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Heisman Watch - Week 11
November 14, 2006
By Benjamin Miraski
Who was it that said they wanted to take away the lead in this race from Troy Smith because of the Illinois game? It wasn't me, that is for sure. Smith showed us all why he is still leading this race on Saturday, torching the Northwestern secondary for four touchdowns.
On a week which saw a lot of the leading candidates go down, Smith was again brilliant. He now just has to beat Michigan or not implode against them to take home the trophy.
While there is still talk that a Notre Dame victory over USC would give the award to Brady Quinn, I think Smith has done enough to this point in the season to hold onto the lead even though his last game will be this weekend. Of course, if Notre Dame does beat USC, there is a chance, given the current BCS standings, that we will see the Fighting Irish in the Championship game against the winner of Ohio State and Michigan. And if Quinn does steal the award, and Smith and the Buckeyes take care of business, we could have a repeat of last season when we saw Vince Young give the voters a bad taste in their mouths.
No great secret here, I am favoring Smith for another week in the standings, especially after his great performance against Northwestern. Other than a strange voice in the back of my head which says I should say something more here about freshman winning the award, or even sophomores getting their due, I will leave it at that.
Here is how I would rank all the contenders coming out of Week 11:
- Troy Smith (QB Ohio State): 12/19, 185 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT vs. Northwestern - A great bounce back performance to lead his team into probably their biggest game of the season. Smith is all but walking out of New York with the award at this point.
- Brady Quinn (QB ND): 14/19, 207 yds, 4 TDs vs. Air Force - I get to see Quinn live this coming weekend. It should be interesting. I am moving him up this week, because of what I will say about Slaton. He still continues to beat up on lesser teams and look average against some of the tougher foes. I think the USC game will be a great measure of his true ability to be #2 or maybe even #1 in this race.
- Steve Slaton (RB West Va.): 12 car., 148 yds, 2 TD vs. Cincinnati - Here is why I am moving Slaton down. Take away the 65 yard run, he is down to 83 yards on the day. Take away his other 63 yard run, he is down to 20 yards on 10 carries. He has the big play ability, but I am beginning to wonder how much of that is the poor defense he is facing week after week. I am not ready to move him out of the top three, but I am beginning to doubts his big numbers and the perceived "performances" that go along with them, especially as other contenders begin to look more and more impressive against tougher opponents.
- Michael Hart (RB Michigan): 19 car., 92 yds, 1 TD vs. Indiana - Nothing flashy, but that is Michael Hart. Another great game at tailback and he rolls into the game against Ohio State. I am beginning to think that Hart will be a major part of the gameplan for the Wolverines as they attempt to beat Ohio State. Their best bet may be throwing their very good offensive line against Ohio State and just letting Hart roll. We know he can hang onto the ball so why not keep it in his hands. As if it hadn't been said enough already, I can't wait for this game.
- Darren McFadden (RB Arkansas): 30 car., 181 yds, 2 TD, 1/1, 12 yds pass, 1 TD vs. Tennessee - He wasn't even on my considered list last week, but this week McFadden is #5. If he hadn't been injured against USC, I wonder if he would have torched them the way he has been beating up on some good defenses. He and Felix Jones ran all over Auburn. He rolled over a Tennessee defense that shut down Marshawn Lynch earlier this year. I have to give him credit at this point. If he isn't in New York this season, he most definitely will next year as a junior.
- Colt Brennan (QB Hawaii): 27/40, 406 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT, 6 car., 60 yds, 1 TD vs. Louisiana Tech - I know Hawaii quarterbacks often get credit for the system they play in but Brennan's numbers over the past few weeks have been amazing. Hawaii is consistently putting 60 or more on opponents and Brennan is completing a staggering 72.4% of his passes. He already has 43 touchdown passes this season with only seven interceptions and the Warriors still have four more games to go this season counting the Hawaii Bowl. He was my Heisman-like performer a few weeks back. He is now my Heisman contender.
Others receiving consideration:Ian Johnson (RB Boise State), Ray Rice (RB Rutgers), Marshawn Lynch (RB Cal), JaMarcus Russell (QB LSU), Erik Ainge (QB Tennessee), Chad Henne (QB Michigan), Calvin Johnson (WR Georgia Tech), Adrian Peterson (RB Oklahoma)
Heisman-like Performance
This week's player: Jordan Palmer - QB, UTEP
Line: 24/38, 447 yds, 4 TD vs. UAB
UTEP isn't going to get to the Conference USA title game this season, but they did their part to make sure that UAB wouldn't either. Along the way, Jordan Palmer, Carson's little brother, threw for a career high 447 yards and four touchdowns to lead his team to victory. The performance put Palmer over 10,000 yards for his career and makes him one of only four active quarterbacks to reach that number. Not only has his career been impressive overall, but he is tearing up the Miners record book. His yardage, touchdown passes, and possibly soon, his passing efficiency are all school records. While the UTEP season hasn't turned out like the team would have liked, they are only one more win away from qualifying for a bowl game, and that would be a big showcase for Palmer to join his brother somewhere in the NFL. Anyone who has watched the quarterback over the last three seasons knows that he has matured a long way from the player he was back in 2003 and deserves a lot of credit for the emergence of UTEP from the depths that they were in. Palmer was solid on Friday night and this week gets my nod as the Heisman-like performance.
Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted November 14, 2006 12:00 PM
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