T1B

Tom Oates wrote:When two quarterbacks — Stanford's Andrew Luck and Boise State's Kellen Moore — took hits after their teams lost for the first time Saturday, the college football experts declared the Heisman Trophy race wide open.

In most polls, the frontrunners are Luck, Alabama halfback Trent Richardson and Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden. Behind them are Moore, Houston quarterback Case Keenum and, coming on fast, Oregon halfback LaMichael James. Surprisingly, you almost have to read the fine print to find Russell Wilson's name, which makes no sense.

The University of Wisconsin's senior quarterback should be right in the mix with those six players and possibly even the No. 1 candidate for one simple reason: No one on a highly ranked team has played better week-in and week-out. Wilson has performed at an extremely high level in every one of his 10 games, something no other candidate can say.

Badgers coach Bret Bielema is pushing both Wilson and junior halfback Montee Ball for the Heisman and both deserve consideration. But while Ball is right there with the top runners in the discussion, his numbers (other than his 27 touchdowns) and his consistency don't blow away the competition like Wilson's do.

In one Heisman poll, Wilson moved up to second behind Luck after six games, but dropped to fifth after UW lost to Michigan State and eighth after the loss to Ohio State. Wilson's stock plummeted even though he was the best thing the Badgers had going for them in those back-to-back road night games that UW lost on improbable long passes in the closing seconds.

Wilson led fourth-quarter comebacks both times, bringing the Badgers back from a 14-point deficit to tie it up at Michigan State and rallying them from 12 down to take the lead at Ohio State. What did voters expect him to do beyond that? Break up a pass in the end zone? Block for the punter?

Of course, Heisman voting is an unscientific undertaking often conducted from afar that combines a players statistics, ability to shine against good competition and his team's record.

Many voters place a high priority on winning and the top six candidates play on teams in the top 11 in the BCS standings and have lost, at most, one game. Twice-beaten UW is 17th.

Still, those who have watched Wilson on a weekly basis marvel at his Aaron Rodgers-like consistency from game to game. Indeed, he's doing some historic things as a passer, and he's not doing them in some pass-crazy spread. He's doing them in a pro-style offense that also has the nation's fifth leading rusher in Ball.

Go ahead, check out some of the records Wilson is chasing:

• He leads the nation in pass efficiency (201.6) and is on pace to destroy the NCAA record of 186.0 set by Hawaii's Colt Brennan.

• He leads the nation with 11.08 yards per pass attempt and is on pace to break the NCAA record of 11.07 set by BYU's Ty Detmer.

• He leads the nation with 9.9 yards per play, well ahead of Brennan's NCAA record of 9.2.

Wilson also is fourth in the NCAA in completion percentage (.734) and close to the Big Ten record (.735). His 25 touchdown passes put him on a pace to finish with the second-most in Big Ten history behind Purdue's Drew Brees (39) and his 25-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio trails only Keenum's 37-3 mark nationally. Wilson also has thrown a touchdown pass in 34 straight games, putting him within two of the NCAA record held by Graham Harrell of Texas Tech.

Now compare Wilson to the other top candidates.

Keenum (second), Moore (fourth), Luck (fifth) and Weeden (eighth) also rank in the NCAA's top 10 in pass efficiency. However, Keenum and Moore each have faced only one defense from a BCS conference school. Each also had a game in which he struggled — Keenum against Louisiana Tech and Moore against Nevada.

As for Luck and Weeden, Wilson simply has been more consistent. His pass-efficiency rating has been above 200 in half of his 10 games, with only three below 187.7 and a low of 158.9 against Ohio State. Weeden has had only four games above 158.1 and had a poor outing against Texas. Luck has had only three games above 175.2 and contributed to Saturday's loss to Oregon with three turnovers.

In addition, none of the other top QBs is a threat to run, which is one of Wilson's best assets. He can beat you in more ways than any of the others.

As for the top halfbacks under consideration, Richardson and James each have had three games where they failed to rush for 100 yards. And Richardson's Alabama team failed to score a touchdown in its 9-6 loss to LSU, while James missed two games due to injury.

It's unlikely to happen due to UW's record, but if Wilson plays at his current level in the next two games against defenses (Illinois and Penn State) that are ranked in the NCAA's top 10, and possibly a third (Michigan State) in the Big Ten title game, he deserves to win the Heisman.

Van wrote:And where exactly do you suspect Stanford would be minus Andrew Luck?

Van wrote:And where exactly do you suspect Stanford would be minus Andrew Luck?

Mikey wrote:

Van wrote:And where exactly do you suspect Stanford would be minus Andrew Luck?

In Palo Alto?

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Nobody cares about the Heisman until their guy is in contention.

Go Coogs' wrote:Take Russell Wilson away from Wisconsin and plug in their backup QB for the entire season.

Goober McTuber wrote:

Go Coogs' wrote:Take Russell Wilson away from Wisconsin and plug in their backup QB for the entire season.

I've seen their backup. 5-5. You have no idea how bad that guy looks against a decent defense. I saw it in the spring game.

Go Coogs' wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:

Go Coogs' wrote:Take Russell Wilson away from Wisconsin and plug in their backup QB for the entire season.

I've seen their backup. 5-5. You have no idea how bad that guy looks against a decent defense. I saw it in the spring game.

I think you have to consider Wisky's hard recruitment of Wilson. Take all of that away and Wisky would've recruited a good game manager like they always do. A guy who can hand the rock to a couple of RBs, throw it to Wisky's long line of decent TEs for six and seven yards, and the occasional vertical pass play to Toon and Abbrederis. I think a lot of Wisky's blow out games would've been much closer, but I highly doubt a backup or a true frosh has the Badgers sitting at 5-5.

Goober McTuber wrote:You have no idea what you're talking about. It was too late to recruit anyone else by the time they went after Wilson. They had some short little fuck as the heir apparent who was totally useless in the spring game (he has since developed arm trouble). Next up was a redshirt freshman, Joe Brennan. As the backup this year, he is 6-15 for 48 yards. It was painfully obvious that anyone the Badgers played would have stacked 8 or 10 in the box and shut down the run.

Cornhusker wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:You have no idea what you're talking about. It was too late to recruit anyone else by the time they went after Wilson. They had some short little fuck as the heir apparent who was totally useless in the spring game (he has since developed arm trouble). Next up was a redshirt freshman, Joe Brennan. As the backup this year, he is 6-15 for 48 yards. It was painfully obvious that anyone the Badgers played would have stacked 8 or 10 in the box and shut down the run.

So given no J.C / transfer addition at QB this off season Wisconsin is mediocre (offensively) at best next year?
How many of those human road graders are back next fall?