Handicapping the Heisman

Hello everyone out there in Blog land. Twins is swamped lately with homework and the like, so in his place I'm writing a little guest post. If you're a regular to this blog or to The Sports Flow, you've probably seen my (hopefully) excellent comments on their blogs. I've tried my hand at a couple of blogs, but apparently a regular gig isn't my thing. But anyways I digress. This year's college football season has been topsy turvy all around, and this has obviously impacted the Heisman race. Since I'm all about uneven numbers, I'm going to do a top 6 list.

6. Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri

Right now Daniel has a lot of hype, and with big wins over Kansas and either Oklahoma or Texas in the Big 12 championship game, Daniel can certainly shoot up to the top of the list. Daniel has thrown for 3,590 yards and 30 touchdowns with just 9 picks. As good as Daniel's stats are, I have a tough time putting him higher on the list when he isn't even the most talented player on his own team, that being Freshman wideout Jeremy Maclin

5. Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas

Many people's preseason #1, McFadden is probably the best pro prospect in college football. 5th in the nation in rushing, McFadden has shared time with Felix Jones all year. He does have 12 touchdowns but McFadden has been hurt-fairly or not- by Arkansas losing 4 games this year. Only rushing for 43 yards against Auburn and 61 against Florida International probably didn't help either

4. Aqib Talib, CB, Kansas

I know what youre thinking: a cornerback? Yes a cornerback. In fact, Talib should probably be even higher. Check out these stats: 4 touchdowns, 10.8 yards per catch, 8 interceptions, 1 sack. Not bad right? Well those arent Talib's stats. They belong to 1997 Heisman Trophy Winner Charles Woodson. Talib's are even better. Talib has 22.8 yards per catch, with 4 touchdowns, plus an interception return for a touchdown, which Woodson didn't have. Talib only has 3 picks this year, because no quarterback in his right mind will throw the ball his way. Talib dominates the game more- yes more- than Charles Woodson did in his Heisman season.

3. Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon

Without his knee problems this season Dixon would probably be #1 on the list. Dixon's run pass ability is something to be marveled at, and the way he leads the Ducks spread offense makes him one of the great players to watch. Ironically, one of his best passing games came in the Ducks first loss, to Cal back on September 29th. Only one game has been a truly poor rushing game for Dixon, when he ran for just 8 yards against Stanford, but he threw for 374 in that game. Sadly, with Dixon's injury combining with the Ducks' exclusion from the BCS title race he will fall short of the Heisman.

2. Todd Reesing, QB, Kansas

Undoubtedly the darkhorse of the chase. Why in the world has no one talked about Todd Reesing? The Sophomore from Austin, Texas has thrown for under 3,000 yards, but he has 33 touchdowns compared to just 4 picks, good for a 156 rating. Kansas leads the nation in turnover ratio, and Reesing is a huge part of that. Just 5'11", Reesing's escapability has proven to be a valuable asset, although he only has 1 rushing touchdown on the season. He was hobbled by a sore ankle in the Iowa State game but still led the Jayhawks to a 45-7 win. With two more wins, Reesing could vault himself into serious Heisman consideration.

1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

A Freshman or Sophomore has never won the Heisman. Both of my top two are Sophomores. Why? Well for starters, Tebow is the only player in 1-A (No I will not call it the FBS) history to both rush and throw for 20 scores in a season. He also just moved passed, among others, Shaun Alexander on the career SEC rushing TD's list. It remains to be seen how Tebow projects as a professional, but he leads the defending champs in both rushing and passing. He's thrown more picks than Reesing, but only 2 more, and they have nearly the same amount of yards. Combine that with the pass/run threat that Tebow possesses and he is 2007's best college football player.

If Joe Morgan wrote for this blog

I did this once before with John Kruk, and now it's time to bring it back. Also, thanks to FJM, just for being awesome in general.

What a year it has been so far! I'm absolutely delighted to be writing this. Seriously, I couldn't be more thrilled.

The biggest news in baseball right now, of course, is that Barry Bonds is the new HR leader. I'd love to talk about it more, but it would just cause too much controversy. For some reason, people don't want to be happy for Barry Bonds, and just enjoy the record. I'm not sure why people have this type of attitude.

The other big story right now is the New York Yankees, who have started to play a lot better and are right in the playoff race. I'm not big on their chances though, because the one thing you need more than anything else is consistency, and they just don't have that. One game they will score 20 runs, the next they will get shut out. Also, the bullpen has not been consistent, and I don't think they have anyone capable of coming in there to help right now. Mariano Rivera is still the best closer in the MLB, but he can't do it by himself.

One of the big surprises this year has been the Milwaukee Brewers, who are atop the NL Central right now. I haven't gotten a chance to watch them play yet this year, but they have a young, exciting team. I have heard a lot of good things about them, but let's see if they can remain consistent enough down the stretch.

Another of the most enjoyable things about this year has been the resurgence of Ken Griffey Jr. for the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati. I try to stay away from using all of these complicated statistics because I prefer to watch the games, but he is 5th in the League in HR right now, and definitely one of the most dangerous players in the MLB.

This is my favorite time of the year. Now that we are down to the final 2 months of the year, we can see which teams can be the most consistent. We can see if teams like the Yankees to scrounge up enough offense to help out veteran winners like Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. Or if teams like the Boston Red Sox can score the tough runs when it really matters.

Remember, things aren't over until they are over, and certainly at this point no one is out of the playoff race. That's why they play the games.

If John Kruk wrote for this blog

This is something I'm trying that or may not become a regular feature on here... I'll see how it goes.

So you probably all saw that little fight in Chicago after Chris Young beaned Derrek Lee. A lot of people will say that's terrible that there is fighting, but I disagree. That's just great entertainment. Chris Young and Derrek Lee shouldn't get suspended for that, they should get a bonus. Ditto for Lou Piniella and his antics a couple weeks ago. That's just great entertainment.

Another huge piece of news that may have flown under your radar this weekend was that the Cardinals had to put David Eckstein on the DL. If you look up grit and determination in the dictionary, Eckstein's picture would be there (as long as the dictionary has been recently updated). Losing him is an even bigger loss for the Cardinals than Albert Pujols would be. Pujols may be more talented, but who would you rather face in the 9th inning in a tie game? I'd rather role the dice with Pujols than take on the Eckster.

I see the Yankees are still 8.5 games back even after their recent hot streak. Just goes to show that you can't buy championships. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a gamer like Scott Brosius playing 3B than Alex Rodriguez.

I know Joe Borowski has an ERA north of 6 and a WHIP of 1.52, but he should be an All-Star, because he's still had the internal fortitude to pick up 20 saves so far this year. Seeing a guy like that is a lot more impressive to me than a guy like JJ Putz, who just sails through all of his innings in dominating fashion. The high ERA and WHIP shows me that Borowski is not afraid to pitch in tough spots, and that's what you need. There's nobody I'd rather have pitching the 9th than that guy.

Note: None of the following was actually said or written by the Krukster. But it sounds like something he'd say.