Last night, the Other Stoops Brother and his Arizona Wildcats engineered a huge upset over the always retina-scarringly dressed #2 Oregon Ducks. While this continues the season long trend of teams working their way into the top 5 only to suffer stupefying lesses, there is a more insidious storyline at play.
Going into the game, almost every sportswriter and pundit had the Heisman trophy race being led by Oregon's Dennis Dixon and (gulp) Gators sophomore Tim Tebow. Dixon had the advantage of being a senior, putting up flashy numbers in Mike Belotti's spread offense and playing for a team with a shot at the BCS title game. One twisted knee later, Ryan Leaf's brother came in for a relief appearance and the title game shot appears to have gone down the tubes along with Dixon's Heisman hopes.
Yoiks. That leaves media darling Tebow atop the public consciousness in the Heisman race, and unless Darren McFadden runs for 475 yards per game until the season is over (and who has faith in Houston Nutt's coaching?), Tebow might become the first soph to ever take home the hardware. That would be especially galling for Dawgs fans, results of the Cocktail Party ass-whipping not withstanding. If a sophomore was EVER going to win the trophy, it could have happened in 1981, when Herschel Walker had a fantastic season, but finished second (at the time, the highest sophomore finish since Army's Glenn Davis in 1944) to an admittedly outstanding Marcus Allen.
Now the only thing apparently keeping Tebow from placing the Heisman on top of a set of gravity defying cantaloupes would be a late and mind-blowing run of yardage compiled by McFadden or "We lost to App State" Mike Hart.
Sigh.
Friday, November 16, 2007
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As much as I detest the "Chuck Norris" like qualities of Mr. Tebow, I'm not sure he doesn't deserve the Heisman. While it is true that Herschel was unfairly denied the award his sophmore year, it does not change the fact that Tebow has probably been the most important player to his team this year, and one of the most talented. At least Dawg fans will have the satisfaction of remembering his many acquaintances with the turf at Alltel Stadium this October, even if he receives the award.
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