ESPN Heisman Rankings

Submitted by natesezgoblue on

ESPN comes out with its heisman rankings once a week.  this is what it looks like currently.  Is Geno smith really the favorite right now?  While Im not sure that Denard can win it I think he gets an invite.

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/heisman/

 

Geno Smith QB West Virginia Sr. 12 3 0 0 0 72
De'Anthony Thomas RB Oregon So. 3 8 1 0 0 50
Johnathan Franklin RB UCLA Sr. 0 1 7 3 3 34
Braxton Miller QB Ohio State So. 0 1 4 0 1 17
Matt Barkley QB USC Sr. 0 0 2 3 2 14
Collin Klein QB Kansas State Sr. 0 1 0 3 3 13
Teddy Bridgewater QB Louisville So. 0 0 1 0 3 6
Jarvis Jones LB Georgia Jr. 0 0 0 2 0 4
Marqise Lee WR USC So. 0 1 0 0 0 4
Stepfan Taylor RB Stanford Sr. 0 0 0 1 1 3
Tajh Boyd QB Clemson Sr. 0 0 0 1 0 2
DeAndre Hopkins WR Clemson Jr. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Marcus Lattimore RB South Carolina Jr. 0 0 0 1 0 2
Aaron Murray QB Georgia Jr. 0 0 0 0 1 1
Denard Robinson QB Michigan Sr. 0 0 0 0 1 1

 

justingoblue

September 18th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^

Same thing with Ingram, though. There was talk about how he might have been the second best RB on his team; his OL was just so dominant that I think we don't know just how good he was, either.

Either way, though, Smith has played absolutely nobody. McCarron has some ridiculous stats against two former top ten teams, one on the road and one at a neutral site.

justingoblue

September 18th, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^

He also threw for 199 yards at 9.5YPA against 2TD and 0INT against us.

If completion percentage is your thing, he completed 68.8% against Arkansas.

Maybe ridiculous was the wrong choice in words, but he's been very good against good to very good competition.

Nosce Te Ipsum

September 18th, 2012 at 3:56 PM ^

You're wrong on both. He played a bad game against Michigan and Arkansas is a tire fire. They were giving up 27.5 point per game to two bad teams before they even played Bama. The link to the Arkansas page is at the bottom. Please do some research next time before you just start spewing the same garbage the mouth breathers at ESPN do.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/8/arkansas-razorbacks

Perkis-Size Me

September 18th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^

McCarron is a game manager, not a game changer. Heisman Trophy winners are game-changers, like Ingram and Richardson were. I am not denying McCarron's talents, but Alabama would be just fine without him.

In addition, and I know that this is kind of a stupid qualification, but as of now, he doesn't really have any of those "Heisman moments," kind of like RGIII's games against Oklahoma and TCU, or Cam Newton's Alabama game. He hasn't had to carry the team. He's just another cog in the war machine that is Alabama football. Again, I'm not saying he isn't talented, but he doesn't scream "Heisman Trophy Winner" to me.

Urban Warfare

September 18th, 2012 at 10:08 PM ^

According to ESPN, Denard has 8.8 YPC, Braxton has 6.7, and one more rushing TD than Denard.  Also more passing touchdowns, a higher completion percentage, and half as many interceptions. 

michelin

September 19th, 2012 at 7:50 AM ^

Denard has played against a schedule rated 50% harder than Miller,

yet has amassed a  31%, ypc and a 12% TD per carry advantage over Miller

His QB rating is almost identical (within a 2% margin of error).  All the other stats you mention are entirely redundant, as they are included in the qb rating.

Clearly, there is no justification for ranking MIller ahead of Denard.  Quite the opposite.





(Denard ypc advantage of 31.3% (8.8 denard/7.7 miller).   

TD per carry advantage of Denard(4/40)/(5/56)Miller= 12%.

Miller 151.8/148.7 Denard QB rating = 2 pct higher.

SOS advantage for Ohio is 81/54= 50%.)



http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/rushing/qu…

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt12.htm

Swazi

September 18th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^

I like how ESPN made the comparison to Smith this season and RG3 from last season.  You cannot compare the two, at least not yet.  RG3 already played TCU.  Where as Geno Smith's hardest opponent so far is Marshall.  Smith's first major test will be when they play at Texas. 

Let's talk when he drops 5 TDs on Kansas State, or 4 on Oklahoma.  Let alone having just shy of 700 rushing yards and 10 rushing TDs.

BubbaT33

September 18th, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^

That is an improvement, the other day he was not even listed among those be considered!  If he could stop throwing to the other team -- I think he would be in consideration!  His numbers by any other QB would be considered all world!

jmblue

September 18th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^

I think it'd be nice to see Geno Smith win the Heisman.  I like to see some of less-hyped programs get Heisman winners, like Baylor last year.  Nothing against Matt Barkley, but I'm tired of USC quarterbacks winning.

 

Don

September 18th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^

All three of our Heisman winners had wins against MSU and OSU, and Desmond and Charles had victories against ND as well.

The problem is that Heisman consideration is heavily influenced by overall team record; RGIII winning last year in spite of 3 losses, including 2 beatdowns, was unusual.

JHendo

September 18th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^

But I just can't help it.  How the hell to you just ignore Shoelace and throw him down at the bottom with one last place vote.  Despite going up against the best team in the country, the kid has over 1000 total yards and 10 touchdowns!  And to all those guys who aren't giving him a any acknowledgement because of how he played at 'Bama, last I checked, no QB this season or last has gone thrown for as many yards as he did against "Bama, and so far this season he's the only person this to score a running touchdown against them, rb or otherwise.  Complete bullshit.

justingoblue

September 18th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^

last season, SEC QB's accounted for four touchdowns against Alabama's defense (one in the final three minutes of a blowout against Mississippi State). This Alabama defense is probably better than a year ago. They allowed one rushing touchdown to an SEC team all season in 2011.

I'd be shocked if anyone comes close to the stat line Denard had against Alabama before bowl season. If I were to set an over/under on touchdowns allowed by Alabama between now and the SECCG (it would probably be about 2.5), would anyone take the over?

JHendo

September 18th, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^

Thanks, and I do understand what it means.  If ESPN pollsters are allowed to give out votes for 1-5, then 5th is a last place vote for who they believe are Heisman contenders.  Yes, it's a fake honor to get a vote at all, but I prefer to look at a 5th place vote by only one guy in a negative light, especially for how Denard played so far this season.

snarling wolverine

September 18th, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^

It's not a fake honor.  There are a ton of great players who didn't get any votes.  Let's not forget that we are talking about a QB who 1) has thrown four interceptions in three games and 2) lost by 27 points in a nationally-televised game in week one.  

I love Denard, and I think he's played better than his passing stat lines suggest, but I don't see any disrespect in the fact that most voters don't currently consider him one of the five best players in the country through three weeks.

jmblue

September 18th, 2012 at 3:59 PM ^

Despite going up against the best team in the country, the kid has over 1000 total yards and 10 touchdowns!

Let's take off our maize-and-blue tinted glasses for a minute. Denard has racked up about 80% of his yards (and eight of his ten TDs) against Air Force and UMass.  Neutral observers do not care what happened in those games.  Furthermore, against Alabama, he started out the game 5-17 passing, before playing better after we fell behind by 31 points.  Over half his yards in that game came on two passes, both of which came when the game was already effectively decided (and a lot of viewers had probably turned the game off). If this were another team's QB, we would not be arguing that he was being disrespected. We might well be calling him overrated.  (I'm not saying that he is, but that's how a non-Michigan fan might think.)  He will have his chances to step back into the spotlight, starting this Saturday night.

JHendo

September 18th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^

but it doesn't make my points completely invalid.

Geno Smith has played James Madison and Marshall, which is pretty much the spot on equivalent of UMass and Air Force (if not worse), and it seems that neutral oberservers cared about those games a lot.  Yes an 88% completion percentage, 325 yds and 4.5 touchdown average is well outside of normal stat lines, but if every pollster disregarded games against far inferior opponents, wouldn't Geno only have a few of the 70 votes/points he has now?

And again, Michigan wasn't the first team to fall behind to Bama, nor was Denard the first QB to start horribly against them, yet he was the only person to put up the "numbers" he did.  Plenty other qbs have had the oppurtunity to put yds and throw bombs in trash time in games verse the Crimson Tide, but they haven't been able to.  I know that voters probably could care less that what he did was an accomplishment in comparison to past players, but the fact is, in retrospect, what he did was impressive in its own right.

That being said, time for Denard's favorite opponent to really get everyone's attention!

jmblue

September 18th, 2012 at 6:54 PM ^

Geno Smith has had three good games. Denard has had two good games and one bad game. Yes, the bad one came against a good team, but it was still a bad game, and most contenders right now haven't had one.  

Even if it's true, as you suggest, that Denard played better than anyone on Alabama's schedule last year, that doesn't necessarily make him a Heisman contender, because 1) they didn't face many good QBs last year; 2) we don't yet know if their defense now is as good as it was then; and 3) lots of people watched the game, and saw him throw two killer picks and our offense completely stall while the game was still (somewhat) in doubt before he managed to complete a few throws later on.

If he doesn't have another bad game the rest of the season (and stops throwing interceptions every week), he'll be a finalist.  Let it play out.

 

 

 

State Street

September 18th, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^

The Geno hype reminds me of Denard winning the September Heisman the past two years.  Don't think he'll keep up the pace.

It's also pretty comical how everybody is writing off Denard and Barkley already as if they have exactly 0 shot of winning.  So if Denard goes 200/200 with 4 TDs every game the rest of the season he wouldn't win the award, because he looked ordinary against Alabama?  Didn't think so.

Sten Carlson

September 18th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^

AS to Geno, an old tour caddy friend of mine used to say of the first round leader, "Dog shit fast, don't shit long..."

I like where Denard is at this point.  In seasons past Denard has won the September Heisman, but faltered down the stretch.  I'd like to see him a bit under the radar, but keep putting up solid numbers against ND and the B10.  At this point, these polls are putting too much emphasis on early games -- like the Bama game -- because they have nothing else to go on.  I think Denard gets to NY, and the ND will have a lot to do with whether or not he wins.

Jfox1020

September 18th, 2012 at 3:27 PM ^

McCarron is a good qb on a great team.. he had less than 200yrd against arkansas and his game vs. Mich was no heisman statement.. I think that the voters should give it to the Alabama DEFENSE..b/c this list BLOWS

Darth Wolverine

September 18th, 2012 at 3:28 PM ^

While I would love it if a M player wins the award again, the Heisman is the dumbest of all the awards. It's supposed to go to the most outstanding player in college football and isn't supposed to be limited to QBs and RBs. I know there obviously have been players to win the award who did not play any of those positions, but in the last 10-15 years, it seems that the only people who have a shot at winning are RBs and QBs. It seems that it just goes to either the RB or QB with the best statistics and that is dumb. I want to see more defensive players get attention for the Heisman. For example, Tyrann Mathieu should have won the Heisman last year.

Scarlatina

September 19th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^

Why? Mathieu wasn't even the best CB on his team last year. I felt like Tyrann just benefited a ton from the whole "Honey Badger" hype, and the fact that he's a pretty eletric kick/punt returner.

If you want to point to a defensive player that should've won the Heisman recently, than I would go with Ndamukong Suh. Seriously, the fact that Suh only came in 4th in the Heisman voting is a travesty. How dominate was Suh that year?

Gerald McCoy was considered the 2nd best DT that season. Over a 3-year career at Oklahoma, McCoy compiled: 83 tlks, 33 TFLs, and 14.5 sacks

Ndamukong Suh had: 85 tlks, 24 TFLs, and 12 sacks... IN ONE SEASON.

RickH

September 18th, 2012 at 3:57 PM ^

Stepfan Taylor getting absolutely no respect.  He should be one of the favorites in my opinion.

 

Geno Smith is also a product of WVU's system.  He makes the system better because he's a good player but other QBs could step in and have ridiculous numbers too.  It's just like Oregon's system where they've had different running backs and QBs put in and still get similar results like the likes of LaMichael James and Darron Thomas.

Rhino77

September 18th, 2012 at 4:19 PM ^

Ok, I know this will sound like OSU bashing but I just don't get the Braxton Miller love right now? They have played 3 cupcakes and nothing jumps off the page with his stats. He completed 75% of his passes vs UCF, that I give him credit for, but other than that he is at 58.3% and 53.3% completion %.

OSU has one of the weaker schedules out there, with UAB next up and a total of 3 ranked teams on the schedule to date. You have to play some big games to get Heisman talk.