15% of Heisman Voters Voted Before Conference Champ Games
"We have to get this right!" -- @joelklatt frustrated that 15% of voters voted before the final game. #Heisman https://t.co/wQHtUTzotB
— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) December 13, 2015
December 13th, 2015 at 1:48 AM ^
"We have to get this right!" -- @joelklatt frustrated that 15% of voters voted before the final game. #Heisman https://t.co/wQHtUTzotB
— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) December 13, 2015
December 13th, 2015 at 1:50 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 2:06 AM ^
Yes because there's so many Alabama running backs that have won the Heisman previously.
December 13th, 2015 at 9:01 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 1:53 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:55 AM ^
RG3 says hello
December 13th, 2015 at 3:03 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^
Usually it's either best player on the best team, or stellar player on a good team. No one wins it if they're on a bad team
December 13th, 2015 at 5:09 AM ^
It's still roughly 99% of the time. I don't even pay attention to the Heisman race anymore. If it was a serious discussion about the best players, then that'd be cool. But it's basically a popularity contest among the guys with the most eye-popping stats.
December 13th, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 8:47 AM ^
98, 2, 21
December 13th, 2015 at 9:27 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
It's supposed to be the best player in college football, regrdless of how good his team is. I was glad RGIII, Johnny Football won it those years because it was getting annoying that it was always going to be the QB/RB on the #1 or #2 ranked team. It's getting away from what it was supposed to be...
December 13th, 2015 at 1:57 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:02 AM ^
If we're really talking about the best player of the season, and not hte best individual performance, then I think this is fine. If a guy hasn't clearly been the best all season (and another has), and then he goes off in the Conf Championship game, should that change thevote? I don't think so.
That said, the Heisman has been a travesty for years.If it weren't, a guy like Bosa (B1G's best Dlineman) would be at least invited, despite few flashy plays.
December 13th, 2015 at 3:01 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^
I disagree, I wasn't that impressed with Henry's game vs FLorida in the champ. game (probably because the game overall bored me to tears, but maybe that shouldn't be a factor). He had a ton of yards - but on a ton of carries, like 36+ or something like that. And he didn't really seem to break anything or make a spectacular big play. IIRC, I think his day came to like 4 yards a carry which is really good but wouldn't necessarily lock it up for me if I was a Heisman voter. Especially after McCaff put up 400+ yards on the Trojans. The Gator D is excellent but USC was also stacked with talent this year but underperformed.
I think they should have a rule that votes can't be sent in until all the games are finished, those that come in early from media voters won't be counted...
December 13th, 2015 at 5:11 AM ^
One of the main reasons some submit their ballots before the championship games is that very few teams get to play in those games. Baker Mayfield was hurt by this. I think that's fair.
December 13th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
I feel if they wanted post season games to count, they would move the deadline a month forward. It was a joke when Detmer won due to votes cast before his final regular season game.
December 13th, 2015 at 2:35 AM ^
Who cares? So 15% of the voters ignore 8% of the season in picking an award that goes to the best offensive player on the best team anyway. BFD.
December 13th, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 2:06 AM ^
Don't think 15% really swung it towards Henry tho. Meh. I agree with Klatt.
December 13th, 2015 at 2:14 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:34 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:52 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 4:39 AM ^
Was Keenan Reynolds really better than Mcaffery, Henry, or Watson? I don't think he was snubbed.
December 13th, 2015 at 10:38 AM ^
and this year wasn't even Reynolds best of his career statistically. The Heisman isn't a lifetime achievement award. This wasn't the greatest group of Heisman candidates this year. Henry had a great oline blocking for him in a surprisingly weak SEC, he and McCaffrey averaged less than 6 yards/carry, and McCaffrey had only 8 rushing tds. If Watson would have been utilized as a runner more early in the season his numbers probably would have been the most Heisman worthy out of the group.
December 13th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
You're right - its not a lifetime achievement award but that used to be a factor and Heisman voters are no longer considering it, unfortunately. Ron Dayne and Ricky WIlliams basically won for their overall college careers more so than for their senior seasons (which were still excellent).
But, I think Reynolds should've gone because he set the all time career TD record yesterday and he still had a pretty badass season. ALso, I'm pretty sure he didn't throw his first INT on the year until the conf champ game, which is also amazing. I know he's an option QB, but thats still pretty damn good. I was at the game yesterday and he did make a few nice throws as well as making some big runs.
I also think Colt McCoy should've won his senior year for finishing his career as the winningest college QB of all-time .
December 13th, 2015 at 7:05 AM ^
Joel Klatt is a whiney bitch.
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December 13th, 2015 at 8:02 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 9:35 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 2:21 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
Relevant when we're talking about Keenan Reynolds being a contender.
December 13th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:26 AM ^
McCaffrey broke a 30 year old Barry Sanders record in his conference title game. You'd like to think that would be the sort of performance to change a few minds
December 13th, 2015 at 2:34 AM ^
Henry broke a 34 year old Herschel Walker SEC rushing record. A record that Emmitt Smith, Bo Jackson, Shaun Alexander, etc couldn't break.
And Barry Sanders got that record almost entirely from running the ball. McCaffrey got it from running, catching, passing, and returning, mostly against pretty bad defenses.
December 13th, 2015 at 5:16 AM ^
So McCaffrey shouldn't get credit for being an extremely talented jack-of-all-trades?
December 13th, 2015 at 7:07 AM ^
So, no. No extra credit for breaking Barry's record.
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December 13th, 2015 at 8:35 AM ^
Good point.
December 13th, 2015 at 7:05 AM ^
And he broke it because of the sheer number of carries he took. I didn't think he was very impressive in the SEC championship game.
December 13th, 2015 at 8:36 AM ^
Actually, someone pointed out his yards per touch were higher than Sanders. He took far fewer carries. But a poster above made a good point that return yards are easier to come by than receiving or rushing yards. Still very impressive though.
December 13th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:58 AM ^
December 13th, 2015 at 2:27 AM ^
It wouldn't change anything since Henry ran for 180 yards against the 12th ranked defense in the country and McCaffrey got 300 rushing/recieving yards against the 94th ranked defense in the country.
The defenses Stanford faced:
Northwestern: 8th. CM had 89 rushing/recieving yards. (ESPN does not show return yards on player stats)
UCF: 114th. CM had 117 ruching/recieving yards.
USC: 94th.
Oregon State: 116th.
Arizona: 113th.
UCLA: 58th
Washington: 27th. CM had 221 rushing/receiving yards.
WSU: 87th
Colorado: 105th
Cal: 108th
Notre Dame: 39th. CM had 113 rushing/receiving yards.
Now for Henry:
Wisconsin: 2nd. Henry had 147 rushing yards and 3 TDs.
Middle Tennessee: 54th. Henry had 96 rushing yards and 3 TDs.
Ole Miss: 53rd. Henry had 127 rushing yards and 1 TD.
Louisiana Monroe: 110th
Georgia: 5th. Henry had 148 rushing yards and 1 TD.
Arkansas: 67th
Texas AnM: 43rd. Henry had 236 rushing yards and 2 TDs.
Tennessee: 46th. Henry had 143 rushing yards and 2 TDs.
LSU: 10th. Henry had 210 rushing yards and 3 TDs.
Mississippi State: 55th. Henry had 204 rushing yards and 2 TDs.
Charleston Southern: FCS
Auburn: 85th
Florida: 12th. 189 rushing yards and 1 TD.
So to recap:
McCaffrey faced five teams that had defenses ranked in the 100s.
Henry faced two (Ill count the FCS team in that).
McCaffrey faced three teams with defenses in the top 50 in the country.
Henry faced six.
It really isn't much of a shock they chose Henry. And the CCGs weren't going to change the outcome.
December 13th, 2015 at 5:15 AM ^
Without accounting for tempo and opponents' SOS, or even looking solely at rushing defense, those stats are almost meaningless. Wisconsin is 2nd? Give me a break. They're 2nd because they play in maybe the weakest Power 5 division in the country. The SEC isn't exactly packed with amazing QBs this year.
December 13th, 2015 at 7:11 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^
Behind probably the best O-line in the country. But yes, you could say McCaffrey benefited from a senior QB.
All of those defensive stats he cites though aren't for rushing defense, they're for total defense. I picked a team at random, Texas A&M. He says their defense is 43rd, but their rushing defense is 103rd in the country. And you still need to adjust for tempo and opponents. Do you think Wisconsin really has the 4th-best rush defense in the country? Or did they benefit from playing Purdue, Illinois, etc.? Who even has a decent offense in the Big Ten West? Iowa?
December 13th, 2015 at 9:10 AM ^
Rankings are S&P+ Rush Defense
Standford:
- Northwestern: 16th (McCaffery 171 All Purpose yds. 66 rush 23 rec)
- UCF: 107th (McCaffery 166 All Purpose yds. 58 rush 59 rec)
- USC: 35th (McCaffery 249 All Purpose yds. 115 rush 37 rec)
- Oregon State: 100th (McCaffery 303 All Purpose yds. 206 rush 38 rec)
- Arizona: 66th (McCaffery 260 All Purpose yds. 156 rush 11 rec)
- UCLA: 54th (McCaffery 369 All Purpose yds. 243 rush 4 rec)
- Washington: 20th (McCaffery 300 All Purpose yds. 109 rush 112 rec)
- WSU: 89th (McCaffery 136 All Purpose yds. 107 rush 26 rec)
- Colorado: 95th (McCaffery 220 All Purpose yds. 147 rush 15 rec)
- Oregon: 110th (McCaffery 244 All Purpose yds. 147 rush 42 rec)
- Cal: 73th (McCaffery 389 All Purpose yds. 192 rush 49 rec)
- Notre Dame: 51st (McCaffery 228 All Purpose yds. 94 rush 19 rec)
- USC again: 35th (McCaffery 461 All Purpose yds. 207 rush 105 rec)
Alabama:
- Wisconsin: 14th (Henry 159 All Purpose yds. 147 rush 12 rec)
- Middle Tennessee: 83rd (Henry 96 All Purpose yds. 96 rush)
- Ole Miss: 18th (Henry 166 All Purpose yds. 127 rush 39 rec)
- Louisiana Monroe: 45th (Henry 52 All Purpose yds. 52 rush )
- Georgia: 23rd (Henry 148 All Purpose yds. 148 rush)
- Arkansas: 56th (Henry 95 All Purpose yds. 95 rush)
- Texas AnM: 82nd (Henry 254 All Purpose yds. 236 rush 18 rec)
- Tennessee: 25th (Henry 143 All Purpose yds. 143 rush)
- LSU: 50th (Henry 210 All Purpose yds. 210 rush)
- Mississippi State: 60th (Henry 204 All Purpose yds. 204 rush)
- Charleston Southern: FCS (Henry 96 All Purpose yds. 68 rush 28 rec)
- Auburn: 53rd (Henry 271 All Purpose yds. 271 rush)
- Florida: 5th (Henry 189 All Purpose yds. 189 rush
December 13th, 2015 at 7:28 AM ^
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December 13th, 2015 at 3:01 AM ^
the Heisman's original designation as the best player in the country became irrelevant, with the single exception of Woodson. It would make more sense to give two Heismans, one for offense and one for defense.