Read the arguments from Bleacher Fan and Sports Geek.
I hope you guys enjoyed your Thanksgiving break. I certainly did. Now I can go shop for a new pair of jeans that fit my ever enlarging waist! Food and watching football will do that to you (though I did teach my little cousins the nuances of the triple option… perhaps Georgia was eavesdropping on my lesson as the ‘Dawgs managed to stop Georgia Tech’s triple option Saturday night). After watching numerous games over the weekend and seeing highlights of several more, I have decided that the real winner of the Thanksgiving Football Feast was Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
Coming into the weekend the Heisman race was wide open. The list of possible contenders was as long as the list of bowl games (okay, maybe not that long), including McCoy, Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram, and Toby Gerhart near the top of the list. But guys like Clemson’s C.J. Spiller had the opportunity to make big impressions with a big performance in a rivalry game. Ingram was a dud against Auburn, though his team managed to escape the Iron Bowl with a victory. Spiller returned the opening kickoff against South Carolina and did nothing else in a disappointing upset loss to South Carolina. Gerhart had a phenomenal game against Notre Dame with 205 yards rushing and three touchdowns (and also one passing). Tebow was his usual self in a victory over an overmatched Florida State. But what McCoy did against rival Texas A&M was nothing short of remarkable and it made him the clear frontrunner in the Heisman race.
All he did was rack up 479 yards of total offense, including 175 yards on the ground, totaling five touchdowns. The game against the Aggies was much tougher than most thought it would be. Rallying behind an amazing performance by quarterback Jerrod Johnson (who had 439 yards of total offense himself), the Aggies were in prime position to pull the upset in this see-saw battle. The Longhorns only led by seven at the half and the Aggies actually cut it to three a couple of times in the second half, but the Longhorns were able to respond and escape the Home of the 12th man with a victory. I was talking to a friend of mine the day after the game and he said, “Colt McCoy single-handily saved Texas’s season last night. He won the game for them.” My friend was right. If Texas lost that game, it would have all but eliminated any chance at a national title and would have thrown the national championship door wide open for teams like TCU and Cincinnati. Instead, he left College Station as the clear-cut favorite in the race for the Heisman.
McCoy still has to have a solid game this week against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship to close the deal on the Heisman, especially with Tebow playing that day as well in the SEC championship. But it is McCoy’s to lose now and he can thank his Heisman-like performance against Texas A&M for that.
Unless Tebow or Ingram has a ridiculously huge performance in the SEC title game, I think the Heisman is McCoy’s to lose. The only way he loses it is if either of the aforementioned players explode or if Texas (gulp) loses to Nebraska.
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I tend to agree. It seems we’ll have another drama-less Heisman race. Perhaps the REAL story is who should get invited to New York? Who do you think?