Monday, October 31
Young or Bush?
Travis has started a little controversy here. He says the Heisman is Vince’s to lose. The Heisman Pundit, who spends a great deal of time studying the science of Heisman voting, says Bush is the man to beat right now. Much of the disagreement comes over whether or not Vince Young had a “Heisman Moment” on Saturday, with his game-changing 80 yard touchdown run. Student Body Right is arguing that Travis is over-stating the importance of such moments.
We can run in circles debating this, and to be fair, I think all three pundits are making some legitimate arguments. While a “Heisman moment” may not be a prerequisite for winning the award, Vince Young certainly turned some positive attention his way with his sick run (and even sicker total game stats.)
With all that said, this may just be a lesson in Flavor-Of-The-Day-ism. It’s the cousin of What-Have-You-Done-For-Me-Lately-isms, and when the voters send in their ballots, their votes will likely be cast by what these outstanding players do last. If Young has an abysmal game against Texas A&M, or chunks the Big 12 championship game, he can kiss the trophy good-bye. If Bush fumbles away a USC perfect season against UCLA, he’ll be similarly dinged.
So while all the informal polls will show Young and Bush slightly ahead of one another from week to week, in the end it will come down to how these two studs perform at the end, when all are watching. On Friday of Thanksgiving week, Texas gets the spotlight against A&M in the one of the only games available for viewing. Similarly, when USC and UCLA square off at the end of the year, the eyes of the nation will tune in to see these two Pac 10 leaders collide. If Bush dominates the Bruins like he did the Irish, he can win it right then.
The wild card in this race is Matt Leinart, who, should he blow up with amazing stats down the stretch, could steal some of Bush’s thunder and split USC votes. In that case, Young could finish the winner, even, perhaps, without having the most first place votes.
I think Mike Holt said it best, though. At least for Texas, the Heisman Trophy is an afterthought—fuel for debate on blogs like this one. USC’s had their national title. We have not. That’s the real prize and the only one that counts.
--PB--
We can run in circles debating this, and to be fair, I think all three pundits are making some legitimate arguments. While a “Heisman moment” may not be a prerequisite for winning the award, Vince Young certainly turned some positive attention his way with his sick run (and even sicker total game stats.)
With all that said, this may just be a lesson in Flavor-Of-The-Day-ism. It’s the cousin of What-Have-You-Done-For-Me-Lately-isms, and when the voters send in their ballots, their votes will likely be cast by what these outstanding players do last. If Young has an abysmal game against Texas A&M, or chunks the Big 12 championship game, he can kiss the trophy good-bye. If Bush fumbles away a USC perfect season against UCLA, he’ll be similarly dinged.
So while all the informal polls will show Young and Bush slightly ahead of one another from week to week, in the end it will come down to how these two studs perform at the end, when all are watching. On Friday of Thanksgiving week, Texas gets the spotlight against A&M in the one of the only games available for viewing. Similarly, when USC and UCLA square off at the end of the year, the eyes of the nation will tune in to see these two Pac 10 leaders collide. If Bush dominates the Bruins like he did the Irish, he can win it right then.
The wild card in this race is Matt Leinart, who, should he blow up with amazing stats down the stretch, could steal some of Bush’s thunder and split USC votes. In that case, Young could finish the winner, even, perhaps, without having the most first place votes.
I think Mike Holt said it best, though. At least for Texas, the Heisman Trophy is an afterthought—fuel for debate on blogs like this one. USC’s had their national title. We have not. That’s the real prize and the only one that counts.
--PB--
Comments:
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Heisman's are great and place you in an elite crowd for the remainder of time. Unfourtunately, the Heisman is a single award for a single player. So, as you noted in the post a National Championship makes a team great and a whole team part of history. I'd love to see Vince get the Heisman, but I only really want to see it if we have a Team going down in history for a National Championship too. It'd be the absolute best.
Though if he just gets a Heisman or we get a National title and he goes Heisman-less, this is still best year of Longhorn football I've ever been alive for.
Though if he just gets a Heisman or we get a National title and he goes Heisman-less, this is still best year of Longhorn football I've ever been alive for.
# posted by 
: 10/31/2005 7:09 PM
: 10/31/2005 7:09 PM
I'll take Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija over any of the other Heisman contenders.
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# posted by : 11/01/2005 3:16 AM
: 11/01/2005 3:16 AM << Home |
