Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sunday 12/10 A.M. Quickie:
McFadden for Heisman? Yes...in 2007!

Unsurprisingly, Ohio State QB Troy Smith won the Heisman by an overwhelming margin. In a bit of a surprise, Arkansas RB Darren McFadden beat out Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn for second place. Given the certainty of the Smith outcome, it actually reaffirms my faith in the otherwise sketchy batch of 1,000 Heisman voters. (See my own Heisman vote – with McFadden as my ultimate pick – from Thursday.)

Looking ahead to 2007, McFadden -- just a sophomore this season -- becomes the overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman. (Others on the early-early radar: West Virginia RB Steve Slaton and Rutgers RB Ray Rice. Should be a great year for running backs.)

College Hoops: In a battle of two of the Top 3 teams on the West Coast, Gonzaga waxed Washington by 20 in Spokane. The third Top 3 team – top-ranked UCLA – got away with a 3-point win over trendy Texas A&M. UCLA is legit.

CFB Coaching Carousel: Dennis Erickson is back in the Pac-10, bolting from Idaho to Arizona State. So much for the hot rumor that AZ State was going to hire Norm Chow.

NBA: Iverson Rumors Overwhelm T'wolves. And, yet, Minnesota was motivated enough to beat the Bulls, snapping Chicago's 7-game W streak. KG reaffirmed his interest in getting AI, but T'wolves owner Glen Taylor insists that the financials wouldn't work out. Cripes: With KG and AI, couldn't they simply sign three guys from the local General Mills IM league and be competitive?

NFL Live-Comment Tailgate: Settling in for a day of NFL games? Use the Comments section below to weigh in on the developments of the day.

-- D.S.

21 comments:

chipp said...

I still don't understand McFadden over I. Johnson. Would someone please provide a compelling argument FOR McFadden?

Ma4tt (the 4 is silent) said...

Wait - next year's frontrunners are from Arkansas, West Virginia, and Rutgers?

"What the hell is going on out here?"

Richard said...

The argument FOR McFadden is that he was the teams's top RB, WR and QB, he was insanely productive and the Razorbacks were completely blown out when he didn't play (see USC).

Other possible heisman winners: Brian Brohm, Calvin Johnson, Chad Henne, Michael Hart. Of course any of those guys could go pro this year.

Andy said...

Quinn played like crap against Michigan, but played really well against USC (22/45, 330 yds, 3 TD, 0 turnovers along with 70 rushing yards) with his team screwing him over repeatedly with dropped balls.

McFadden didn't play hardly at all against USC because he was too busy getting into bar fights, and against Florida he ran for 86 yards. Two biggest games...two underwhelming performances.

And yet Quinn gets the campaign run against him like no Heisman contender in history and McFadden finishes ahead of him while hopelessly retarded people like Stewart Mandel vote IAN JOHNSON OF BOISE FUCKING STATE ahead of Quinn and some other idiot votes JAMARCUS FUCKING RUSSELL 2nd.

By no means should Quinn have won it, but the way the media handled the Heisman race this year is as disgusting as I've ever seen. If Quinn had submitted the 3 stinkbombs that Smith did against PSU, MSU and Illinois the media would have tossed him aside like yesterday's garbage.

Jen said...

andy (and Dan as well)~ Please. It was the Penn State game that had the "highlight play" of Smith scrambling away from defenders and throwing the perfect rocket to Robiskie. He does what he has to on the field to get the game won. Just because he didn't have 300+ passing yards in every game doesn't mean he didn't have what it takes to win the Heisman. Even with his few mediocre games, he still had 30 TDs and 2500+ passing yards this year.

Mike said...

Just checked the injury report in my fantasy league. Delhomme is inactive. Prepare yourselves to hear the name Weinke ALL. DAY. LONG.

'07 Heismann Darkhorse: Brandon Ore, VT.

Anonymous said...

You should also include on your early Hesiman list for next year, QB for the #1 team in the country.

That person has been at least invited the past 5 or 6 years (too lazy to look it up)

mrmom61 said...

The Colts defense sucks hard.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE

Colt Brennan also has a Senior year left in him. The Potential for record breaking is crazy. The lack of other QBs is also to his advantage.

What if the running backs (Slaton, Rice, McFadden) knock eachother off in the conversation for who is the best running back but Colt is seen as by far the best QB? That wouldn't win him the Heisman?

BTW... Colt was great his Sophmore year and incredible his Junior year. Compensating for him playing a bowl game this year and the average upgrade between his seasons, these would be his stats for next year:

462/602 passing, 76.7% CMP, 6715 YRDS, 11.15 YPA, 93 TD, 11 INT, 217.77 QB RAT, 72 rushes, 871 YRDS, 12.1 YPC, 14 Rush TD

I'm not saying that will happen (esspecially that 93 TDs and 218 QB rating) but the question is...

What does the guy have to do?
Is there a rule that says no Heisman's from the WAC?

Jon said...

Washington isn't really a top 3 West Coast team. Don't be fooled by the rankings. UCLA, Gonzaga, and Arizona are the best out West.

Glen Taylor is probably right. KG and AI's contracts are huge and with the cap it is tough to make a deal work. If I watched the NBA I guess that would be a nice duo to watch.

Looks like Matsuzaka deal isn't working out too well for the Sox. I don't get why they don't just throw down the additional 4 million a year to sign this guy....unless their bid was just a bid to keep him in Japan for another year and away from the Yankees.

Steve said...

regarding the no WAC rule for Heismans...

There certainly should be a rule like that. 2 words: Ty Detmer.

Jon said...

Eagles are looking pretty decent without McNabb. Their run D is still pretty pathetic though.

Christopher G said...

Not so sure about the KG/AI combo. The Target Center would definitely fill some more seats, but the excitement will die down quickly if they don't win.

I seem to remember the Chris Webber didn't mesh to well with AI. Then again, CW is a shell of his former self and not at the same level of KG anymore.

Josh said...

No way the Colts win the Super Bowl with a run defense like this.

Anonymous said...

The heisman's a crock, you all know that right?

A bunch of voters who never see the guys play voting for the school that has the best publicity machine.

On the other hand, maybe you think the NFL drug policy is effective too.

setherton22 said...

Looking for an NFL defensive MVP? How about Jason Taylor, who is quietly having the best year of his great career:

44 Tackles, 10.5 sacks, 7 forced fumbles, 9 pass deflections, and 2 TDs.

Kurt said...

Dan, your predictions are looking pretty good so far...

Dan picks Colts, Jags blow them out.
Dan picks Pats, Dolphins blow them out.
Dan picks Chiefs, Ravens win.
Dan picks Panthers, Giants win.

cl9699 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
cl9699 said...

"49ers over Packers: I keep saying "Now THAT is the final insult to Brett Favre's staggeringly embarrassing career finish." And yet he keeps finding new ways. "

Great insight yet again, Dan...

GB - 30
SF - 19

Old Man Favre's line:

CP/AT YDS TD INT
22/34 293 2 0


Stop, please.

Mike said...

LT, #29.

Anyone else hear the announcers shocked that LT came back out? I had said before the kickoff after #28 that if they get the ball with a short field, there's no way you wouldn't see LT.