford, it’s easier to explain his Heisman credentials by asking, in advance, why he might not win it.
He might not win it because he’s hardly been sacked all season. The Sooners have allowed 11 sacks in 12 games and only three in the last five games.
He might not win it because he’s got two thousand-yard backs in DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown, who must be accounted for, and don’t most teams first go about trying to stop the run?
He might not win it because he makes it look so easy. Sooner coach Bob Stoops calls him “The Big Easy.” On the field, off the field, in front of the cameras, in the classroom, everywhere; Bradford always looks like he’s been at the gig for years and years.
“There’s a lot to that guy,” Stoops said of his quarterback, with one of the best six-word descriptions ever directed toward anybody.
But why penalize somebody for their good fortune when all they ever did was turn in maybe the finest season any quarterback’s ever had in the history of the college game.
The biggest season one guy’s ever turned in at any position was what Barry Sanders did in 1988. His bowl game included (his 12th game that season), he ran for 2,850 yards. He actually ran for more than 300 yards more than he ran for less than 200 yards. There may never again be anything like it.
Who knows what that translates to in quarterback numbers. Whatever, 4,464 yards through the air, 42 more touchdowns than interceptions, 48 to 6 (with two coming against Texas: one as good as a punt on third and long and one on the game’s final play), and a nation’s best pass efficiency rating of 186.29 can’t be laughably far away.
It would be easier to give Bradford the nod if he had faced third and long so often the way Jason White used to. It would be easier still if he had a signature game, like White’s 2004 performance at Texas A&M; (even though White finished third in the voting that season), though Bradford’s tilt-a-whirl ride at Boone Pickens Stadium has given him a signature highlight.
It would be easier if he didn’t make everything look so easy.
Yet it’s not enough to make voting for him hard.
His accuracy would be closer to McCoy’s if not for more drops than Sooner receivers would care to admit. Even his running numbers would have more meaning if his running was required.
Even unrequired, he’s still responsible for about 400 more yards from scrimmage than McCoy and 1,400 more than Tebow. Even though he’s sneaked in for only five touchdowns on the ground (five less than McCoy and seven less than Tebow), he’s still responsible for 11 more touchdowns than McCoy and 13 more than Tebow.
No, it is not a slam dunk.
Yes, it should be Bradford’s Heisman.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
It's close, but Sam's the man
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