Who deserves the Heisman Trophy

[Vern Gagne]

Being the best player doesn't win you the Heisman. Bush is mad good...but he didn't get enough touches to deserve the Heisman.

[Guest Deebo]

Being the best player doesn't win you the Heisman. Bush is mad good...but he didn't get enough touches to deserve the Heisman.

The Heisman should be given to the best player. I don't really get the criteria for it though. I think it's just a mix of stats + hype.

 

Although if it was given to the best player, Fitzgerald would have won last year, so Bush won't get it.

[Hogan Made Wrestling]

The main reason Bush won't get it, and probably won't even get nominated, is that USC has decided to ignore him and throw the full weight of their media machine on Leinart. Also, Leinart had a huge game against Notre Dame, which shouldn't really mean anything more than Bush's game against UCLA, but does because people still have a fixation with ND.

[nogoodnick]

Reggie Bush is the best player in college. Period. Quite possibly the best player I've ever seen. That said, hes not gonna win the Heisman because hes an underclassman and doesnt have amazing stats. Too bad Cedric Benson has been forgotten, he had a great season. Alex Smith wont win because he plays at Utah. Peterson's stats are the same as J.J. Arrington who gets no love and both are underclassmen. I think the race has come down to Leinart and White. Leinart sucked against UCLA while White was unspectacular against Colorado. So I give the edge to...

 

Matt Leinart. White already winning will make the voters biased against him I think. Leinarts performance against ND may be big enough to overshadow his last game.

[iggymcfly]

Is he the NCAA's leading rusher this year?

The leader rusher was Jamarrio Williams from North Texas.

 

Peterson finished 2 yards behind J.J. Arrington 1845-843 for total rushing yards.

Jamario Thomas has actually fallen all the way to sixth at this point.

 

JJ Arrington's the leading rusher in the country, but what's really impressive is that he has more yards in 11 games than Adrian Peterson has in 12 games.

 

If anyone wants a quick statistical comparison among RBs, here it is:

 

JJ Arrington: 264 carries for 1845 yards, 7.0 ypc, 14 TDs

Adrian Peterson: 314 carries for 1843 yards, 5.9 ypc, 15 TDs

Cedric Benson: 303 carries for 1764 yards, 5.8 ypc, 19 TDs

Jamario Thomas: 256 carries for 1709 yards, 6.7 ypc, 17 TDs

 

Really, considering that Arrington's stats are so much better than everyone else's and considering that he's performed well whenever the Golden Bears were put in a big-game situation, I don't see why he's not being given more consideration for the Heisman. He truly is the best all-around player in the game this year.

 

Here's my final top five:

 

1. JJ Arrington (Cal, RB)

2. Adrian Peterson (Oklahoma, RB)

3. Derrick Johnson (Texas, LB)

4. Reggie Bush (USC, RB)

5. Alex Smith (Utah, QB)

[Secret Agent]

Actually, Peterson's really only played 11.

[Damaramu]

Reggie Bush is the best player in college. Period. Quite possibly the best player I've ever seen. That said, hes not gonna win the Heisman because hes an underclassman and doesnt have amazing stats. Too bad Cedric Benson has been forgotten, he had a great season. Alex Smith wont win because he plays at Utah. Peterson's stats are the same as J.J. Arrington who gets no love and both are underclassmen. I think the race has come down to Leinart and White. Leinart sucked against UCLA while White was unspectacular against Colorado. So I give the edge to...

 

Matt Leinart. White already winning will make the voters biased against him I think. Leinarts performance against ND may be big enough to overshadow his last game.

White was unspectacular? Dude threw for 200 yards and 3 TD's! And if you're going to hold the 2 INT's against him then you didn't watch the game. The announcers were going on about that. Both were on target and would've hit the reciever easily but.....HE FELL DOWN! I wish there were a way to not credit the INT to him since they weren't his fault. He threw them on target to the reciever. Not his fault the field was crappy. I saw a lot of guys fall down from both teams last night. White did make the stop on his second (not)INT.

 

Anyways what's the comparison on White and Leinarts stats now? White's may be better now.

 

Oh and Secret Agent. White CAN vote for himself but he has stated the he is not that kind of person and WILL NOT vote for himself.

[Vern Gagne]

Is he the NCAA's leading rusher this year?

The leader rusher was Jamarrio Williams from North Texas.

 

Peterson finished 2 yards behind J.J. Arrington 1845-843 for total rushing yards.

Jamario Thomas has actually fallen all the way to sixth at this point.

 

JJ Arrington's the leading rusher in the country, but what's really impressive is that he has more yards in 11 games than Adrian Peterson has in 12 games.

 

If anyone wants a quick statistical comparison among RBs, here it is:

 

JJ Arrington: 264 carries for 1845 yards, 7.0 ypc, 14 TDs

Adrian Peterson: 314 carries for 1843 yards, 5.9 ypc, 15 TDs

Cedric Benson: 303 carries for 1764 yards, 5.8 ypc, 19 TDs

Jamario Thomas: 256 carries for 1709 yards, 6.7 ypc, 17 TDs

 

Really, considering that Arrington's stats are so much better than everyone else's and considering that he's performed well whenever the Golden Bears were put in a big-game situation, I don't see why he's not being given more consideration for the Heisman. He truly is the best all-around player in the game this year.

 

Here's my final top five:

 

1. JJ Arrington (Cal, RB)

2. Adrian Peterson (Oklahoma, RB)

3. Derrick Johnson (Texas, LB)

4. Reggie Bush (USC, RB)

5. Alex Smith (Utah, QB)

The leading rusher is determined by Yards per Game. Williams finished with 189.9 y/g average.

[Damaramu]

Ok guys. We're down to the wire and it looks like White, Peterson, Leinart, and Bush are the finalist.

 

Now who do you think will get it? Not who you want but who you think?

[CanadianChris]

I've no idea who will win, but I think Alex Smith might have a real shot.

[Damaramu]

I would've said Leinart but after he had a less than stellar performance against UCLA and only 10% of the votes were in I wouldn't bet on it to much. I bet those 10% were west coast voters anyways.

[Vern Gagne]

I think Jason White will win it. It doesn't seem likely an underclassmen will suddenly win the award, so it leaves White and Leinart.

[Damaramu]

I think Jason White will win it. It doesn't seem likely an underclassmen will suddenly win the award, so it leaves White and Leinart.

So why are you picking White over Leinart?

I mean I personally think he's been more impressive but my view is skewed.

[Vern Gagne]

I think Leinart was hurt by his performance against UCLA.

[Damaramu]

Jason White was the front runner in most polls since the K-State game and only really dropped out of the top after Leinart lit ND up. But after this week it looks like he's back in it.

And it almost looks like voters are actually paying attention to the games and realizing two of those INTs aren't his fault.

[iggymcfly]

The leading rusher is determined by Yards per Game. Williams finished with 189.9 y/g average.

OK, missed that, but when the same guy leads the country in total rushing yards, and yards per carry (with a 100 carry minimum), it's pretty obvious who the real leading rusher was. I just don't get why he's not considered a serious Heisman candidate when his numbers are so far ahead of Peterson and Benson's.

[Damaramu]

Ok I swear to god I don't know who's going to win this god damn trophy. This is way to close!

[Damaramu]

Well we're going to find out the finalists tonight. White, Bush, Peterson, Leinart, Benson more than likely.

And I think it's pretty much a foot race between White and Leinart now.

[Damaramu]

I didn't know where to post this so I thought I'd put it in here since this is about the Heisman Trophy canidates.

 

Mel Kiper Jr. was just going over his draft choices and he was talking about Jason White. He said something like "White's accuracy, completion percentage, toughness, and moblility is what will make him a higher draft choice but his lack of a strong arm is what is keeping him from going in the first round."

I'm sorry. I thougth the plus on White was his arm strength and the knock was his mobility and him being so injury prone.

[Guest Failed Mascot]

granted I didn't see all of Cal's games but they looked as though they would have been screwed without Rodgers at the helm. THE BCS screwing the team over doesn't help his case either, but still...pretty shocking to see him not mentioned at all thus far.

[iggymcfly]

No, Rodgers played great against USC, but he really hasn't done anything since. JJ Arrington's been carrying that team all year long, and on the whole, Arrington is probably the most overlooked candidate there is, but Rodgers can't really be taken seriously as a candidate at this point.

[iggymcfly]

ESPN just announced the finalists for the Heisman and there are five of them.

 

Here they are:

 

Jason White (QB, Oklahoma)

Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)

Matt Leinart (QB, USC)

Reggie Bush (RB, USC)

Alex Smith (QB, Utah)

[Damaramu]

Igg you seem to be more into this than anyone. Maybe you can explain Mel Kiper Jr's comments on Jason White.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Ha, ESPN poll indicates Matt Leinart being the frontrunner...

[Damaramu]

Ha, ESPN poll indicates Matt Leinart being the frontrunner...

He's only by 2 votes.

 

I think he'll win it honestly but have you ever heard of the Heisman curse? It'd be the best thing in the world for a Sooner fan to have a USC boy win the Heisman.

 

Jason White has already stated that he could care less about winning another Heisman trophy and that he is not going to vote himself.

 

Meanwhile Carson Palmer says he voted for all USC guys b/c he couldn't stomach seeing an OU guy get another vote. They were talking about it on PTI and made Carson sound like a real jackass while they were at it. And that does sound like a jackass move. That's why I don't like the former guys having votes. They're all biased.

Hell I know Billy Simms, Steve Owens, and Jason White are all voting for OU guys. It just seems unfair.

[Damaramu]

Does anyone think that Adrian Peterson actually has a shot here. I mean I think it's down to White, Leinart, Peterson and I'm hearing a lot of talk about Peterson....more than usual actually.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Does anyone think that Adrian Peterson actually has a shot here. I mean I think it's down to White, Leinart, Peterson and I'm hearing a lot of talk about Peterson....more than usual actually.

Duh! Way I see it, it's down to Peterson and either White or Leinart. Bush is pretty much not winning.

[The Czech Republic]

Jason White has already stated that he could care less

COULDN'T CARE LESS

[iggymcfly]

Jason White has already stated that he could care less

COULDN'T CARE LESS

OK, now that's picky. It's a pretty common form of speech to say could care less instead of couldn't care less. That's the kind of thing that people say on a discussion forum all the time. It's only stuff like understanding the difference between nouns and adjectives that actually merits flaming.

 

As for who's going to win the trophy, it's going to be Leinart. He's got the hype, and that's enough to get picked by all the voters who don't know who to vote for. Also, he'll be getting a ton of second-place and third-place votes, whereas a lot of voters will leave White or Peterson off their ballots completely.

 

I did watch Mel Kiper today, and all I remember about is that I was laughing really hard, and thinking about Damaramu when they were talking about how White wasn't going to get anywhere in the NFL. If it's any consolation though, Matt Leinart's going to be the next Eli Manning, as the hyped QB who's not really all that good, and will either fade into obscurity as a backup or follow the Ryan Leaf path to infamy.

 

If I was a GM looking to get a QB in this draft, I'd either take Alex Smith or wait until the late rounds and scoop up Stefan Lefors.

[The Czech Republic]

OK, now that's picky. It's a pretty common form of speech to say could care less instead of couldn't care less. That's the kind of thing that people say on a discussion forum all the time.

So it's kind of appropriate, what with this being a discussion forum and all.