Here is Todd McLame’s take on the Heisman race to date, focusing in on his #1 and #2 Smith and Quinn, respectively:
1. Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
Troy Smith had his worst showing of the season in a near miss versus Illinois two weeks ago, but he recovered nicely with a four-touchdown outing in the Buckeyes’ drubbing of Northwestern on Saturday. Some argue against Smith because Ohio State’s schedule wasn’t overly difficult and because Smith’s numbers are short of exceptional. I completely disagree. Smith has transformed his game from a run-first quarterback to a patient pocket passer with pinpoint accuracy as a senior. He has shown tremendous poise and leadership in tough road trips to Austin, Texas, and — at the time — Iowa City, Iowa, and the statistic that outweighs all others is his ridiculously impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio of 26-to-4. If he leads the Buckeyes to a perfect regular-season record with a win over an undefeated Wolverines team Saturday, Smith should be the runaway winner.2. Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame
As expected, Quinn continues to put up big numbers versus marginal competition. Since the embarrassing home loss to Michigan in the third week of the season, Quinn has thrown 23 touchdown passes, compared with just one interception. Although the Michigan loss left an indelible stain and his numbers since then admittedly are inflated, Quinn does have some memorable Heisman-like moments so far this season, including comebacks versus Georgia Tech, Michigan State and UCLA. If Smith and the Buckeyes come up short against the Wolverines on Saturday, Quinn will have a golden opportunity to swing the vote his way one week later when the Irish travel to the Coliseum to take on the Trojans.
Here are my problems with these two paragraphs, and they both come down to the unwritten yet extremely clear anti-ND bias at ESPN/ABC, all because of Notre Dame’s contract with NBC. I digress, so here’s the issue: McShay changes his language and tone to play up Smith, and to play down Quinn. And then he glosses over the stats that make Quinn seem the better candidate.
Example 1: Unfair/Biased Evaluation of Competition.
McShay says that Smith should be the #1 contender even though OSU’s ‘schedule wasn’t overly difficult’. But then he goes on to bash Quinn because he is ‘putting up big numbers against marginal competition’. Umm, wait, isn’t that what Smith is doing if tOSU’s schedule isn’t that tough? Am I missing something? Am I ON CRACK AGAIN? But, McShite continues on that Smith showed great poise in tough road trips against Texas and ‘at the time’, Iowa. But didn’t Texas lose again this week, to terrible opposition? And hasn’t Iowa crapped the bed all season? If you want to talk about ‘at the time’, well fine. But do it on both sides – Quinn played against 4 undefeated teams ‘at the time’ and came out 3-1. With the single loss to the #2 team in the country. Not so bad, eh?
Example 2: Insane Use of Stats
As if that’s not bad enough, the ‘journalist’ goes on to say that ‘the statistic that outweighs all others is his ridiculously impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio of 26-to-4.’ Well man, you know, that’s pretty good. But I’m confused, bc Quinn has a ratio of 29 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. ISN’T THAT BETTER? 29-4 IS better than 26-4, right? So if Smith has a ‘ridiculously impressive’ ratio, what does Quinn have? A SUPER-CRAZY-RIDICULOUS-INSANE ratio? Nope, McLoser doesn’t mention this.
Why would he? I mean, it’s just another fact that would go against his lame-duck argument he concocted to keep the anti-ND bias running at ESPN. You go McGirl. You go.
The end result is that Quinn makes his team better. We have a mediocre running game, a porous defense and a terribly inconsistent offensive line. The award goes to the best player in the land (presumably). We have a QB that MAKES this team. That, to me, defines “Heisman”.
It should be a close race, but it won’t be since ESPN jumped on the Smith bandwagon.
- (Re)Introducing: DANCING LEPRECHAUNS - August 29, 2019
- Ticket Auction: ND vs USC - August 22, 2019
- No Respect! - December 14, 2018
PM
If you really wanna get pissed, look at the heisman voting on CBS Sportsline
coachbob
Make that 5 undefeated teams, ‘at the time.’ Georgia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State adn Purdue were all undefeated when they played ND.
The Biscuit
Thanks CoachBob. Hey, wait, your last name wouldnt be Davie would it?
Trey
You know, ESPN has an ombudsman link. yall should send these thoughts to him.