(Mike DiNovo/USA Today Sports)

Yes, I know it is quite early in the season to talk about the Heisman. No, I’m not trying to jinx the rest of Notre Dame’s season nor am I trying to put a hex on everything awesome that C.J. Prosise has done thus far. I am, however, wondering that if the national media is already shoveling loads of no-doubt-Heisman-front-runner praise onto Leonard Fournette, shouldn’t C.J. Prosise be right there with him?

In many Heisman watches, you will see Fournette right at the top and Prosise as either an afterthought or not even mentioned. I didn’t think much about that situation until I saw this:

https://twitter.com/ISDUpdate/status/648868945093484544/

You did not misread that. C.J. Prosise is neck-and-neck with Fournette. And before you say “but Tex, Fournette has played one less game” (LSU vs. McNeese State was cancelled), you should realize that Prosise has only one more carry than the beast that is Fournette.

The next logical line of reasoning is to start comparing who they played and how their performances stack up. I decided to break down how they did each game and what the current rank of each rushing defense that they faced to get a clearer picture.

C.J. Prosise

Leonard Fournette

The biggest difference that jumps out is that Fournette is getting the ball a hell of a lot more than Prosise is each game. This shouldn’t be too surprising as Brian Kelly has said on many occasions that he doesn’t want his converted WR taking more than 20 carries each game if possible. Even with that limit imposed, Prosise is doing an incredible job in keeping up.

The strength of defenses faced, and resulting performances against them, should probably be filed as “too soon to compare”. I was rather surprised to see Virginia and Georgia Tech rated as high as they were based on their most recent games, but Syracuse stuck out like a sore thumb. Going back into their schedule, you will see that they held powerful Rhode Island to 4 yards and their second impressive defense performance was against lowly Wake Forest.

We can certainly take some initial impressions away from each game; however, we may be a couple of weeks out before the numbers start to level out. What we can say for sure is that it is rather clear that neither Prosise or Fournette find themselves struggling no matter who they are facing. Both backs had their “worst” game at the beginning of the season. Since that point, they’ve been on another level.

There is one other factor that really got me thinking about Prosise and his too-soon Heisman chances: he’s doing on this on a team with weapons like Will Fuller and emerging freshman backs Josh Adams and Dexter Williams. Fournette on the other hand is the LSU offense.

To double check my hypothesis, I calculated just how much each offense was dependent on each back.

C.J. Prosise

Leonard Fournette

While each player is getting a similar percentage of all rushing attempts, Fournette is clearly the focal point of the LSU offense, getting nearly 40% of all touches. Not only that, Fournette is clearly the only one having any consistent success on LSU’s offense as he is responsible for over half of all their yardage and touchdowns.

So here is where the subjective part of any Heisman/MVP discussion comes in. Do you lean towards the guy that is clearly the only one doing anything for his team? Or do you give some love to the stud making a huge impact on a team of studs with limited touches?

Let me know which way you lean, but, either way, I can’t tell you how happy I am that we can even think about having this conversation in September.

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If that definition was, at all, applicable anymore, there’s no way the electric frosh wins over Te’o. And to be honest, the final 3 probably looks very different. Johnny Foosball is a heckuvah QB, especially for a freshman. But he is very much wanting in the ‘best player’ and the ‘integrity’ departments, and that’s just a fact.

Sure, he had awesome stats against a competitive schedule. He also blew 2 games that his team lost.

Sure, he’s probably a pretty good kid. But getting arrested a few months before the award is handed out calls in question the ‘integrity’ part.

So at this point, the Heisman has simply jumped the shark.

The Trust and the voters have accepted that it’s an award for the Best Nickname/Highlights/Stats for a QB or RB in the SEC. And that’s okay! But if that’s what you’re gonna be, then let’s just own up to it, shall we? Let’s re-state the mission, and get back to a little integrity in the award, huh?

Manti Te’o is, literally, the most decorated player in the history of the game. Yet, according to this one award, he’s not the best player with integrity. Huh? Time to hit the reset button, Heisman Trust. Trust? More like Rust.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH. Hilarious. Like jumping a shark.

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That’s a pretty sick catch, no doubt. In 1997, Charles Woodson put up a monster year and was a true dual-threat player: 44 tackles (27 solo), 5 Tackles For Loss, 1 sack and 7 interceptions. I confess that I was unable to find how many passes he broke up or how many times he hurried the quarterback. But, on the offensive side of the ball, Woodson had 12 receptions for 238 yards and 2 TD’s and carried the ball five times for 41 yards and one touchdown. On special teams, he had 36 kick returns for 301 yards (which is 300 yards more than the 2012 Fighting Irish) including one return for a touchdown of 78 yards.  This one (if any Michigan is too much Michigan, skip to 1:10 for Woodson’s run):

So how does Manti stack up alongside the only “defensive” player to win the award? Blows him out of the water: 103 tackles (52 solo), 7 interceptions, 1.5 sacks, 5.5 Tackles For Loss, 1 fumble recovery, 4 defensed passes and 4 QB hurries. Te’o had 8 more solo tackles than Woodson had total tackles. Same number of INT’s, half a Tackle For Loss less, half a sack more. Both took home the Bednarik and Nagurski tophies.  (Te’o’s stats courtesy of cfbstats.com)

To add some context, let’s look at last year’s defensive Heisman finalist, The Honeybadger. Tyrann Mathieu was the latest and last defensive player to lose the trophy, watching it go to RGIII in 2011. Defensively, Mathieu had 76 total tackles (59 solo), 7.5 Tackles For Loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 INT’s, 1 QB hurry, 6 forced fumbles (dude could RIP), and 2 defensed passes. On the offensive side of the ball, Honeybadger ran two punts back for TD’s and amassed 421 total punt return yards. Again, Te’o has far more tackles. He has five more interceptions. And Manti shows no sign of pissing his career and talent away for the tree. (Mathieu’s 2011 stats courtesy of cfbstats.com).

But Bayou, who did Woodson beat out? If the Trophy went to a “defensive” player that year, surely it’s because the offensive choices were, erm, offensive, right? Wrong! The Heisman runner up in 1997 was none other than New Orleans’ own, Peyton Manning. That’s right, Cooper‘s brother. In 1997, Peyton QB’d the 11-1 Tennessee Volunteers, leading them to an Orange Bowl berth. He threw for 3819 yards and 36 TD’s on 11 INT’s. He had a 60.7% completion rate (287/477).

So how does Peyton stack up against Johnny Freaking Football? Well, Manziel has “only” thrown 400 passes, completing 273 of them for a percentage of 68.3. He’s thrown for exactly 400 yards less than Peyton did (3419) and 12 fewer TD’s. Manziel’s got Peyton beat on INT’s though, throwing 3 less. BECAUSE HE’S THROWN 77 LESS PASSES.

And then you get into the whole excellence and integrity thing. Unless it’s b.s., and unless I am sorely mistaken, the Heisman HAS to go to Manti given his documented awesomeness this year. If the only thing Manti did this year was write kind, comforting words to the parents of a dying child while in the throes of his own greiving process, that would be enough. But it’s not. Manti has been the leader, the soul and engine of this championship team. Relevance personafied, Manti’s decency, spirituality, humility and ferocity have provided sorely needed balance to a ledger that had trended to the difficult, terrible and tragic.

Whatever happens on Saturday, Manti has already won more than any number of earthly treasure.

The post Te’o Beats Woodson, Should Win Heisman appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

You may also recall that 4 years ago Te’o won the inaugural high school Butkus award. Well, fast forward to today and while Manti was being awarded the collegiate version Notre Dame commit Jaylon Smith became the 5th winner of the high school Butkus Award. Yup, these are good times in South Bend.

To give you a better idea of what kind of company Te’o is in with this award, just look at the previous winners:

While early indications from “Stiff Arm Trophy” (a website that collects voting information from Heisman voters that publicly release their top 3) show Te’o firmly implanted in second place, we can still hold out hope that the most deserving player — representing the best defense and the best team in the country — brings home Heisman #8 for Notre Dame.

If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to watch Manti’s Heisman music video below by Pat McKillen, a Notre Dame graduate and friend of Her Loyal Sons. Also check out his ND themed original “Loyal Sons” by clicking here, and find some of his excellent non-ND music at www.patmckillen.com.

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Many have called this race “wide open” with “no clear favorite”; however, if the Heisman voters are actually paying attention to what their award stands for the choice is simple: Manti Te’o in a landslide.

Now, I do truly recognize that Manziel has had an incredible season in his freshman campaign. I know he’s crushed SEC records. Truth be told, I really love watching the kid play and gladly stop down to watch him turn some plays into a video game.

However, the Heisman Trophy doesn’t go to the “offensive player that puts up big numbers and is fun to watch”. The Heisman Trophy, in the Heisman Trust’s own words, is meant for the following:

The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work. The Heisman Trophy Trust ensures the continuation and integrity of this award.

Please note that the Heisman Trust highlights integrity. Further, they state that great ability alone isn’t enough, but ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.

Quite frankly, Te’o soars above Johnny Football on all of these qualities.

Back in the offseason, before Johnny Football became Johnny Football, he was arrested. Now, the details of Johnny’s crime are admittedly light and I don’t want to paint the kid as some kind of degenerate. However, that is still a black mark on his record this season while Te’o has none.

If the Heisman Trophy is to reward integrity, how in the world can a voter justify giving the trophy to someone that found themselves on the wrong end of the law this past summer?

The sad fact is that the media has only focused on Manziel once he became “Johnny Football” and started giving opponents fits. The arrest has long since been forgotten.

It isn’t the end of his world, but it should be more than enough to disqualify from him on ballots alone for this year. Next year, clean slate. Hell, it would show diligence and perseverance that Manziel learned his lesson and stayed out of trouble after his slip up.

Speaking of perseverance…has anyone in college football come close to having to demonstrate the kind of perseverance that Te’o has and then played to the level that he has?

Spoiler alert: no.

The world was talking about Te’o overcoming the loss of his grandmother and girlfriend in September while turning in stellar performances against Michigan State and Michigan. Te’o never stopped excelling, despite the fact that opposing offenses did their damnedest to avoid him. All the way up until his final INT and leading a goal line stand against USC, Te’o has been simply dominant.

However, the media decided to move on and ignore all that. Collin Klein became the Heisman darling simply because he was the QB of an undefeated team that was putting up big numbers, mostly against soft Big XII defenses. Johnny Manziel then started to get some attention after leading Texas A&M to an upset of Alabama on the road. Once Klein fell to the terrifying 120th ranked defense in the nation, Manziel went to the front of the pack.

It’s almost as if the media and voters are determined to make the Heisman a glorified QB award. They and anyone in Aggieland will cite Johnny’s impressive numbers, compare them to previous QB Heisman winners and wonder why we are even bothering with Te’o’s campaign.

Why bother? It’s simple, Te’o has transcended his position.

There is only one player in the nation that has more INTs than Te’o and that’s Fresno safety Phillip Thomas. No LB in the past 13 years has ever recorded as many INTs has Te’o. No LB in the past 13 years has even found themselves ranked higher than sixth on the INT leaderboard. Yet here is Manti breaking the mold and excelling beyond even the nation’s best DBs.

Oh, and while he was doing that he also amassed 103 tackles, 5.5 tackles for losses, 1.5 sacks and 11 total passes defended (source) — and remember, this is with offenses actively avoiding him. And that is also not including things that the stats can’t track, like how many turnovers he caused just by creating pressure on opposing QBs (just ask Denard Robinson).

And as one of our Loyal Readers, Marko Pesce, pointed out, Manziel has benefited from padding his stats against simply awful teams. He compiled a full list of Manziel’s stats against each opponent and further broke it down into games against good opponents and bad ones.

He was even more generous than I would’ve been in his analysis, including now unranked Mississippi State in the “good opponent” category.

The results:

Further note that there are two FCS opponents in the “bad” category. One of these FCS games happened immediately after the Alabama game in which Manziel started to get some Heisman buzz (Sam Houston State). Hilariously enough, once Klein’s Heisman hopes bit the dust, A&M went all in against Mizzou in which he scored 5 total TDs — the same number he scored against Sam Houston State just the week prior. That should put Mizzou’s defensive “prowess” in perspective.

Of course, it definitely helps that Manziel doesn’t have to worry about opposing teams avoiding him as Te’o does. While this allows him to pad stats, it also means that losses can fall squarely on his shoulders…and the LSU game definitely qualifies as a Manziel INT led to what would become LSU’s game winning TD. In that game, he also failed to collect a single rushing or passing TD. And while he didn’t directly cause the Florida loss, his line certainly didn’t help the Aggies’ cause and was hardly Heisman-worthy in that game (23-30, 173 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 60 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD).

It seems voters have forgotten those games just as easily as they’ve forgotten Manti’s story.

In the end, you have a QB with two loses, one of which that can be blamed directly on him, in comparison to the leader of a defense that has iced wins with INTs and goal line stands. You have a kid making an unfortunate mistake next to a veteran with an impeccable record. You have a QB that has preformed phenomenally has his own position next to a LB that has transcended his. Finally, you have a player who hasn’t faced any kind of strife like someone that lost two people close to him and then turned that tragedy into fuel for success.

I again ask: how is this vote even close?

#HEISMANTI

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Nissan is hosting a free fan event near the stadium before the game. Fans will have a chance to take a picture with the Heisman Trophy, get free team swag, play fun interactive games, and meet 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown. For folks that aren’t attending the game but still want to connect with the Notre Dame legend, Nissan (@NissanNews) will also be hosting a live Twitter chat with Tim (@81TimBrown) from 5:30-6:00 p.m. tomorrow. Anyone who submits a question during the chat with the hashtag #NissanHeisman will be entered to win one of three footballs signed by Tim.

Details below:

NOTRE DAME HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER TIM BROWN TO APPEAR AT THE
“SPORTS ILLUSTRATED HEISMAN TOUR PRESENTED BY NISSAN”

The tour heads to Chicago, October 6, when No. 9 Notre Dame takes on Miami at Soldier Field

WHO: Meet the Notre Dame football legend on game day … and celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Heisman win!

• 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown will appear from 4:00-5:30 p.m., participating in both an “SI Chalk Talk” session with Dan Patrick Show executive producer Paul Pabst from 4:00-4:30 p.m. and an autograph session from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

WHAT: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and Nissan have teamed up to celebrate the Heisman Memorial Trophy and the most electrifying players in the history of college football with a 10-stop national tour at marquee matchups this season. Admission to the tour is free, and fans are encouraged to pick up a special SPORTS ILLUSTRATED special edition: “Running to Greatness” … compliments of Nissan.

•  Get your picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the Heisman Trophy
•  Take a closer look at Nissan’s all-new 2013 Pathfinder and Altima
•  View SI covers and images on 52” touch screen monitors
•  Participate in autograph sessions with former football greats
•  Win prizes by participating in fun, interactive games including a virtual field goal kicking challenge
•  Register for the BCS Championship Ultimate Experience Sweepstakes
•  Get an RFID credential, allowing you to check in and instantly share your experience on Facebook
•  Keep tabs on the weekend’s action by viewing games and highlights on plasma TVs and a custom 16’ x 9’ LED screen

WHEN: SATURDAY, October 6, 2012 – 11:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Located east of the Field Museum, 1410 S. Museum Campus Drive, Chicago, IL

So if you are in the area, make sure you don’t miss out!

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