Heisman 2007

[Hawaii Islander]

They announced the four Heisman candidates that are going to New York for Saturday's Award show. The candidates are Colt Brennan (Senior, QB, Hawaii); Chase Daniel (Junior, QB, Missouri); Darren McFadden (Junior , RB, Arkansas); and Tim Tebow (Sophomore, QB, Florida).

I'm giving my vote to the Senior, Colt Brennan.

Congrats to all the candidates!

[steamthief]

Me, too.

[GregC]

See AV.

[Scarlet Fire]

Tebow. Dude is a monster.

[SoComSurfing]

Colt Brennan and Darren McFadden are both absolutely incredible, and will be amazing for years to come. They're both deserving of the award, but holy crap, Tebow was an absolute monster this year. I REALLY did not want to like him, but it's undeniable how fantastic he is. I want McFadden to win, but doing 300 yards one game to 50 or so the next... I dunno. If he had been able to put up over 100 yards against all the SEC teams, he'd deserve the award w/ no contest. Brennan has put up astounding numbers, but has not played top defenses. Tebow is just absolutely sick.

[Brad Barker]

easiest poll ever.

[iamlowsound]

Seriously? I have no idea who anyone here is, but I think that I should get the trophy. Why? Last night playing touch football with my friends, I threw a hail marry pass with less than 0.3 seconds left in the fifth quarter, switched teams, caught the pass and returned it for a touchdown that was ruled to be worth 9 points.

lowsound

[Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

Seriously? I have no idea who anyone here is, but I think that I should get the trophy. Why? Last night playing touch football with my friends, I threw a hail marry pass with less than 0.3 seconds left in the fifth quarter, switched teams, caught the pass and returned it for a touchdown that was ruled to be worth 9 points.

lowsound

+1

ADD LOWSOUND TO THE POLL! Matter of fact, keep current poll results up there, it doesn't matter -- lowsound will catch up.

[SoComSurfing]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

Seriously? I have no idea who anyone here is, but I think that I should get the trophy. Why? Last night playing touch football with my friends, I threw a hail marry pass with less than 0.3 seconds left in the fifth quarter, switched teams, caught the pass and returned it for a touchdown that was ruled to be worth 9 points.

lowsound

LS=tQ?

[Atoz]

I feel badly for McFadden. He should have won last year, except for the unwritten rule among voters that "you don't give the Heisman to an underclassman." So they gave it to Troy Smith, who was not as deserving IMHO. Now it looks like McFadden's going to lose this year because all the media hype for Tebow (who is deserving) is putting pressure on the voters to break their long-standing rule and vote for the sophomore.

[Alex]

^^I agree that McFadden deserved it last year, and is obviously the best back in the country right now.

I wish Colt Brennan would win it, as he deserves it, and his entire Hawaii team deserves a little more respect, but I don't see how Tebow won't win it.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by SoComSurfing

Brennan has put up astounding numbers, but has not played top defenses.

Aaah I hate this argument! Do they have to play the top teams in the nation week in and week out like teams in the SEC or ACC? No, so they should have a little less wiggle room on losses than someone with a harder schedule, but they should not be discounted completely! They still played some quality teams like #19 Boise State and Fresno State and they flat out trounced everyone week in and week out. If they scored less than 50 something was terribly terribly wrong.

It's like what everyone thought about Boise State last year before they went in and beat Oklahoma in a BCS game. No surprise to me!

..and I know this thread is about the Heisman, but the same argument applies for both the Heisman and the BCS, which should really be turned into a playoff, but that's a whole nother argument....

[Spector_Ray]

I would've voted Chase Daniel, but after his performance in the Big 12 championship game he lost quite a bit of momentum.

[Brad Barker]

Originally Posted by Alex

Aaah I hate this argument! Do they have to play the top teams in the nation week in and week out like teams in the SEC or ACC? No, so they should have a little less wiggle room on losses than someone with a harder schedule, but they should not be discounted completely! They still played some quality teams like #19 Boise State and Fresno State and they flat out trounced everyone week in and week out. If they scored less than 50 something was terribly terribly wrong.

It's like what everyone thought about Boise State last year before they went in and beat Oklahoma in a BCS game. No surprise to me!

..and I know this thread is about the Heisman, but the same argument applies for both the Heisman and the BCS, which should really be turned into a playoff, but that's a whole nother argument....

they didn't exactly trounce everybody.

saw'em play against san jose state on tv, and they barely won that one. they barely won against louisiana tech. won against washington by a touchdown.

[markjazzbassist]

Brennan. Tebow didn't have a good enough season to break the record (heisman age) and they won't IMO give it to a sophomore.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by Alex

Aaah I hate this argument! Do they have to play the top teams in the nation week in and week out like teams in the SEC or ACC? No, so they should have a little less wiggle room on losses than someone with a harder schedule, but they should not be discounted completely! They still played some quality teams like #19 Boise State and Fresno State and they flat out trounced everyone week in and week out. If they scored less than 50 something was terribly terribly wrong.

It's like what everyone thought about Boise State last year before they went in and beat Oklahoma in a BCS game. No surprise to me!

..and I know this thread is about the Heisman, but the same argument applies for both the Heisman and the BCS, which should really be turned into a playoff, but that's a whole nother argument....

Florida played four teams ranked higher than Hawaii's one ranked opponent. (Boise State, FYI, is ranked #24 by the BCS.) Furthermore, Hawaii didn't trounce everybody, they won five of their games by a touchdown or less. Yes, they scored a lot of points, but so did their opponents many times.

[SoComSurfing]

Alex, don't get me wrong. I think Brennan is an outstanding player, and I'm VERY excited to see him when he comes to town for the Senior Bowl (He was the first player invited, actually). However, let's look at the schedules:

Florida
W. Kentucky - n/a
Troy - 57
Tennessee - 74
Ole Miss - 90
Auburn - 8
LSU - 3
Kentucky - 65
Georgia - 19
Vanderbilt - 20
S. Carolina - 56
Florida Atlantic - 85
Florida State - 36

Hawaii
Northern Colorado - 115*** Div-II
La. Tech - 93
UNLV - 62
Charleston Southern - 79*** Div-II
Idaho - 87
Utah State - 107
San Jose State - 75
New Mexico State - 95
Fresno State - 77
Nevada - 71
Boise State - 21
Washington - 102

Now, you'll notice some little numbers next to the opponents. These are the positions of these schools in the ranking of the top 119 total defenses. Hawaii only had to play against one team w/ a top 50 defense. Florida faced 5 in the top 50. Over half (7) of Florida's opponents rank higher than Hawaii's #2 opponent (#62 UNLV). Hell, four of Florida's opponents 1/3 (4) of Florida's opponents' defenses were ranked higher than Hawaii's highest ranked opponent, and they had to face those 4 in 5 weeks, including top-10-defense opponents back-to-back.

I'm not going to discount Hawaii completely, as you implied. They are one hell of a team. Sure, they have an awesome offense, and it makes some think that's all they have, but in the defense rankings, they are the VERY NEXT team under Florida (33 and 32, respectively). Pretty damn impressive, as well. Do I think at the end of the year, even w/ a playoff system, that they'd be #1? Not a chance. 4 or 5, [i]maybe[/] 3. For the most part, the BCS actually worked this year, as much as I don't like it.

Anyhow, I digress. Tebow for Heisman over Brennan. Tebow, McFadden, Brennan, Daniel, in that order. This year Tebow was more of a force than Brennan. In the long run, I like Brennan to be the better QB.

*** Div-II rankings are out of 116 teams. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were not in the rankings of Div-I schools, and has no conference affiliation. They are independent just like Notre Dame, Army, and Navy.

edit: just in case anyone doubts these numbers, I thought I'd provide links to my sources. Schedules from www.rivals.com and defensive rankings from The Boston Globe and SportsNetwork.com

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

Seriously? I have no idea who anyone here is, but I think that I should get the trophy. Why? Last night playing touch football with my friends, I threw a hail marry pass with less than 0.3 seconds left in the fifth quarter, switched teams, caught the pass and returned it for a touchdown that was ruled to be worth 9 points.

lowsound

Hell, I'd vote for you for that!

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by SoComSurfing

Alex, don't get me wrong. I think Brennan is an outstanding player, and I'm VERY excited to see him when he comes to town for the Senior Bowl (He was the first player invited, actually). However, let's look at the schedules:

Florida
W. Kentucky - n/a
Troy - 57
Tennessee - 74
Ole Miss - 90
Auburn - 8
LSU - 3
Kentucky - 65
Georgia - 19
Vanderbilt - 20
S. Carolina - 56
Florida Atlantic - 85
Florida State - 36

Hawaii
Northern Colorado - n/a
La. Tech - 93
UNLV - 62
Charleston Southern - n/a
Idaho - 87
Utah State - 107
San Jose State - 75
New Mexico State - 95
Fresno State - 77
Nevada - 71
Boise State - 21
Washington - 102

Now, you'll notice some little numbers next to the opponents. These are the positions of these schools in the ranking of the top 119 total defenses. Hawaii only had to play against one team w/ a top 50 defense. Florida faced 5 in the top 50. Over half (7) of Florida's opponents rank higher than Hawaii's #2 opponent (#62 UNLV). Hell, four of Florida's opponents 1/3 (4) of Florida's opponents' defenses were ranked higher than Hawaii's highest ranked opponent, and they had to face those 4 in 5 weeks, including top-10-defense opponents back-to-back.

I'm not going to discount Hawaii completely, as you implied. They are one hell of a team. Sure, they have an awesome offense, and it makes some think that's all they have, but in the defense rankings, they are the VERY NEXT team under Florida (33 and 32, respectively). Pretty damn impressive, as well. Do I think at the end of the year, even w/ a playoff system, that they'd be #1? Not a chance. 4 or 5, [i]maybe[/] 3. For the most part, the BCS actually worked this year, as much as I don't like it.

Anyhow, I digress. Tebow for Heisman over Brennan. Tebow, McFadden, Brennan, Daniel, in that order. This year Tebow was more of a force than Brennan. In the long run, I like Brennan to be the better QB.

edit: just in case anyone doubts these numbers, I thought I'd provide links to my sources. Schedules from www.rivals.com and defensive rankings from The Boston Globe and SportsNetwork.com

Four words! Ty Detmer WAC Heisman

Ty Detmer got it for leading BYU to a 12-0 season and breaking the all-time career passing TD record 121.

Sound familiar? Colt Brennan leads UH to a 12-0 season and breaks the all-time career passing TD record 127 and counting (still has one more game left to play - Sugar Bowl I believe). Colt broke Ty's record in three years! It took Ty 4 years!
Colt holds or ties 24 NCAA records. He also broke the career total TD's responsible for record (also held by Ty Detmer). These career TD records count for this year's stats since Colt broke those records this season.

Colt Brennan is the only senior finalist. Tim Tebow is good but he is a sophomore with 3 (count them) losses. Colt Brennan didn't make it to NY last year because Hawaii had three losses and Colts stats were better than Tebows. Tim Tebow had a good season and should feel good about going to NY. But if he gets it, I feel they might as well mass produce the Heisman and give them away to any player that graduates.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

Four words! Ty Detmer WAC Heisman

Ty Detmer got it for leading BYU to a 12-0 season and breaking the all-time career passing TD record 121.

...

And as a University of Utah alumnus, I am required to emphatically state that he was the least deserving Heisman winner EVER.