College Football 2015: My Top 5 Heisman Candidates after Week 10

Separation Saturday, as the crucial season-shaping slate of games was called, certainly gave us plenty of storylines, and as far as the race for the Heisman Trophy goes, we saw a few strong candidates – and pre-season favourites – fall by the wayside. So, who’s in the frame to take home college football’s most prestigious individual award? After ten weeks of football, there’s still likely to be a few twists and turns, but, for the moment, here are my top five:

5. Leonard Fournette (Running Back, Louisiana State University)
 
Last weekend’s Alabama/Louisiana State contest in Tuscaloosa was billed as a clash of two brilliant running backs, Fournette for LSU and Henry for the Tide, but Fournette was monstered by a fierce Alabama defense, and barely made an impact. In fact, that’s probably putting things nicely. Fournette looked like a kid against grown men, and were it not for a late carry, his yards-per-carry average would’ve been below 1. As it was, the 1.6 yards per carry for thirty one total yards and a touchdown isn’t a great look.

What we need to work out over the next few weeks is whether Fournette’s subpar game on Saturday night was an exception to the rule. Given he averaged nigh on 175 rushing yards per game coming into the Alabama showdown, I’m inclined to think that it is. I mean, this isn’t the first time that a really good back has been stoned by a Nick Saban-coached defense, and it probably won’t be the last, either.

That said, Fournette is going to really need to reel off some big yardage totals down the stretch if he wants to realistically challenge. The Tigers have Arkansas, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, so anything is possible. A top 5 candidate at the moment, but the Tide game has, for mine, really hurt his prospects.

4. Corey Coleman (Wide Receiver, Baylor University)

You basically only need to put the football somewhere in the same postcode as Coleman for the Baylor star to make the catch, and it apparently doesn’t matter which quarterback is throwing to him, either. It was Seth Russell up until last week, when freshman Jarrett Stidham took over after a season-ending injury to Russell, and Coleman still snagged eleven receptions for 216 yards, and scored two touchdowns.

Like the Baylor team as a whole, it’s easy to look at Coleman’s numbers eye-popping – 58 receptions for 1178 yards and twenty touchdowns at a touch over twenty yards per reception – and be impressed, until you remember that the Bears really haven’t played anyone of note.

The schedule gets infinitely harder for Baylor beginning this week, with Oklahoma on the docket, and Oklahoma State and Texas Christian also ahead before the end of the season, so we’ll get a better indication of how good Coleman really is beginning with the primetime Saturday night clash against the Sooners this week. I’m interested to see if he can keep up what’s, frankly, ridiculous production.

3. Ezekiel Elliott (Running Back, Ohio State University)

Having a season for the ages, Elliott is the bright spot in an otherwise uneven Buckeye offense. No matter what the quarterback situation is, Elliott keeps on keeping on. He reeled off his fourteenth straight 100-yard rushing performance last week against Minnesota (114 yards and one touchdown, at an average of 4.4 yards per carry), and helped the defending national champions to another win.

To date this year, no defense has yet been able to slow Elliott down. It’s almost a victory when you hold the back to somewhere around the 110-115 yard mark. Elliott’s scored fourteen touchdowns through ten weeks, and has already rushed for more than 1200 yards at better than 6 yards per touch.

With Michigan State and Michigan still to come for Ohio State, plus a likely Big Ten Championship Game berth against a good Iowa defense, we can probably expect to see Elliott remain at or near the top of the Heisman rankings. And it seems increasingly likely that if Ohio State are to repeat as national champions, it will be thanks to Elliott’s efforts.

2. Derrick Henry (Running Back, University of Alabama)

The Alabama/LSU game was supposed to be a clash of two brilliant running backs, both testing defences, and potentially winning the game by themselves. Except that LSU’s Leonard Fournette was kept well in check by a rampant Nick Saban defense, whilst Henry, a bull of a back, wasn't so well contained. In fact, he ran for 210 yards and three touchdowns against the Tigers, and looked dangerous every time he touched the football in a huge showcase game.

Henry has run for seventeen touchdowns so far this year – that’s tied for the most in FBS football – whilst amassing more than 1250 yards in ten games, averaging nearly six yards a carry. Saturday night’s primetime evisceration of what we thought was a pretty good LSU defense was nothing short of spectacular, and it’s really helped stamp Henry as a serious Heisman contender.

1. Christian McCaffrey (Running Back, Stanford University)

At the moment, my clubhouse leader. Fairly quietly out west, McCaffrey has been putting up eye-popping numbers, carrying Stanford, who stumbled early on the road against Northwestern, towards a Pac-12 Championship Game berth. There isn’t anything McCaffrey can’t do on the football field – and he does everything well. He runs, blocks, throws touchdown passes, makes receptions and handles return duties for punts and kick-offs.

Did you know there’ve been just nine occasions this year where a player as achieved the mark of 300 or more yards of total offense? McCaffrey’s been responsible for three of them, including a whopping 369 yards against UCLA. You can’t argue with those numbers. He’s a special player.

Most of the college football world assumes that the Cardinal will remain undefeated before a showdown with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and that looms as being a test like Fournette had – and failed – against Alabama. If McCaffrey goes off in that game, you could just about start inscribing his name on the Heisman trophy.

College Football 2015: 4 More Heisman Candidates After Week 4

There are guys – the Leonard Fournette’s and Trevone Boykin’s of the world – who are definitely on pace to end up in New York City as a Heisman Trophy finalist, and then we have a group of players just a little off that pace, but still compiling seasons good enough to merit their inclusion on the many Heisman watch lists. Here are four guys poised to really jump into the race:

Will Fuller (Notre Dame, Junior, Wide Receiver)

About the only guy on the Notre Dame squad who started the season as a starter and hasn’t gone down with injury, Fuller has been the go-to guy for big plays through the air, and his steady presence on the outside of the field has certainly helped settle in new starting quarterback, sophomore DeShone Kizer.

So far, Fuller has twenty receptions for 454 yards at an average of 20.6 yards per catch. He’s also scored six touchdowns, including the game-winner against Virginia on the road in Charlottesville. When Kizer needs a big play through the air, Fuller is the guy he throws the football to, and, more often than not, the six-foot receiver hauls it in.

Fuller has bailed out the Irish on a few notable occasions already this season, and the only reason he hasn’t made it to my top 5 Heisman candidate list is because of a comparatively quiet game against Massachusetts last week, nabbing only four passes for just 57 yards. You look at that compared to games against Texas (142 yards) and Georgia Tech (131 yards) and you can see why I’ve dropped him down a little. Still, a big chance going forward to vault back into serious Heisman contention.

Adoree’ Jackson (Southern California, Sophomore, Wide Receiver/Cornerback/Returner)

The do-everything sophomore star for in Southern California, Jackson, a native of Belleville, IL, is being heralded as the most exciting USC player since Reggie Bush, and happens to be the first two-way player at Southern Cal in two decades. Comparison to the now-controversial Bush is high praise indeed, but deserved for Jackson, who seems to have an impact on the game every time he touches the ball.

Saturday’s 42-14 USC victory over Arizona State in Tempe saw Jackson catch three passes for 131 yards, and a touchdown. He also returned three punts for a total of 53 yards, and did solid work as a lockdown corner in what was easily the Trojans’ best defensive performance, after a bad one seven days earlier.

At this point in time, it’s honestly hard to know whether he’s a better offensive or defensive player at the moment, and USC coaches are certainly giving everyone a chance to see him in all three phases of the game, and as long as that continues, we’re going to all bear witness to Jackson putting up huge numbers.

Jared Goff (California, Junior, Quarterback)

Fairly quietly in the Pac-12, the Cal Golden Bears are 4-0 for the first time since 2007, and it’s mostly because of Goff, a record-setting quarterback who is attracting NFL interest at the same time as putting up giant numbers in Sonny Dykes’ offense. Oh, and he’s led Cal to road wins at Washington and Texas. Sure, those two teams aren’t what they once were, but, still, they’re good W’s to have on the resume. It just so helps that he’s one of the more

Goff is throwing the football impressively once more in 2015, with a completion percentage that’s just a tick under 70%. He’s thrown for 1240 yards in four games, and has eleven passing touchdowns to just three interceptions. Turnovers is one of the key areas where Goff has really cleaned up his game. He was always able to throw for a squillion yards and somewhere around two dozen touchdowns – he recorded 35 last season, and is on pace for a similar number in 2015 – but had issues with turnovers.

Not so much in season 2015. Some of that can be attributed to not needing to throw in hope because the Cal defense is helping out Goff and his weapons by not stinking up the show this year.

Much of the hype around Goff will fade if the Bears don’t play well in what is a cutthroat schedule going forward: Utah, UCLA, USC and Oregon between now and early November. If Cal can remain competitive down that gauntlet, we’ll hear more about Goff’s Heisman chances.

Ezekiel Elliott (Ohio State, Junior, Running Back)

One of the heroes of Ohio State’s somewhat improbable National Championship run last January, Elliott hasn’t really gotten things going this season. Much like the Buckeyes as a whole. He’s run for 455 yards at 5.9 a carry, and one long dash of 80 yards in the season-opener against Virginia Tech, the first of his five scores on the year.

Not that Elliott has been exactly bad – his season numbers are pretty solid, and he’s gone over 100 yards rushing now in nine straight games – it’s just that his performances have seemed somewhat lacklustre. Big Ten play opens for the Buckeyes this weekend against a 4-0 Indiana squad. We’ve expected more from the entire team, and Elliott especially, after he dazzled us over the last three games of the season.

I’m very interested to see what Elliott does now that the real meat of the season is upon us. The Buckeyes are far too talented to be just sneaking by MAC squads, and I expect that they’ll all click into gear, led by Elliott himself, whilst the Ohio State quarterback situation sorts itself out. At the moment, he’s just hovering beneath the top rung of the Heisman ladder, but as we saw last year, he’s capable of stupendous play at the drop of a hat, so October may become November with Zeke back in touch with the Heisman leaders.

College Football 2015: My Top 5 Heisman Candidates After Week 4

We’re about a quarter of the way through the 2015 season, and the first few weekends have provided plenty of storylines: underdog wins, injuries to key players and spectacular individual performances. That is, of course, what the Heisman Trophy is all about, so four weeks down, here are my top five Heisman candidates (in no particular order) as the race to win college football’s most prestigious individual award really hots up.

Leonard Fournette (Louisiana State, Sophomore, Running Back)

Surely, Fournette is the leader in the club house, and the rest of the nation is chasing him. If you were unsure fourteen days ago, the fact that the giant LSU back has run for nearly five hundred yards in two weekends’ worth of work should have convinced you.

In four games so far, Fournette has amassed 642 yards. That amounts to just a touch over 160 yards a game, and he’s scored eight touchdowns to boot. Extrapolate those numbers out over twelve or so games, and they’re staggering.

The fact that Les Miles’ squad doesn’t have a quarterback of note means that Fournette is the main man in their offense, and that equals plenty of carries. Plenty of carries, of course, equals plenty of exposure. The flip side of that is that a heavier workload means more chance of injury. Safe to say that everyone in Baton Rouge will be hoping and praying that Fournette stays healthy.

Fournette has already had success against two SEC squads, Mississippi State and Auburn, and, the way he is running – finding the gap, hitting it, and accelerating away into the secondary almost in the blink of an eye – I don’t see why he won’t have similar success as LSU heads into the teeth of their conference schedule. A few more performances like we’ve seen the last two weeks, and the voters would be hard pressed to award the trophy to anyone other than Fournette. Each week, the guy makes a case for being the best running back we’ve seen in the last decade. Certainly, he’s right up there.

Cody Kessler (Southern California, Senior, Quarterback)

Arguably the most underrated quarterback in the entire nation, Kessler is having himself another whale of a season. His most recent accomplishment was orchestrating a rout of Arizona State in Tempe, throwing five touchdowns to just one interception – in the red zone, and his first of the year – as the Trojans offense had their way against a bad Sun Devil squad.

The thing about Kessler is that he’s been playing well even when the defense hasn’t. Case in point, the Stanford game that the Trojans lost 41-31. He was just as good as counterpart Kevin Hogan but didn’t get the chocolates because his defense didn’t turn up. He completed passes at better than 78% in the Stanford loss, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Generally, Kessler makes few mistakes, and has the benefit of an absolute plethora of targets, both out of the backfield and at wide receiver. Having the likes of two-way star Adoree’ Jackson and gun receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is all well and good, but Kessler consistently puts the football on the money, helping those guys, and so many others, to make big plays in Clay Helton’s offense.

So far on the season, Kessler has thrown for 1297 yards, at an average of 324.3 per game, and has fifteen touchdowns to the lone interception he threw in Tempe. Those are definitely Heisman-type numbers. My concern is that Smith-Schuster and Jackson are taking away some of Kessler’s attention.

Trevone Boykin (Texas Christian, Senior, Quarterback)

The Horned Frogs quarterback was many people’s (including mine) pre-season Heisman pick, and he hasn’t done much wrong so far, leading TCU to a 4-0 record that has been all about offense and scarcely about defense. That’s the Big XII to a tee, I guess.

Luckily for Boykin, the Heisman Trophy is – or, at least, should be – about the best individual performance on the season, which means we can remove from the conversation the shoddy defense that the Horned Frogs have been playing. In some ways, perhaps, the fact that TCU can’t stop anyone on that side of the ball is actually furthering Boykin’s legend. Week in, week out, he has to bail his defense out of trouble. He’s going to get many more opportunities to do that this season.

Last week’s 485-yard passing effort to drag TCU to a lucky 55-52 victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock, was arguably Boykin’s best offensive performance of his career. He was slinging it all over the joint, but particularly to Josh Doctson, who snagged eighteen passes and three of Boykin’s four touchdowns. It was a nationally-televised game, and surely Heisman voters were taking notice of what Boykin was doing. Sure, Tech’s defense isn’t great, and that’s putting it nicely, but, even so, he shredded them completely.

On the season, Boykin has thrown for 1470 yards and fourteen touchdowns. Like Kessler, he’s relatively safe with the football, having thrown only three interceptions, and he is throwing an average of 367.5 yards per game.

Maybe Boykin has fallen a little behind Leonard Fournette in the Heisman race, but he’s right amongst it, and only needs a little Fournette stumble to leap back to the lead.

Nick Chubb (Georgia, Sophomore, Running Back)

Something of the forgotten explosive back in the SEC due to Leonard Fournette’s recent exploits, I still love what Chubb can bring to the table, and think he’s right up there as a legitimate Heisman candidate.

Granted, his numbers don’t yet hold a candle to Fournette’s – 599 yards and 6 touchdowns on the year, at just under 150 yards per game, and one receiving touchdown to boot – but they’re still very respectable numbers, but perception is key, and with Fournette dominating headlines it’s been hard for Chubb to sneak in and grab some column inches for himself.

That should change, because the Bulldogs have Alabama this week, and if Chubb can find some holes against a pretty solid Crimson Tide defense, there’s going to be a lot of people tuned into the game on CBS, and they’re going to take note. Georgia are probably the best team in the SEC East – apologies to Florida – and that’ll help.

Perhaps the one downside to Chubb is that he shares time in the Georgia backfield with Sony Michel and, to a lesser extent, Keith Marshall. He also has a pretty good quarterback in Greyson Lambert vying for exposure, and, of course, Fournette doesn’t have that problem down in Baton Rouge.

Regardless, I love the way Chubb plays. If he keeps rolling up yards and scores, he’ll be well and truly in the conversation come November.

C.J. Prosise (Notre Dame, Senior, Running Back)

We all expected to be talking about Irish QB Malik Zaire or perhaps RB Tarean Folston as Notre Dame’s serious Heisman threats, but season-ending injuries to those two – not to mention a raft of others – has seen unknowns stepping up to fill the void in South Bend, and the Irish remain undefeated at 4-0 ahead of a giant game at Clemson this weekend.

Prosise has numbers very similar to Nick Chubb at Georgia, amassing 600 yards at 150 per game as the Irish have fought off Massachusetts, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Texas to open the season. His best game was against the Yellow Jackets, a 198-yard/three touchdown performance that included a scintillating 91-yard run to pretty much ice the game for the Irish. In many ways, it was his breakout performance, and one that made the national media sit up and take notice.

Opening with a 98-yard rushing effort against Texas, after he was thrust into the main role in the Notre Dame backfield, Prosise has gone from strength to strength. Particularly over the last two weeks, we’ve really seen how good the senior from Virginia can be. Another big test against Clemson on the road and in a hostile environment, which looms as a great chance for Prosise to further his Heisman credentials.

A few more big performances by Prosise against the meat of the Irish schedule – Stanford and USC – and he’s going to be talked about for the Heisman.

Opinion: Five More Pre-Season 2015 Heisman Trophy Possibilities

Want to look a little further afield for Heisman Trophy candidates? Well, here are five more players capable of playing a part in the discussion:

Taysom Hill (Quarterback, Brigham Young)

If you didn’t get to see Hill play last year, make a point of doing so this year. He’s a livewire of a dual-threat quarterback who runs Bronco Mendenhall’s spread system to absolute perfection, and is one of the most dangerous guys in all of college football when the intended play breaks down.

Before a season-ending injury last year suffered in the fifth game, Hill had fifteen touchdowns to just three interceptions, and was completing his passes at about sixty-seven percent. Extrapolate those numbers out to a full season of, say, twelve or thirteen games, and they’re very compelling.

The only problem I see with Hill in 2015 is the BYU schedule. Their opening month is tough: a visit to Nebraska, and also UCLA and Michigan on the road, with Boise State on the docket, but at least the Cougars get them at home. If the Cougars can somehow snag a few wins during this stretch, you figure it’ll be a lot to do with Hill, so his stock should rise. Of course, if they get embarrassed, it’ll go the other way – in a hurry.

James Conner (Running Back, Pittsburgh)

Lost in the craze over Melvin Gordon, Jay Ajayi and Samaje Perine, the Pitt back had an incredible season, stacking up 1765 rushing yards and twenty-six touchdowns. Not bad for a team that went 6-7.

There's no doubt that Conner would definitely have been more nationally recognised if the Panthers had actually had a winning season. As far as his 2015 hopes go, if Pitt can start winning more games than they lose, they’ll start to get noticed on ESPN and other influential outlets, and Conner will be amongst the Heisman hopefuls.

Nick Chubb (Running Back, Georgia)

With Todd Gurley gone from Athens, Chubb is really The Man on campus this year, and if he builds on an impressive 2014 season, the sky is just about the limit. Ran for 1547 yards and fourteen touchdowns (equal best in the SEC) whilst Gurley had his injury struggles. Chubb appears set to continue his streak of eight consecutive 100-yard games – and had two 200-yard games, as well – into the early season, and if Georgia fire all season, Chubb will be right in the Heisman race.

Dak Prescott (Quarterback, Mississippi State)

Prescott decided against declaring, and will return to State for his final year of eligibility. He was a big part of the early-season conversation in 2014, and should be again this year, if he can go anywhere close to replicating his numbers (3449 passing yards, 986 rushing yards, accounting for forty-one scores).

One caveat: State lost a big chunk of their receiving corps from a year ago, and Prescott may struggle to find viable targets. Because he’s from a school that isn’t a ‘traditional power’ – whatever that means these days! – State are going to need some big-ticket SEC wins if Prescott is going to vault up into Heisman consideration.

Corey Clement (Running Back, Wisconsin)

Wisconsin have another 200-pound monster in their backfield in 2015, and if recent history is anything to go by, you can pretty much guarantee Clement will run for at least a thousand yards, and that would put him at least in the conversation for a trip to New York City. The way Wisconsin traditionally favour the run means he’ll get plenty of carries, which means plenty of chances to impress the national press.

Opinion: Five Pre-Season Heisman Trophy Candidates

With the 2015 season not far away, Heisman Trophy candidacy is starting to be debated, so here are five players – in no particular order – who I believe will be a part of the discussion all the way up to the announcement of the finalists in November:

Braxton Miller/Cardale Jones/T.J. Barrett (Quarterback, Ohio State)

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re set for perhaps the most epic quarterback duel in recent memory. Urban Meyer has to make a tough choice between three brilliant players, all of whom are proven performers in their own right, and all of whom could and would start at just about any other program in America.

Whoever comes out of the battle as presumptive starter – 2013 sensation Braxton Miller, his regular season replacement J.T. Barrett or Cardale Jones, who played three games in relief of the injured Barrett, and led the Bucks to a Big Ten Championship win, a defeat of top-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, and a National Championship Game win over a favoured Oregon team – is going to figure incredibly highly in pre-season Heisman Trophy buzz. It’s fair to say the toughest battle

All three guys are perfect fits for Meyer’s offence. Miller and Barrett use their legs to make shifty moves that make defenders look pretty silly, whilst Jones runs through and over players like a bull of a running back. They can all throw the football well – Jones, particularly, has a cannon for an arm. There’s no real weakness in any of the three players’ repertoires, either.

So, the Ohio State starting quarterback is going to have a good bunch of receivers and a strong offensive line in front of him. It’s a tantalising prospect, and whomever gets the nod is going to string up some great numbers. Without doubt, we’ll see the Buckeye signal-caller right in amongst the Heisman race.

Samaje Perine (Running Back, Oklahoma)

A giant guy, who can run through guys like they’re not even there, and not an easy guy for defenders to bring down. Perine (who set an FBS rushing record with 427 yards in a game against Kansas, beating the previous record set by Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon seven days before) was the bright spot of an otherwise uneven season for the Sooners last year. told, the freshman sensation ran for 1713 yards and twenty-one touchdowns. If he ticks upwards towards 2000 total yards, he’ll be right in the Heisman race.

Trevone Boykin (Quarterback, Texas Christian)

The Horned Frogs come into 2015 ranked third in the nation, and Boykin, for mine, is the guy to beat in the Heisman race. He threw for 3714 yards and thirty touchdowns last year, but that’s only half the story, because Boykin is a dual-threat quarterback, who ran for a shade over 600 yards, adding eight more touchdowns. If TCU remain inside the Top 5 all season, and Boykin improves upon those numbers, he’ll be hard to beat.

Cody Kessler (Quarterback, Southern California)

Living in the Leonard Williams/Nelson Agholor shadow, Kessler, thanks to some serious tutelage from head coach Steve Sarkisian, quietly put together an excellent season out west, throwing for 3826 yards and thirty-nine touchdowns. Those numbers are even better when you consider that he threw just five interceptions.

Kessler will no doubt be disappointed that Agholor is gone to the NFL, but this is USC, so he’s got enough other weapons – JuJu Smith and Adoree Jackson, for example – to throw to, and a few early big games from Kessler, and he’ll catch fire with Heisman buzz.

The problem with Kessler, for the most part, is that he plays a lot of his games late at night on the east coast, and, of course, the multitude of very good quarterbacks in the Pac-12 at the moment.

Ezekiel Elliott (Running Back, Ohio State)

Whichever of the three great Ohio State quarterbacks gets the starting nod is going to quickly find that one of their strongest competitors for the Heisman is going to come from their own sideline.

Elliott was a major part of Ohio State’s improbable and impressive run to a National Championship. He totalled 696 yards and eight touchdowns in the three-game stretch of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship, Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon in the National Championship Game. Hard to imagine that Elliott won’t get even better this year.

Why Johnny Manziel Should Win The 2013 Heisman Trophy…But Won’t

The most prestigious individual award in college football, the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award, has been awarded for more than seven decades, to the most outstanding player in the game. Nowhere in the classic text describing what the award stands for is there a stipulation that the winner of this award must come from an undefeated team. 
 

Yet, that seems to be almost a sub-category for those in the media who vote on this award. Basically, there’s a message being sent to players that you must be on a winning team. Of course, football is a team game, in which contributions from the offense, defense and special teams are needed for a win. Therefore, basing a player’s Heisman candidacy on what an entire team does over sixty minutes a game around twelve times a season, is effectively turning the award into a team one, rather than an individual one.

I have a problem with this – a massive problem. Look into the world of college football at the moment, and pinpoint the most outstanding player in the game. Chances are, you’re going to point right at Johnny Manziel, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. The kid we know as Johnny Football, a polarising figure to be sure, is most assuredly a walking, talking highlight reel – both on and off the field – and he’s one of few players whom you watch every snap with bated breath, because you know that there’s a good chance that something amazing is going to happen. 

For the simple fact that the extraordinary seems to happen more often than not when the guy has the football in hand, Manziel should be a long way out in front of everyone else in the race for the 2013 Heisman. Not just because he’s the clear leader in touchdowns accounted for (37, at last count) despite obviously being hobbled by injury at times, but because he is the most outstanding player on a football field this season.

No one can take over a game like Manziel can – and frequently does. He’s the guy you tune in to watch every week. Not Marcus Mariota in Eugene or AJ McCarron at Tuscaloosa or even Jameis Winston in Tallahassee, though the scintillating Florida State freshman quarterback certainly comes the closest, and looks the most likely to steal Manziel’s mantle when the Aggie quarterback makes a move to the pros. Yet, for the moment, Johnny Football is the undisputed King of Wow in college football. 

Wowing people is what should win you a Heisman.

But not, it seems, in the current climate.

What the Heisman voters are doing now, in determining the winner of the award for the single most outstanding player in the game, is effectively making it into a team contest. If a star player plays well but his team loses, that appears to be that as far as his chances of winning the award go.

Voters are penalising Manziel because Texas A&M’s defense is so porous that it’s shredded week-in-week-out by teams who aren’t exactly what you would normally call offensively prolific. Manziel isn’t a linebacker or a safety or a defensive tackle. He’s not out there stopping the other offense. He’s forced to sit on the bench and watch a poor defense erode the good work he’s done on the field. And, worse, he’s losing his Heisman because of it. 

If anything, it should be the other way around. It’s certainly not a stretch to put forward the argument that, had it not been for Manziel’s freakish ability to generate big plays with regularity – and, particularly, big plays out of ones that seem to be going nowhere – the Aggies would be mired in the middle of the SEC, with more losses than they currently have.

When are the Heisman voters and the trust which controls the award going to return to the old days? The dynamics of the award have changed recently, and I think it diminishes the heritage and prestige. It should not have been turned into a  be a contest fought out only by the best players on a team that’s run the table undefeated or who’s only lost to one very good team. It should be a contest fought out between the best, most electric and most outstanding – there’s that word again – players in America.

And Johnny Football leads that list. Regardless, the sad reality is that because Texas A&M’s 2013 season has ultimately been a disappointing one, due mostly to its defense’s inability to stop anyone, Manziel is, at best, sitting in third or fourth in line in most people’s ballot cards as we enter the final weeks of the season. If Oregon’s Marcus Mariota hadn’t played so badly on Thursday night in Oregon’s loss to Stanford, Manziel might’ve been ranked even lower.

Talk of strength of schedule comes into consideration, which is why you won’t see me write an article about how Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch, himself putting up stupid offensive numbers, deserves a Heisman. Same, to a lesser degree, with Baylor’s QB Bryce Petty or RB Lache Seastrunk – as much as I’d love to see all three of those guys in New York City.

You can’t argue with a straight face that Manziel isn’t running and passing rings around underwhelming defensive opposition. No, this is the Southeastern Conference we’re talking about, home to some of the best and most elite talent in America. I mean, Manziel, two years running, has made Alabama’s defense look downright silly, and look what they’ve done to just about every other team they’ve played in that duration.

Certainly numerically, and in terms of the sheer number of big-time plays he made, I thought Manziel’s performance against Alabama this year was superior to last year, which is truly saying something. He shredded them, but lost. He came back from an injury to nearly lead. Yes, he’s turned the football over a little more this year, but the sheer fact of the matter is that his defense digs him a hole, and it’s taking speculative throws that, last year, with a better defense he simply wouldn’t have been called upon to make. Therein is the difference between a good defense and a bad one. A&M’s bad defense is penalising it’s star quarterback.

That’s why Johnny Manziel should be favourite to collect the Heisman Trophy in a couple of weeks, and make history with back-to-back wins of college football’s most prestigious individual honour. Sadly, barring a cataclysmic series of upsets between now and Championship Weekend, he’ll be lucky to make it to New York City as a finalist.

Ironic, isn’t it, that Texas A&M’s defense, a collective unit, is going to mostly be held accountable for their quarterback not winning an individual honour that, by rights, the Aggie players not named Manziel, J. should have nothing to do with. Ironic and pretty unfair, too.

Footnote: Based on the apparent criteria for the Heisman, I have a pretty strong feeling Florida State’s Jameis Winston will win the Trophy.

NCAA Football: The Heisman Race - who will win in 2009?

The finalists for the 2009 Heisman Trophy Award for the best individual performer in college football are in. They are as follows:

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama

Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford

Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

Here's my form guide:



Tim Tebow, QB, Florida Gators



How Tebow is amongst the nominees this year is totally beyond me. There's too much Tebow love in college football, and his invite managed to squeak in despite his poor effort in the SEC Championship Game, where Alabama pounded and hounded him for 60 minutes. Things were so rough that he was in tears on the sideline at the end. His numbers this year are way down compared to last year - despite what SEC apologists and CBS announcers suggest - and it makes no sense that he's even talked about, let alone actually heading to New York for the ceremony.



Tim Tebow is not one of the best five individual college football performers in America this year. Case Keenum or Jimmy Clausen should have come in his place. Their numbers are much better. Tebow is there purely and simply because of past glories, and because the voters are clinging to their pre-season hopes of having Bradford, McCoy and Tebow on the stage in NY.



If Tebow wins, I lose all respect for the voters, and the Heisman Trophy loses all credibility as the single most important award for individual brilliance on the football field. Tebow has been good - okay at times - but not brilliant. Not by any stretch of the imagination.



Colt McCoy, QB, Texas Longhorns



As I have previously written, they got the wrong Longhorn. Jordan Shipley should have been here instead of his quarterback. Everyone talks about 'Heisman Moments', so I challenge you to find one for Colt McCoy. Beat-downs of Kansas and Colorado do not count. Texas A&M doesn't count either, as the game was a shoot-out and McCoy was playing against a pretty shaky D. The big tests against solid - or solid enough at the time - defenses were Oklahoma and Nebraska. The Sooner defense basically killed Colt McCoy, harassing into a woeful day at the Cotton Bowl, and in the Big 12 Title Game, Corn Husker Ndamukong Suh was in the Texas backfield as much as a few of the third-down Longhorn running backs. He, too, pounded McCoy to the tune of 4 1/2 sacks. You can't get sacked 4.5 times in the biggest game of the year and win the Heisman.



There's no great Heisman-worthy moment that I can see. McCoy is just making up the numbers. They should have sent Clausen or Keenum instead.



Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama Crimson Tide



Here is the guy who will probably win the Heisman, even though I don't agree. Sure, he ran well against some teams, but there were a couple of downer days, too - against Auburn in the Iron Bowl - where he was held to meagre rushing numbers. Still, his performance in the SEC Championship Game last start out will have people talking. He was an impossible force, exposing the Gators defense on the ground as much as McElroy did in the air. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ingram win. He's had a great season.



Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford Cardinal



Gerhart is the exact opposite of Ingram above. My pick - and Brent Musburger's, too - for the Heisman, though he probably won't win. For mine, Gerhart has been the player of the season and he should be rewarded as such with both the Heisman and as a high NFL draft choice. Basically, Gerhart hasn't had a bad game. The problem for Gerhart is that he's been out of the mind of voters since the Stanford season wrapped up two weeks ago, whereas Ingram and others have had another week to put up impressive numbers. That might be his undoing.



Still, you can't deny what Gerhart does on the football field. He's run over the top of everyone he's played, racking up 100-yard rushing games like Tiger Woods is racking up mistresses. He's had three games where he's gone for 200 yards or more and 10 where he's carried for more than 100 yards. Add to that his 42 touchdowns and 1736 yards on the ground, 149 receiving and an 18 yard pass completion for a TD vs. Notre Dame in the last game of the Cardinal season.



These are Heisman-caliber numbers. If there's any justice in the world, Gerhart will be taking the Heisman back to Paolo Alto, CA.



Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska Corn Huskers



This man is a machine and could become the first defensive player to win the Heisman since Charles Woodson did it for Michigan a few years back. It's unusual that Suh has even been nominated as a finalist, as defensive players rarely get a nod like this. If you're in any doubt as to why this monster DT who moves at the speed of light and has the ability to blow plays up before they've even begun - he's had an NCAA-leading 9 throw bat-downs - has been invited to New York City, just ask Colt McCoy - or Blaine Gabbert, Todd Reesing, Tyler Hansen or any other QB in the Big 12.



Suh is scary good. He probably won't win the Heisman, though he would be a worthy recipient, because the voters seem fixated on QBs and RBs, but he sure as heck has made sure every college football fan in America knows who he is and what he does. This guy is going to be a HUGE success in the NFL.

NCAA Football: The Heisman Race -The Unlucky Ones

The finalists for the 2009 Heisman Trophy Award for the best individual performer in college football are in. They are as follows:

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama

Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford

Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

Before my Heisman Trophy form guide, a word on a few players who didn't get an invite - but definitely deserved one.

Case Keenum, QB, Houston

That Keenum is not getting on a plane to New York is an absolute travesty. What I think and what I have said on numerous occasions is that the Heisman is an individual award, for individual brillance, no matter what goes on around you. At least, that is what it is supposed to be. It should not matter if your team is losing.

Besides, it's not like Keenum laid eggs in the losses Houston had. It was all down to his defense being crappy. As Bruce Willis said in The Last Boy Scout, they couldn't protect a warm cup of piss! If Keenum is still putting up the numbers, which he has done all season long at eye-popping pace, it should not matter if the Cougars are losng - IF it is truly an award for the best individual player. He wins it hands down based on that, if you ask me. The Heisman has become a National Title popularity contest.

Jordan Shipley, WR, Texas

If you ask me, they got the wrong Longhorn. Colt McCoy should give his spot at the awards to his team-mate and room-mate Jordan Shipley. After all, it's the talented Wide Receiver who has made McCoy look better than he actually has played this year. Shipley has been one of the stand-out receivers in the country consistently all season long, and puts up good, solid numbers even when the rest of the team isn't playing well. That Red River Rivalry game vs. Oklahoma is a perfect example. Plus, he's a duel threat on punt and kick returns. How he didn't get invited is beyond me!

CJ Spiller, RB, Clemson

Here's another guy entitled to feel pretty stiff. He's list up the college football world in recent weeks as Clemson made it all the way to the ACC Championship Game. Spiller is as credible and dangerous a duel threat as anyone in the country. When you string together all-purpose games of 200+ yards I happen to think that you deserve an invite to the Heisman Trophy awards. As with Case Keenum, even when his team was playing badly - against South Carolina, for one - he was still putting up big numbers. There's no rhyme or reason to this.

Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame

As with Case Keenum, his team didn't win enough - as we all know, Notre Dame finished 6-6 - and apparently that precludes you from getting an invite to NY. At least Clausen and the Irish didn't lose to UCF! I'm not much of a Notre Dame fan, but I certainly recognise JC as being one of, if not the very best, quarterbacks in the nation. His numbers back this up. Again, it's the theme of the voters apparently forgetting that where your team finishes on the year should have no bearing on your Heisman chances. If you put up the numbers, you should get an invite.


It really irks me that some of the standout players in the nation have missed out on an invite to New York City for the Heisman Trophy awards. Instead, the voters have turned this year's awards into what they always wanted it to be, a love fest for two QBs - Tebow and McCoy - who were nowhere near as good as last year. They followed the script that we all thought would play out this year, but didn't. Where are the really deserving nominees? Kicked to the kerb is where! Sheesh, it's a wonder they haven't given Sam Bradford an invite, just to round out the pre-season Heisman Holy Trinity.

NCAA College Football: Week Ten Review

Wild, Wild West

You've gotta love the PAC-10 right now. I'll go out on a limb and say that it's the most competitive FBS conference in the nation. That said, It honestly seems like no one wants to win it this year. There has been so much chopping and changing at the top out west. Early in the season, we were all surprised that USC's defense was as good as they were after the losses they'd sustained with graduating seniors and everyone assumed, after wins vs. Ohio State and Notre Dame (two wins that don't have as much cred now) they'd continue their dominance in the conference. Washington happened.

And then Oregon happened. The way the Ducks put it on the Trojans - rammed it down their throats, actually - in Eugene on Halloween Night was impressive in every way. The way the Ducks played, we all thought that it was probably just as well for Texas and Florida or Alabama that they wouldn't be facing them in the BCS National Championship Game. Everyone, myself included, was high on the Ducks. And with good reason. They dominated in every facet of the game against USC. It seemed like Oregon would run over the rest of their schedule (perhaps with a little trouble against cross-state rivals Oregon State) and end up smelling roses in Pasadena on January 1, 2010, most likely beating up on an inferior Big Ten opponent.

Suddenly, that's all down the drain. Stanford put Oregon to the sword, to the tune of 52-41 further complicating the Pac-10 title race. The defense that had held USC to a record-low total yardage count in the Pete Carroll era were hopelessly outgunned by a Stanford run game that did everything to Oregon that Oregon had done to USC seven days earlier. Perhaps that is what makes the victory so shocking. I don't know what happened to the Oregon Ducks unit that beat SC. Whether the team had been reading too much of it's own press or simply expected Stanford to fold up and go easy, I don't know. I bet Chip Kelly doesn't, either.

It was a shocking victory in many ways. Don't get confused by the final score. This game was over in the first half, when the Cardinal, doubtless shocking their hometown fans, jumped out to a game-winning 31-14 lead. Toby Gerhart, the star RB for Stanford, managed 223 yards and 3 TDs on the ground aginst what we thought was a pretty good D. That total is a school record. QB Andrew Luck backed up the run game with an impressive 12/20 for 251 yards and 2 TDs. Stanford are now bowl eligible for the first time in 8 years, and they are an attractive team after that win.

As for Oregon, the big question remains this: what happens if Oregon State, who have some Gerhart-like runners on their roster, beats Oregon in the Civil War Game at the end of the season. Then, if USC continue to win - they'll have to get over Stanford, too - the Trojans may end up back at the Rose Bowl. Suddenly a season that showed so much promise for Oregon is now fraught with all sorts of danger.

Oh, Charlie

Hootie & The Blowfish lead guitarist Mark Bryan is now a solo artist of some acclaim. One of the singles off his new album, End of the Front, is entitled "Oh Charlie." It pretty much sums up what most people are thinking following Navy's stunning win against the Irish in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday. The crazy thing is that after nearly four decades of Irish dominance in this series, the Middies have won two of the last three meetings between the schools, both of them inside Notre Dame Stadium. It was seen as a massive shock when they beat Notre Dame two years ago in the triple OT belter. Now, with the way things are going, it might seem a shockl when the Irish beat Navy!

Everyone knows what you're going to get when you face Navy. You have a QB and a fullback who'll carry most of the load on the ground. They won't throw it very often. For whatever reason, the Irish couldn't stop the run when they knew damned well that the Midshipmen were going to run and run and run. The spread offense is what it is, and you don't expect a Jimmy Clausen-like bullet down the middle very often. So you stack the box, forget about the pass, get peneteration into the backfield and stop the runner in his tracks. Simple, right? Apparently not. The Irish

I'll say it now: Charlie Weis is on extremely thin ice in South Bend. If he thought things had been difficult in the past, it's nothing to the pressure he'll be getting this week. Irish Nation are already tiring of Charlie's promises and his lack of results. They are high on Bearcat coach Brian Kelly. Not to take anything away from the Navy victory, but a team like Notre Dame with BCS aspirations, has no business losing to a school with very flew blue-chip athletes like the Middies. Notre Dame should never have given up a 52-yard TD pass to a team like Navy! .

It's as simple as this: the Notre Dame program is in trouble. BIG trouble. They still have Stanford and Pittsburgh on their schedule - two red hot football teams. This season is going to get worse in South Bend. You can just imagine how the Panthers and Cardinal are quivering with delight about setting their offenses up against the Irish, when Notre Dame's defense gives up 348 to Navy! To NAVY! I can't believe I'm actually typing this.

With Jimmy Clausen likely gone to the NFL next year, the Irish will not be able to rely on their hot-shot QB, who is only now maturing as a signal caller, to bail them out of trouble next year. It will be a bleak few years for Notre Dame as they break in another new and untested QB. Not only has the loss cost the Irish a BCS bowl berth, it's likely put an end to Jimmy Clausen's Heisman credentials and to the ND career of Charlie Weis. Enjoy your new life as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, Charlie!

Oklahoma

If I were to put together a list of the biggest dissapointments of the season, Oklahoma would be right up there. What started off as a season where the Sooners expected to fight for the Big 12 title and a berth in the National Championship Game started terribly with Bradford's injury and the first-week loss to BYU in Arlington. It got worse when the Sooners lost to Miami in Land Shark Stadium and, in only his second game back from injury a handful of weeks later, lost Sam Bradford for the season and the game to Texas at the Cotton Bowl, doubtless the most painful loss a Sooner football team can have.

Add to that the disastrous Nebraska loss from Saturday - something I never saw coming, not in a thousand years; the Huskers are a team in disarray, too - and and you have a terrible body of work for Bob Stoops to consider over the long summer. Landry Jones might be "Bradford-esque," but he's still young and I don't see it yet. He's been good in patches, but downright terrible at other times. Of course, a summer spent with the first-team offense will do him a world of good. Still, it'll be a long road back for the Sooners, and there's no guarantees that they won't drop a couple more games yet...

The ugly reality of Season 2009 is that Oklahoma are going to end up in a mid-range bowl game and people will forget all about them by the middle of December. It'll be all about Texas and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 and in the national title picture. It's a shame for Sam Bradford, that his final season, one with so much hope, has ended with him going under the knife in Norman, OK. If nothing else, it'll be a good lesson to those who're tossing up coming back for another college season or going straight to the NFL. Theoretically, Bradford has another season of eligibility, but there's no way known to man that he'll make the same mistake twice.

Bradford's is a case of a brilliant player not completely coming into his own on the football field. This could have been the crowning glory: another Heisman and a National Championship title. Instead, he'll be watching like the rest of us when the #1 and #2 BCS teams go head to head in Pasadena on 7 January. The game suffers because of that.

Kitch's Player of the Week:

Not for the first time in Season 2009, the award goes to Houston's record-setting QB Case Keenum. Keenum is a combination of Graham Harrell and Colt Brennan on speed, and he needs to be, because he's getting absolutely no help from a defensive unit that's one of the worst in the country. It falls to Keenum every week to bail out the D, and he does it with relative style and ease. It means he has to throw the ball upwards of 50 times a game. His week ten numbers were 40/60 for 521 yards and 3 TDs.

Here's a scary fact: in back-to-back wins over Southern Miss and Tulsa, Houston has allowed 88 points, falling to 116th nationally (out of 120 teams) and 96th in scoriong D. It's a good thing that Keenum's been on fire, throwing for 1100 yards, and just one pick in those two victories. He carries this team.

His Heisman stocks are looking better and better.

BCS Ranking Comments (2-11-2009)

The new BCS standings are as follows:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Iowa
5. Cincinnati
6. TCU7
7. Boise State
8. Oregon
9. LSU
10. Georgia Tech
11. Penn State
12. USC
13. Pittsburgh
14. Utah
15. Houston
16. Ohio State
17. Miami (FL)
18. Arizona
19. Oklahoma State
20. Cal
21. Wisconsin
22. Notre Dame
23. Virginia Tech
24. Oklahoma
25. South Florida

My thoughts:

They got it right with Texas leapfrogging Alabama. I expect the 'Horns to stay there, as 'Bama will have a tough game against LSU this weekend. Here is the criminal injustice in this situation. Oregon are ranked below Iowa. Oregon blew out the #5 team in the nation. Iowa barely snuck home against Indiana, who're not ever mistaken for a national football power. It makes ZERO sense. If I were the guy responsible for the BCS computer, I'd have topped myself weeks back.

Then you have Notre Dame, who've lost to the only ranked team they played, USC, (or maybe it's two; maybe Michigan were ranked when they beat the Irish) and have beaten cream puff teams, usually as a last-gasp effort. How do they get ranked in there at #22? Show me their signature win. Oregon has the USC victory. Florida has LSU. Miami has Oklahoma. USC has/had Ohio State. Houston has Oklahoma State. Georgia Tech has Virginia Tech. Tell me who Notre Dame has? Michigan State? Not likely. Washington State? Hell no. Holy War vs. Boston College? Get outta here!

The thing that gets me is that if you have two 10-2 teams eligible for the Fiesta Bowl at-large bid - projected to be USC and Notre Dame - you figure the Irish will get the nod for prestige sake. That leaves a pretty good USC team, who've beaten some reasonable football teams and who have had a tough schedule, out in the cold. That makes no sense, either. I'm not just saying that as a USC fan. I'd be saying it no matter what team got passed over for an average Notre Dame team. Tell me if you think I'm wrong here, but based on their schedule, the Irish don't deserve a BCS bowl berth. As I said, point me in the direction of their signature win. They have a highway robbery-style arrangement locked in with the NCAA and it's rubbish. Call me when they get a proper schedule and play a few more ranked teams. Send them to the PAC-10, even.

No love for Houston, either. I'm officially campaigning for Case Keenum. Keenum for Heisman! Can I get a "hell yeah!" for that?

NCAA College Football: Week Eight Review

Heisman-Alabama Chatter:

It's hard at the moment to come up with a clear front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. There's been a lot of talk about Mark Ingram, the RB from Alabama who is flat-out steamrolling each and every defense he comes up against week-in-week-out, but did the Tide's poor effort against the Volunteers on the weekend put pay to those chances? 'Bama got nothing out of their offense, and were lucky that their special teams were on the ball (pardon the pun) in blocking three field goal attempts, including an attempt to win the game with just seconds left. By all rights, Alabama should have lost that game. That was a Steve McQueen-style Great Escape. Ingram can't be favourite for the Heisman now. So who is? Houston's Case Keenum? Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen? I for one can hardly wait to see who gets invited to New York for the ceremony. The trophy race hasn't been this wide open in years!

Pac-10 Underestimated?

While everyone seems to want to continue to lavish love and praise on the SEC, which, frankly, has been a sub-par conference this season outside of Alabama and Florida, I would like to draw your attention to the goings on in the Pac-10 Conference. Perhaps because they play on the other side of the country and often in later time slots, the Pac-10 doesn't get anywhere near the same amount of love as the east coast conferences. But don't you sleep on these guys. Last year, people had all but written off the Pac-10 as being a force in college football...and the teams responded to those statements by stepping out during the bowl games to go undefeated, including big wins for Oregon against a Big 12 power in Oklahoma State and for USC against a Big Ten power in Penn State.

Look at the second release of BCS rankings and you find USC at #5, Oregon at #10, Arizona at #20 and even Cal sneak in at #24, despite some bad losses (USC and Oregon) earlier in the season. That's a pretty good effort for a conference that supposedly doesn't have any talent outside that of USC. There have been some brilliant games this season, with more to come, including USC vs. Oregon this weekend and the Oregon-Oregon State Civil War in a few weeks time. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to watch two Pac-10 teams go at it than a yawner in the SEC.

BCS busted?

I feel dreadfully sorry for Boise State. For the entire season, since their opening win vs. Oregon (which looks to be a pretty sensational win now, given what's transpired since), the nation's pundits have been at them to win and put up style points. They're sitting undefeated now, but there's been a little left to be desired in terms of how close some lesser teams (UC-Davis and Tulsa, to name just two) have played the Broncos. We've all been demanding powerful wins that bring with them "BCS style points". We got exactly that with their blow-out win vs. Hawaii on Saturday night, yet they drop in the BCS rankings and lose their inside running on an at-large BCS bowl bid to TCU. How can you drop positions for losing? I know, it's the strength of schedule business, but it's a situation like this that makes light of just how crappy a system the BCS is. We need a playoff like the Oakland Raiders need to draft a real QB in next year's draft!

The ACC

This conference is insane. It's an all-in now, heading down to the back end of the season. Va Tech and Miami have both lost recently, and, incredibly, it's the Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech and their insane option offense - QB Josh Nesbitt threw the ball only once vs. Va Tech the other week, doing it all on the ground instead - that finds itself in the box seat for a BCS berth. This time last week, you had to like Miami for the ACC. They were in a good place, despite the loss to Va Tech, with a team certainly capable of beating the Hokies in a rematch situation. I certainly had them as my ACC favourite, but their OT loss to Clemson (thank you, CJ Spiller; what a ball game that was) has thrown things wide open. It's going to be a crazy and great end to the season. The ACC has been a pleasant surprise this year. Things are right in the college football world when Miami FL are up high and in the mix.

Bob Griese

During the Minnesota vs. Ohio State match on Saturday, ESPN annoucer Bob Griese had a brain-fade bigger than any that Terrelle Pryor has come up with this year. During a promo for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Martinsville, VA, play-by-play man Dave Pasch introduced a graphic with the Top 5 in the standings. For the first time since the beginning of the ten-race Chase, Juan Pablo Montoya isnt in the 5. When Chris Spielman asked where JPM was, Griese replied, "He's out getting a taco!" Nice, Griese. Real nice. Nothing like a racially insensitive remark to start your Saturday of college football. After everything that has occurred with ESPN on-air talent this week - read Steve Phillips - you have to, more than ever, think before you say anything. I know he apologised, but still... The nation (and the world) is just looking for gaffes like that.