Bradford deserves Heisman
Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2008
If anyone boiled their Heisman Trophy ballot down to raw statistics, they'd be doing college football's top award a great disservice.
So, I promise, it wasn't strictly for his numbers that I made Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford my first of three allotted choices for the honor conveyed since 1935 by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club.
No, it wasn't the numbers. It was the number of those numbers -- just so much compelling mathematical data, nothing else made sense.
I had pretty much settled on Bradford before the Sooners annihilated Missouri 62-21 in Saturday's Big 12 championship game, making it five consecutive games in which they have scored over 60 points.
After all, the 6-4, 218-pound Bradford, a third-year sophomore, is the man behind one of the more explosive offenses in college football history, a team averaging a whopping 54 points a game.
How rare is that? Well, the only major college team ever to score more points per game was Army, putting up an average of 56.0 back in 1944, when thousands of America's finest athletes were busy fighting a war.
In other words, Oklahoma ranks second all-time behind only a team from 64 years ago, when the game was nowhere near the same. No. 3 behind top-ranked Army in the final 1944 AP poll was the team from Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. No. 6 went to the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks.
Back to the future, a year after Florida's Tim Tebow became the Heisman's first sophomore winner, Bradford, I believe, should become the second. And, it really shouldn't even be close.
Some are leaning toward junior Colt McCoy of Texas to become the eighth quarterback to win the Heisman in the last nine years. And, he's certainly a quality candidate who some might like for his mobility (576 yards rushing) and the fact that his team beat Bradford's 45-35 in the Red River Rivalry -- that annual "neutral site'' classic played in the midst of the Texas State Fair in Dallas.
Tebow, of course, is still around and his team will take on Bradford and OU in the national championship game on Jan. 8. Yes, the Gators can also score rather often, ranking third in the country with 45.2 points a game. However, Tebow's totals have slipped more than a little from a year ago and he ranks only 41st nationally with 2,515 passing yards.
Much as the trend might lead some to believe as much, the Heisman needn't go to a quarterback. I've had a vote on over 30 of the previous 73 winners and can well remember the time when it was all about running backs -- before the passing game became so prevalent.
Compared to 26 quarterbacks who've been honored, there have been 39 recipients who were either running backs (11 straight from 1973-83) or halfbacks, which was essentially the same thing.
Two "fullbacks'' were honored, Wisconsin's Alan Ameche in 1954 and Army's Doc Blanchard in 1945. Larry Kelley of Yale (1936) and Leon Hart of Notre Dame (1949) were classified as ends, both from a time when nearly everyone played the entire game, offense and defense.
Three recipients have been labeled wide receivers n Johnny Rogers of Nebraska (1972), Tim Brown of Notre Dame (1987) and Desmond Howard of Michigan (1991). And, then there was that modern-era hybrid, defensive back/wide receiver Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997.
Looking back at the last 10 quarterbacks to win the Heisman, which dates back 16 years, the University of Oklahoma sports information department presents a rather forceful argument in Bradford's favor.
The Oklahoma QB has, in fact, passed for more touchdowns this season (48) and more yards (4,464) than any of those last 10 signal-callers to be honored. His 302 completions exceed everyone on the list except Carson Palmer (309 in 2002) and Palmer not only had 47 more attempts (489 to Bradford's 442), he also had 15 fewer TD throws (33).
The Sooner star is the national leader in passing efficiency (186.3) and ranks third in passing yardage behind only two quarterbacks who've launched 163 and 175 more attempts than his 442.
And, if all of the above didn't make him a relatively easy pick for me, it was an added bonus that he grew up in the same neighborhood where my brother, Bob, and his wife, Cathy, have made their home for many years. Like my nephew and niece, Robbie and Katie, Bradford attended Putnam City North, a talent-laden high school in Oklahoma City's northwest suburbs, maybe three blocks from the Oklahoma Hersoms' front door.
As some of you are aware, Bob was one of Oklahoma's premier sports writers for many years and also, I might add, a longtime Heisman voter. A little update: The lucky stiff recently managed to take early retirement, which I hope he's not too restless to enjoy.
And, just for the record, I wouldn't want you to think I didn't take the opportunity for some regional bias, which I've applied to my vote only when I truly felt it was warranted. Since it isn't, indeed, all about quarterbacks, the second choice on my ballot was Iowa's Shonn Greene, the best running back in the country this season
Greene, whose 1,729 yards ranked second nationally in rushing behind only Donald Brown of Connecticut, helped put Iowa back on the New Year's Day bowl schedule with an 8-4 record. And, let it not be overlooked that those four losses were by a combined total of 12 points.
Greene, though, may be lucky to finish fourth in the voting with so much attention focused on Bradford along with McCoy, who I picked third, and Tebow, who I simply had to omit this time.
So, I promise, it wasn't strictly for his numbers that I made Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford my first of three allotted choices for the honor conveyed since 1935 by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club.
No, it wasn't the numbers. It was the number of those numbers -- just so much compelling mathematical data, nothing else made sense.
I had pretty much settled on Bradford before the Sooners annihilated Missouri 62-21 in Saturday's Big 12 championship game, making it five consecutive games in which they have scored over 60 points.
After all, the 6-4, 218-pound Bradford, a third-year sophomore, is the man behind one of the more explosive offenses in college football history, a team averaging a whopping 54 points a game.
How rare is that? Well, the only major college team ever to score more points per game was Army, putting up an average of 56.0 back in 1944, when thousands of America's finest athletes were busy fighting a war.
In other words, Oklahoma ranks second all-time behind only a team from 64 years ago, when the game was nowhere near the same. No. 3 behind top-ranked Army in the final 1944 AP poll was the team from Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. No. 6 went to the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks.
Back to the future, a year after Florida's Tim Tebow became the Heisman's first sophomore winner, Bradford, I believe, should become the second. And, it really shouldn't even be close.
Some are leaning toward junior Colt McCoy of Texas to become the eighth quarterback to win the Heisman in the last nine years. And, he's certainly a quality candidate who some might like for his mobility (576 yards rushing) and the fact that his team beat Bradford's 45-35 in the Red River Rivalry -- that annual "neutral site'' classic played in the midst of the Texas State Fair in Dallas.
Tebow, of course, is still around and his team will take on Bradford and OU in the national championship game on Jan. 8. Yes, the Gators can also score rather often, ranking third in the country with 45.2 points a game. However, Tebow's totals have slipped more than a little from a year ago and he ranks only 41st nationally with 2,515 passing yards.
Much as the trend might lead some to believe as much, the Heisman needn't go to a quarterback. I've had a vote on over 30 of the previous 73 winners and can well remember the time when it was all about running backs -- before the passing game became so prevalent.
Compared to 26 quarterbacks who've been honored, there have been 39 recipients who were either running backs (11 straight from 1973-83) or halfbacks, which was essentially the same thing.
Two "fullbacks'' were honored, Wisconsin's Alan Ameche in 1954 and Army's Doc Blanchard in 1945. Larry Kelley of Yale (1936) and Leon Hart of Notre Dame (1949) were classified as ends, both from a time when nearly everyone played the entire game, offense and defense.
Three recipients have been labeled wide receivers n Johnny Rogers of Nebraska (1972), Tim Brown of Notre Dame (1987) and Desmond Howard of Michigan (1991). And, then there was that modern-era hybrid, defensive back/wide receiver Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997.
Looking back at the last 10 quarterbacks to win the Heisman, which dates back 16 years, the University of Oklahoma sports information department presents a rather forceful argument in Bradford's favor.
The Oklahoma QB has, in fact, passed for more touchdowns this season (48) and more yards (4,464) than any of those last 10 signal-callers to be honored. His 302 completions exceed everyone on the list except Carson Palmer (309 in 2002) and Palmer not only had 47 more attempts (489 to Bradford's 442), he also had 15 fewer TD throws (33).
The Sooner star is the national leader in passing efficiency (186.3) and ranks third in passing yardage behind only two quarterbacks who've launched 163 and 175 more attempts than his 442.
And, if all of the above didn't make him a relatively easy pick for me, it was an added bonus that he grew up in the same neighborhood where my brother, Bob, and his wife, Cathy, have made their home for many years. Like my nephew and niece, Robbie and Katie, Bradford attended Putnam City North, a talent-laden high school in Oklahoma City's northwest suburbs, maybe three blocks from the Oklahoma Hersoms' front door.
As some of you are aware, Bob was one of Oklahoma's premier sports writers for many years and also, I might add, a longtime Heisman voter. A little update: The lucky stiff recently managed to take early retirement, which I hope he's not too restless to enjoy.
And, just for the record, I wouldn't want you to think I didn't take the opportunity for some regional bias, which I've applied to my vote only when I truly felt it was warranted. Since it isn't, indeed, all about quarterbacks, the second choice on my ballot was Iowa's Shonn Greene, the best running back in the country this season
Greene, whose 1,729 yards ranked second nationally in rushing behind only Donald Brown of Connecticut, helped put Iowa back on the New Year's Day bowl schedule with an 8-4 record. And, let it not be overlooked that those four losses were by a combined total of 12 points.
Greene, though, may be lucky to finish fourth in the voting with so much attention focused on Bradford along with McCoy, who I picked third, and Tebow, who I simply had to omit this time.
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Rob Engle wrote on Dec 9, 2008 11:28 AM: