Heisman Watch: Week 6

Ok, I know I’m a little late on this, but hopefully it’s not TOOO outdated to at least get a little interest and conversation going….

It seems each week of the 2010 College Football season has allowed for some great opportunities for Heisman hopefuls to either rise or fall in the eyes of fans and voters throughout the country and week 6 was no different. In each of the preceding weeks, someone has either jumped into the conversation, strengthened or maintained their position, or put up a dud of a performance and dropped out of the picture (at least for now).

Denard Robinson:
Last week’s frontrunner and electrifying QB for the Michigan Wolverines, Denard Robinson ran into his first true test of the young season against the Michigan St. Spartans. If you are a regular reader or take a look at previous Heisman Watch posts, you’ll see that I have put great stock into Denard’s ability, but have been a bit skeptical due to the level of competition.

Not just the weak teams Michigan has played, but the ridiculously awful defenses he has been faced up against. Against Michigan St., though, he and his team would have a legitimate opportunity to show the country and the rest of the Big 10 just how good they really were.

While I still think Denard is one of the most exciting and talented players in the country, to be fair he doesn’t have a great supporting cast around him and that is partially what makes his production so impressive as he is literally ALL they have on offense.

Without Robinson, Michigan would likely have won just a game or two this season. Unfortunately for him, though, most Heisman winners are on good to great teams who are in contention for a BCS game throughout the season. This past week, he and the Wolverines ran into a buzz saw that goes by the name of the Spartans.

The Wolverines were handled and the solid Spartan defense gave Robinson fits all night, forcing him into 3 interceptions. His talent was still on display, but as I predicted, when faced with a strong defense he wouldn’t put up the Xbox numbers and he would struggle. For the day he completed just fewer than 60% of his passes for 215 yards, 1 TD and 3 INT. He also rushed 21 times for 86 yards (WELL below his average for yards/carry on the year) and 1 TD.

While this performance and loss won’t knock him completely out of the race, it is certainly a sign of things to come and gave us a preview of what to expect the rest of the way. He will be very exciting, but will be significantly slowed down against the better defenses and I’ll be surprised if he stays relevant in the Heisman conversation towards the end of the November.

Heisman Stock:

Mark Ingram:
We all know Mark Ingram started this season at a disadvantage to repeat as Heisman Trophy winner due to the injury that forced him to sit out for the first two games. But after bolting back onto the scene with strong performances and literally CARRYING his team to victory, on the road, against a tough Arkansas team, it has been my opinion that he was back in the discussion.

While his season stats were certainly less than impressive due to losing two games, he came up huge in a big game, is the star player on the then #1 and undefeated Crimson Tide. Not to mention, playing in the SEC would give him plenty of opportunities to make his presence felt in the Heisman picture.

For the past few weeks, Alabama has played more top notch opponents than most teams in the nation play on their entire schedule. After knocking off Arkansas, they absolutely crushed the highly ranked, but highly overrated Florida Gators and looked to be unbeatable.

The ‘Ol Ball Coach down in South Carolina had something to say about that though as the Game Cocks actually handled #1 Alabama for much of the game. While they were able to get back into the game and give themselves an outside shot at a comeback, it wasn’t due to Ingram. For the game he had 11 carries for 41 yards and no TDs giving him a 3.7 yard/carry average for the game which was significantly below his season average.

South Carolina has a much underrated defense and their speed, quickness, physicality, and great defensive scheming was on full display. There were enough things working against Ingram repeating as Heisman Trophy winner including the fact that only one player has ever accomplished this feat, he missed two games early in the season, and he splits carries with another dynamic RB.

With all these marks against him, he would need strong performances in every big game for the rest of the year and his team would need to stay in the BCS hunt. While I think ‘Bama will get back into the title hunt, Ingram struggled for the last couple weeks and he was essentially shut down by South Carolina. This is likely the death blow to his Heisman run.

Heisman Stock:

LaMichael James:
With similar obstacles to his Heisman chances as Ingram, James was largely ignored for the few weeks of the season due to an early season suspension. Once returning from his suspension he has been nothing short of amazing and just might be the best RB in the nation so far this year. He is only behind Denard Robinson for rushing yards this season with 848 yards and 9 TDs with a 7.4 yard/carry average.

He is also a dangerous receiving back out of the backfield and while he has been used sparingly in this role, he had an 84 yard reception last week for a TD. There are only a handful of players in the nation that can truly break a game wide open with one touch of the football and LaMichael James is certainly one of them.

The knock on James, for me, has been very similar to that on Denard Robinson as Oregon opened up the 2010 season with horrendous competition. And while they did what they were supposed to, blowing these teams out, no one could tell just how good they and James really were due to the poor competition.

The Ducks and James answered loudly in their marquee matchup against Stanford as James ran for 257 yards and 3 TDs as they routed Stanford. Last week, James was impressive yet again against an overmatched Washington State team running for 136 yards and 2 TDs and adding the 84 yard TD reception. Oregon is one of the hottest teams in the country and is getting a lot of hype from the media. This should help James’ hopes for staying in the Heisman race.

Heisman Stock:

Terrelle Pryor:
Ohio St. fans and people all around Ohio have long believed that Pryor has been the Heisman front runner since the beginning of the season. Hell, since the Rose Bowl performance against Oregon in January. While I think he’s one of the most impressive physical specimens in college football, I have not yet seen enough out of Pryor to consider him the Heisman front runner.

Maybe it’s just that he is SO physically gifted and he never seems to live up to his potential, but I have rarely come away from a game feeling fulfilled or completely impressed with TP2. Despite weak competition (excluding Miami), Pryor’s stats have been, in my opinion, average.

Pryor has a passer rating of 170, has passed for 1,349 yards and 15 TDs with only 3 INT. He is equally (if not more) dangerous with his legs running for 392 yards and 3 TDs. While for anyone else, on any other team, these would be ridiculous numbers. But Pryor isn’t just any player and he plays for the THE Ohio State Buckeyes. It may be unfair, but given the incredibly talented team he plays on and given his superior athletic gifts, I expect more out of him.

If you look at him on the field, he is bigger, stronger, faster, and more talented than any other skill player on the field. He is truly a man among boys and there is NO reason that he doesn’t pass for at least 200 yards and run for 100 yards EACH AND EVERY GAME. In fairness, there are some contributing factors that have held Pryor back so far in his career and this season.

The first and most damaging is his own head coach. No one can argue with Tressel’s success at Ohio State as he’s won countless Big 10 titles, has experienced tremendous success against the hated Wolverines and has won a National Championship. But I watch every single Ohio St. game and have done so for years. There is no question that while THE VEST is an incredible leader, recruiter, and coach, he is often small in big games and is detrimental to his team and his players with his play calling.

Tressel apologists will say that this style of conservative play is the reason for his success and to some degree they are correct. But it is clearly evident that his horrific play calling has cost the Buckeyes several big games and probably at least one more National Championship.

Now don’t get me wrong, Sean Payton himself could not have called the right combination of plays to help Ohio St. beat Florida in that BCS debacle as the Buckeyes were just overmatched. But The Vest’s play calling has undoubtedly cost them in games where they are clearly the superior team. He has also significantly stunted the growth of his QB and on in very rare circumstances has he taken the handcuffs off him.

The other factor contributing to Pryor’s performance and numbers is his quad injury for the last couple games and even though it’s not serious, it has forced him and Tressel to be just cautious enough to hold Pryor back even more. As if THE VEST needs a reason!

With all that being said, Pryor’s performance is certainly not all on The Vest. Pryor lacks some fundamental skills that will certainly hold him back at the next level, but also hurt his performance at Ohio St. where given his talent, he should dominate every game.

Pryor is not a pure passer by any stretch of the imagination and the deep ball, which is supposed to be one of his strengths, is horrible. Surprisingly, his short to intermediate passes are actually not that bad, but he has been wildly inaccurate with his deep ball missing wide open WR’s or severely under-throwing them allowing DB’s to catch up.

Bottom-line… Pryor has not been good enough to win a Heisman. He hasn’t lived up to his potential at all as he’s clearly the best player on the field every week. It’s not all his fault, but enough of it is his fault for me to be disappointed and unfulfilled for the 3rd straight year of the Pryor era. He will stay in the Heisman race because of who he is and who he plays for, and he will have opportunities to pull away from the pack.

I personally don’t see it happening as I think he’ll continue to play inconsistently and while he’ll be good enough to get an invite to NY, I don’t see him winning without significant improvement. That being said, he had a dominate game against Indiana passing for 330 yards and 3 TD’s. The type of game he needs to have more often to bring home the hardware.

Heisman Stock:

Cam Newton:
With Auburn being of the surprise unbeatens in the SEC, Cam Newton has been strong and jumped onto the Heisman scene for the past few weeks. He has been impressive passing for 1,138 yards, 12 TDs and 5 INTs and he has rushed for 672 yards with 9 TDs. He has been incredible this year and if not for limited time in some blowouts, his numbers would be even better.

Against Kentucky last week, Cam threw for 210 yards with 0 TDs and 1 INT but ran for 198 yards and 4 TDs. He will have plenty of opportunities to continue to shine as he navigates through the SEC and if Auburn can stay relevant, he’ll have a great chance at an invite to NY if not more. With Ryan Mallett and Mark Ingram, who knew that the leading Heisman candidate in the SEC through week 6 would be Cam Newton.

Heisman Stock:

Taylor Martinez:
The Nebraska QB was on my early Heisman lists and his strong performances have landed him back onto the national scene and with Nebraska continuing to win, he has a real shot here. After struggling with South Dakota St., a team Martinez should dominate, he was back on full display against Kansas St. Martinez only threw 7 passes, completing 5 of them for 128 yards and a TD, but he ran for 241yards and 4 TDs.

Martinez has been one of the most impressive players in the country and he’s a freshman! As Nebraska is trying to regain their national prominence, Martinez will provide them with explosive offense for many years to come. He’s certainly not a polished passer to say the least, but his running skills are incredible.

If he continues to succeed and Nebraska continues to win, he’ll be in the conversation to stay. There is no chance he’ll win the Heisman this year as a freshman with so many other strong contenders, but he can position himself strongly for next year if he continues to perform.