Case Keenum is having a monster year for the No. 18 Houston Cougars, but if you use the Worldwide Leader in Sports (ESPN) to get your college football info, you may not even have a clue who Case Keenum is, let alone how good he is.I am growing so tired of hearing week after week that the preseason usual suspects like Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are still the top contenders for the 2009 Heisman Trophy...
I mainly blame ESPN, especially for the Tebow hype.
I guess when you have a three billion dollar television deal with the SEC, it's in your own best interest to do whatever you can to keep players from said conference in the mix, even when they don't belong.
Conflict of interest anyone? I digress.
Don't get me wrong—Tebow has been a great player over his four years at Florida, but this year, he has been anything but a Heisman Trophy front-runner—yet, last I knew, ESPN had him listed as one of the top two players for the award.
Although he is having a much better year than Tebow, the same thing can be said for McCoy. If the Heisman were awarded right now, Keenum would be my winner, and here's why.
First of all, it is an individual award for the best player in the country—Not the best known player who happens to play on one of the highest ranked teams.
Houston (7-1) has played three teams from the consensus top two BCS conferences—Oklahoma State and Texas Tech from the Big 12, and Mississippi State from the SEC—and they have defeated them all.
Their only loss was a conference road game at UTEP and while it was a bad loss, Houston's poor defensive effort was solely to blame. Keenum went 51/76 for 536 yards and tossed five touchdown passes.
It makes no sense to me that team wins and losses are somehow part of the equation that determines who could or should win an award meant for the best individual player in college football.
Now if Keenum had only thrown for 80 yards and had thrown five interceptions in the UTEP loss, then it would make more sense to hold that against him, but as I noted above, he had a huge game statistically.
As far as strength of schedule, to this point in the season, I don't believe that Florida or Texas have played a schedule much better than Houston's, so that isn't a factor at all for me.
So basically, it comes down to the individual stats and that is where, right now, Keenum rises to the top over Tebow, McCoy, and everyone else.
The only player who is close to Keenum statistically is Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen, but even his overall numbers aren't as good, and like the others, Notre Dame hasn't exactly played tough schedule either.
As you can see above, Keenum clearly has been the best quarterback in the nation. To be fair, I must also mention Alabama's Mark Ingram and Oregon State's JacQuizz Rodgers as contenders for this years Heisman, as they both are in the running.
Unfortunately for them, they are running backs, and the Heisman has almost exclusively become an award for quarterbacks, so I'm not sure either of them have a real shot, but they are definitely worth noting.
I don't know if Case Keenum will ultimately win because I don't have a say in that matter, and ESPN sure seems to have their agenda and propaganda machine running on all cylinders for Tebow...
But if I did have a say, Keenum would be in New York this December, and depending on how he plays in the final four games, he could end up as Houston's second Heisman Trophy winner.
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Read ESPN's Take on Tebow
ReplyDeleteI mentioned Case Keenum in a May 2009 article I wrote titled The Way Too Early Heisman Watch: 10 Names to Know
ReplyDeleteBe sure to check it out!
No CJ Spiller love in your poll, brah? The dude is freaking amazing!
ReplyDeleteSpiller is a very good player, but is he Heisman worthy? Not quite to me...
ReplyDeleteBTW, what poll?
Keenum's numbers are artificially inflated by a pass-wacky system and he plays in a mid-major conference. Put him in a SEC or pro style offense and he's a mediocre passer. He has no arm to speak of.
ReplyDeleteTebow and McCoy get all the talk because they are the two best QBs in college football, period.
Keenum's numbers are artificially inflated by a pass-wacky system and he plays in a mid-major conference. Put him in a SEC or pro style offense and he's a mediocre passer. He has no arm to speak of.
ReplyDeleteTebow and McCoy get all the talk because they are the two best QBs in college football, period.
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That might be the most idiotic comment ever.
Tebow sucks ass this year and Keenum has faced two Big 12 teams and an SEC team and he lit them all up
Go Coogs!
He seemed to do fine against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Mississippi State. As a matter of fact, better than UT-Austin Colt McCoy did against either OK St or TxTech.
ReplyDeleteTo HD:
ReplyDeleteCJ Spiller is averaging 160 Total YPG, has 3 Kickoff return TDs and 1 Punt return TD, 4 rushing TDs and 2 receiving TDs.
He had a play of at least 60 yards in 7 consecutive games this year.
This is a weak race for the Heisman, he deserves a shot at it this year as much as anybody.
IF LEADERSHIP MEANS ANYTHING IN THE RACE
ReplyDeleteCASE HAS TO BE THE WINNER. TAKE MCCOY OF TEBO
OFF THEIR TEAM AND THEY STILL WIN. TAKE CASE
FROM UH, THEY ARE 4 & 4 at best
In Case Keenum's 3 games (all wins) against Big 12 and SEC competition this year, Keenum has averaged 412 passing yards/game, 2.66 TDs, 0.66 INTs, 0.66 rushing TDs. Facing the same teams as Colt McCoy (Okie State, Texas Tech, UTEP) Keenum has roughly double the passing yardage, touchdowns, and less than half of the interceptions of Colt McCoy. Wake up and smell the coffee - Keenum is MUCH MUCH better.
ReplyDeleteThe argument that his numbers are because of a lower competition level is just wrong.
If you are arguing that Keenum's numbers are just because of a "system", you'd also be just as wrong. Houston rushes the ball for about 140 yards per game, and if Keenum were not the QB, Houston's offense would go to hell in a hurry. He has single-handedly brought Houston back to win games in ths final seconds against numerous opponents over the last two years, notably against Texas Tech and Southern Miss this year. Did Bradford get punished for running the SAME OFFENSE THAT KEENUM IS NOW RUNNING AT HOUSTON? (Sumlin was the o-coordinator at Oklahoma before becoming head coach at Houston).
To reply to one other ill-informed opinion, Keenum has a cannon for an arm (I'm not sure why one of the previous opinions would even question his arm strength). This was the knock against him two years ago (as a freshman), but he now has incredible arm strength, and can accurately throw the ball 60+ yards downfield.
Just watch one Houston game, and you'll see the brilliance of Keenum. How he buys time in the pocket, makes amazing reads, checks into the rights plays time after time (without consulting the sideline, as many "no huddle" teams do now), and just plain wins games without making mistakes. He makes passing for 500 yards and 5 touchdowns look easy. Has anyone else even had a single game with numbers like that this year? Keenum has had several. Heck, just last week he threw for 560 yards and 5 touchdowns against a fairly stout Southern Miss defense.
Keenum is quite simply, the best player in college football. And no amount of ill-informed message board responses can change that fact.
I get ESPN text alerts on my phone and I cracked up when I read this one that I received today:
ReplyDeleteESPN NCAAF - Tim Tebow first in current Nissan Heisman leaderboard, followed by C.J. Spiller and Jimmy Clausen
ESPN is a fucking sham.
"I get ESPN text alerts on my phone and I cracked up when I read this one that I received today:
ReplyDeleteESPN NCAAF - Tim Tebow first in current Nissan Heisman leaderboard, followed by C.J. Spiller and Jimmy Clausen"
ESPN has a nice contract with the SEC. What else do you expect out of them?
Keenum for Heisman is like grocery store doors. Automatic.
ReplyDelete