Heisman Odds

From the get-go I had it narrowed down to Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Adrian Peterson and Vince Young.

Based on Bomar looking way too rusty at this point to lead Oklahoma to an effective passing game, I've got to eliminate Adrian Peterson... Teams will just be stacking up against the run against Oklahoma and it will limit his performance.

Reggie Bush has an impressive 8.3 yds per carry and 17.1 yds per reception, but it just seems like when you see USC, you see Matt Leinart. Voters will see the same thing.

Matt Leinart is sporting a QB rating of 136.6, and a 10:2 TD to interception ratio. I have to say he is the front-runner at this point.

Vince Young got a lot of exposure in the nationally televised night game against Ohio State, but one thing stands out about his #'s that has been constant his entire time at Texas -- his passing game. In 2003 he threw 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Understandable, it was his freshman year. In 2004, his first full season, he only improved slightly, throwing 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. This year, after playing a tough Ohio State team but also two cupcakes in Lousiana-Lafayette and Rice, he only has a 5:4 touchdown to intereception ratio with a 94.0 QB rating. If his TD/INT ratio is that bad against 2 cupcake teams and a contender, I don't think its going to get better as he goes through Big 12 play. If his TD/INT ratio is anywhere near even, I don't see how he could be given the Heisman.


A couple of dark horses:

Reggie McNeal (Texas A&M): 14/4 TD to interception ratio last year. 8/1 already this year with a QB rating just slightly under Leinart's. When compared directly to Vince Young, he's thrown for 200+ yards more in about the same number of attempts, and rushed for 100 more yards in 10 less attempts. If Texas A&M can hang around the Top 25 this year, he's going to get some major consideration if he does well in some nationally televised games.

Brian Calhoun (Wisconsin): A similar situation to Oklahoma in that the Wisconsin passing game is not all that impressive, but Calhoun has still managed to get the job done. He almost single-handedly won the game against Michigan last night. In situations where any other team would have been passing late in the game, the Badgers were handing it off to Calhoun -- and Michigan couldn't stop him. Wisconsin is also starting to get him into the passing game as well, with 4 receptions against North Carolina and 7 receptions against Michigan. If he keeps up his current pace and has maybe one outstanding game, he's got an outside shot at getting 2000 yards -- and that is without playing a cupcake D1AA opponent like some other schools. Only one player has gotten to 2000 yards and not gotten the Heisman (Troy Davis in 1996 who came in 2nd place by 200 votes to Danny Wuerfful, but was the only other contender). Iowa State was also 2-9 in the 1996 season -- I expect Wisconsin will fare much better.
 

Chuck Sims

EOG Dedicated
WSEX has Bush/Leinart vs. everyone else. They update the odds every week. Going into this past weeks games, the USC combo was +117.
 
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