After last week, my mind has changed some on the Heisman trophy. I have taken last week’s post and updated it to reflect what happened in last week’s games. But first, here is how I would vote with last week's ranking in parenthesis:
1) Montee Ball (+2)
2) Trent Richardson (+0)
3) Andrew Luck (+1)
4) Matt Barkley (NR)
5) Case Keenum (+0)
Below is the original list of players that I listed as of last week for Heisman consideration. I’ve marked out the few players that I think are out of the race after this past weekend's games.
Trent Richardson
Brandon Weeden
Justin Blackmon
David Wilson
Logan Thomas
Andrew Luck
Kellen Moore
Case Keenum
Aaron Murray
Montee Ball
Robert Griffin
Matt Barkley
First of all, LaMicheal James was injured for the second half of last week’s game and while that doesn’t mean he is any worse of a player, we saw that Oregon was still able to roll without him. He won’t be able to make up any ground next week because of the weakness of UCLA. Even if he has 3 TDs and 200 yards, I don’t think that gets him back into consideration. Landry Jones had a very sub-par performance against Iowa State. When compared to Weeden’s stats from the previous week (even though OSU lost), Jones looked far inferior. Russell Wilson and Colin Klein were the hardest to cut from the list. Wilson has fallen off stat-wise for the past two weeks. His yardage, TDs, and completion percentage are all down and Montee Ball has stolen the show in Wisconsin for now. Klein on the other hand has fallen out of the national spotlight. He looked great against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State however with being off this week and a game against Iowa State next week. I don’t think Klein is still in consideration. I also think that Logan Thomas should be out, but I feel like leaving him in just for the heck of it.
Now I’ll divide them into QB and non-QB for discussion purposes. First let’s discuss the non-QB.
Trent Richardson – 1583 yds, 6.0 yds/attempt, 20 TDs; 3 TD rec; 9 100-yard games; 327 rec yards
Justin Blackmon – 1241 yds, 12 yds/reception, 15 TDs; scored a TD in each of teams last 10 games
David Wilson – 1595 yds, 6.3 yds/attempt, 9 TDs; 1 TD rec; 10 100-yard games; never rushed for below 82 yards
Montee Ball – 1622 yds, 6.5 yds/attempt, 29 TDs; 5 TD rec; 2 200-yard games; scored at least 2 TDs in every game
Here is how I rank the RBs/WRs with previous ranking in parenthesis:
1) Montee Ball (2)
2) Trent Richardson (1)
3) David Wilson (3)
4) Justin Blackmon (4)
Montee Ball moves ahead of Richardson this week in my mind due to his scoring 4 TD’s against a very good Penn State defense. Richardson and Wilson both also had superb outings this week as well. Wilson could move ahead of Richardson with a dominating performance in the ACC Championship game (200 yds, 3TDs would probably be needed). Also, Montee Ball needs a win to remain in his perch atop the non-QB rankings. Blackmon remains in a distant fourth, but could jump to 2nd with Wisconsin and Virginia Tech losses.
Now on to the QBs
Brandon Weeden – 4111 yds, 73 comp%, 34 TDs, 12 ints, 162.2 rating; 4 400-yd passing games and 1 500-yd game
Logan Thomas – 2525 yds, 60.5 comp%, 18 TDs, 7 ints, 141.2 rating; 10 TDs rushing; 23 total TDs and 2 picks in last 7 games
Andrew Luck – 3170 yds, 70 comp%, 35 TDs, 9 ints, 167.5 rating; 2 TDs rushing; 8 games with 3 or more TD Passes, at least 2 TDs in every game
Kellen Moore – 3194 yds, 73.8 comp%, 38 TDs, 7 ints, 175.2 rating; 9 games with 3 or more TD passes, at least 2 TDs in every game
Case Keenum – 4726 yds, 73.4 comp%, 43 TDs, 3 ints, 187.3 rating; 3 TDs rushing; until last week, never had a game rating below 150, 9 TDs in one game
Aaron Murray – 2698 yds, 61 comp%, 32 TDs, 10 ints, 155.4 rating; 2 TDs rushing; led team to 10 straight victories
Robert Griffin – 3678 yds, 72.9 comp%, 34 TDs, 5 ints, 191.1 rating; 7 TDs rushing; thrown for 3 TDs in 8 games
Matt Barkley – 3528 yds, 69.1 comp%, 39 TDs, 5 ints, 161.2 rating; 2 TDs rushing; 2 6-TD games
Here is how I rank the QBs with their previous ranking in parenthesis.
1) Andrew Luck (2)
2) Matt Barkley (8)
3) Case Keenum (3)
4) Brandon Weeden (5)
5) Robert Griffin (1)
6) Aaron Murray (10)
7) Kellen Moore (7)
8) Logan Thomas (9)
This past week most of these quarterbacks did a significant amount to improve their Heisman profile. However, my #1 ranked player last week, Robert Griffin III, was the only player to digress. That will hurt his chances significantly moving forward. Matt Barkley had the best day statistically; however, I think that Andrew Luck did the most to bolster his Heisman chances. Kellen Moore had another great game, but is falling drastically out of the race due to a lack of exposure. For two of the players listed above, their season is over (Luck, Barkley). Brandon Weeden will have a chance next week to jump right back into the Heisman picture and Case Keenum could easily move up with the national exposure of the Conference USA Championship Game. Also, Aaron Murray and Logan Thomas could both make a case with a very strong performance in their respective championship games. Murray would need to beat LSU and Thomas would need a 5-TD performance and team domination over Clemson. Robert Griffin will need to play next week (he is currently listed as questionable) to have a chance. He is playing Texas, which should bring exposure and could boost his resume.
