If I have anything to say about it, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy will win the 2008 Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in New York City.
Actually, I do have something to say about it. I voted online about 30 minutes before typing this sentence.
This seemed to be one of the most difficult years ever to decide who should win. There were four highly qualified Big 12 quarterbacks until Missouri’s Chase Daniel played his way out of the race.
And after an early season loss against Mississippi, there was the surge from the reigning champion, Tim Tebow of Florida.
I know there are other positions to consider for the Heisman, but running backs and quarterbacks tend to win unless there are no obvious candidates at those positions.
In the end, I had to eliminate Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, in large part because of his play against Oklahoma. I hated to do it, because I think while Tech has had a number of quarterbacks produce gaudy stats, Harrell stood out and led his team to its highest ranking ever. But the rules are you can only vote for three. So here’s how I voted.
1. Colt McCoy, Texas
We live in an age of uncanny passing accuracy. I know quarterbacks don’t go deep down the field as much as they once did, but with so many passers running similar offenses, I can’t get past McCoy’s NCAA-leading 77.6 completion percentage.
He’s on pace to break a 10-year-old record set by Daunte Culpepper. McCoy is a full four percentage points ahead of Culpepper’s mark.
That, to me, is a lot.
While throwing for 32 touchdowns and seven interceptions, McCoy led the Longhorns in rushing. That really gets to the deciding factor for me.
I can’t think that McCoy has the weapons at his disposal that Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford or Tebow has. Even if you really like Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley and want to rank them even with Oklahoma’s wide receivers (which I think is pushing it), Bradford has two other huge weapons that McCoy lacks.
Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham might win the Mackey Award. And there’s no running back in Texas’ stable to compare with DeMarco Murray or Chris Brown, a pair of 1,000-yard rushers.
In Oklahoma’s biggest win, over Texas Tech, the story of the first half when the Sooners put the game away was Murray and the OU defense, not so much Bradford.
So there’s a lot to like about McCoy, and I feel he deserves the award, although I expect Bradford to win.
2. Tim Tebow, Florida
I voted for him first last season, and in some ways he was better in 2008. Certainly his TD-to-interception ratio of 28-2 is superior to last year’s 32-6. He doesn’t have the rushing TDs that he piled up last year, but he still has 12.
I don’t think there’s any doubt about his leadership on that team. The Southeastern Conference may be down this year, but Alabama certainly isn’t, and Tebow willed the Gators past the Tide.
And there’s also an argument gaining steam that Tebow faces better defenses in the SEC than the Big 12 quarterbacks go up against. It’s probably being overstated right now, but there is some merit to it.
3. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
I thought a long time about voting him first with his 48 touchdown passes. I think he’s probably every bit the leader to the Sooners that McCoy and Tebow are to their teams.
But I think the superior weapons at his disposal gave him an advantage McCoy lacked. And I really think Murray’s running was the early key to OU getting a jump on Tech and staying with Oklahoma State in the Sooners’ last two big games.
Anyway, I don’t think it’s slighting someone to vote them third when there are four remarkable quarterbacks to be considered.
And whatever happens Saturday night, Bradford has a national championship game to play in that McCoy does not. So if Bradford doesn’t leave New York with the Heisman, I think he can live with playing for a title on Jan. 8.
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Tim Cowlishaw is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News.
