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Heisman Watch 2010, Week 4
September 30, 2010 | By Benjamin Miraski
Can you overcome a poor game and still compete for the Heisman?
That is the situation that Ryan Mallett finds himself in after giving away Arkansas’ game against Alabama on Saturday.
It is possible but Mallett is going to need some help.
Perhaps he can take a lesson from Terrelle Pryor. This isn’t about how I was hard on Pryor for throwing two picks against Ohio.
No one can be perfect, although he was in that game for 16 straight passes.
But even if he had struggled mightily, all would have been forgotten after this week. Sure, playing Eastern Michigan is barely better than playing Charleston Southern (we will get to that one), but Pryor made the most of every play.
He finished with six touchdowns.
Just let that sink in. SIX!
He ran; he threw; he even caught.
Six!
You just don’t see six touchdowns in a game. Not like that, with contributions in so many facets of the game.
The worry for Pryor is that he is still seen as another version of Troy Smith, and we all know how Smith looked in the National Championship game after winning the Heisman.
Somehow Pryor will have to shake that perception and games like that can go a long way toward doing that.
Mallett obviously isn’t going to explode like Pryor did, especially not in the SEC. But Mallett can do himself a favor and find a way to beat convincingly some of the teams remaining on his schedule.
A few four touchdown performances could have people forgetting this past weekend ever happened.
And it wouldn’t hurt if everyone else had a bad game or two along the way.
Here is how I would rank the candidates after last weekend.
- Terrelle Pryor (QB, Ohio State)
- Denard Robinson (QB, Michigan) - If you project out his numbers before he left with an injury, Robinson would have rolled up 500 yards on the ground and we wouldn’t even have a competition between Pryor and Robinson. I am still holding off a week to see what this supposedly non-major injury does to him on the field.
- Kellen Moore (QB, Boise State) - Still a great quarterback but it feels like he is standing still when you compare him to Robinson and Pryor. The other two are so explosive in so many ways, but Moore is a great pocket passer and a winner. The rest of the year is about style points to him, and he will need a bunch given the competition he will face.
- Andrew Luck (QB, Stanford) - Luck may not have been as precise as he would have liked to be, but he was steady against Notre Dame. He didn’t need to be flashy this week as Stanford had no issues with the Irish. His position here is really him benefiting from the demise of others.
- Ryan Mallett (QB, Arkansas) - 357 yards but three interceptions in loss to Alabama. Probably made two of the worst throws that he could have made and cost his team the game. I still feel like I can’t drop him yet, but that was a huge blow to his hopes, if they even still exist.
Others: Mark Ingram (Why should we penalize him for missing two games? He would have taken four halves off this season. One more big day and he is in the top five), Landry Jones (Averaged just 7.3 per attempt at Cincinnati. Losing ground.), Trent Richardson (Still here. Hard to say goodbye after everything he has does for the team.)
Small time performance: Bryant Moniz (QB, Hawaii) - If you thought six touchdowns was impressive, try seven. Moniz threw for six touchdowns and for good measure, ran for another. I understand that Hawaii is still running the remnants of June Jones’ high flying offense, but even at their best, Tommy Chang and Colt Brennan didn’t have games like this. OK, so it was Charleston Southern on the other side of the field but come on, SEVEN! Honorable mention to Northern Illinois’ Chad Spann who ran for 223 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries against Minnesota.
Posted September 30, 2010 9:30 AM