just a thought.. can a balanced offense (run pass equally) produce a Heisman winner?

Question

seems that favorites for the award are always either on a running team or a pass crazy team.. (don't say USC either.. they are a heavy pass team or a heavy run team but never really a balanced attack just depends on the year for them)

the reason I say this is simple.. 447 to 416.. for a team that had large leads and required running to kill the clock that is very skewed toward the pass.. also doubled the # of yards rushing with passing yardage.. this is according to USCtrojans.com.. and is their cumulative statistics for the 2006 season

Answer 1

Because it is a numbers oreinted award it is harder to promote a player on a balanced team but not impossible. The one way to overcome slightly lower numbers is to play on a top ranked team and get maximum TV exposure. Getting to the BCS games would help someone like the U of Michigans Hart who is getting plenty of Heisman hype at the moment. He will play on what should be a very close to 50/50 run/pass team but he also gets max exposure. Chad Henne is too good at the pass game for the U of M to pound the ball and they also have a deep backfield so when they are demolishing a team Hart will lose carries to some really good backups. Yet none of this matters at the moment....the hype machine certainly gives him a shot. But I do agree with you, someone like Colt Brennan will throw 50 or more passes every game so the numbers will be there and hard to look past.

Answer 2

IIRC, Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells racked up a lot of yardage last year while Troy Smith won the Heisman. I think Pittman was a 1,000 yd rusher (not entirely sure though). So it can happen. Oftentimes the Heisman is won by the QB on whichever team happens to go 12-0 or 11-1 in a tough conference. And it doesn't matter even if that team runs and passes.

Answer 3

deacon i know you don't like USC, that's why you don't want any of the peoples are answering is USC right. But USC is the most well balance attack team in the country, since Pete Carrol took over, the team is balance in their offense. If they don't have a well balance offense of pass and run how come they have a 9 or 10 deep at running backs, and why not just 10 deep at the WR's position. Ok i make my point.

Answer 4

Yes look at last year and Troy Smith. While he put up good numbers Ohio State has always been a run heavy team and even last year Pittman and Wells combined for more then 1,800 rushing yards. Last year Ohio State finished 26th in rushing yards per game but were 45th in passing yards. It's more about how your team did and if you were cluch then just big numbers. If it was all about numbers Colt Brennan would have won the Heisman for putting up record numbers in Hawaii.

Answer 5

Yes it can. But you won't like my proof- USC 2004. QB Matt Leinart won the trophy and his running back Reggie Bush was also top five. That's as balanced an offense as you can get.

Answer 6

yes.im my dynasty this year i ran for 3200 yards and 51 tds (had 11 in one game-and yes i know i need to play the next level up) and my team was smu (this is year 2010 in the game) and lost to oklahoma whos's rb and QB were both in it and were top 5 in both QB and RB stats. i still lost to okl. rb who had 30 overall tds and 2500 yards overall (he had 300 yards receiving). my guy was a fresh his was a senior i think thats y i was snubed.