On Brandon Weeden and the Heisman

Photo Attribution: Corie Brianne

The Heisman trophy has somehow morphed into the Oklahoma State fan’s personal (and equally emotional) version of the Occupy Movement in the last few weeks.

I’m not sure how we went from “man, wouldn’t it be cool to make a BCS bowl” to “we deserve the Heisman!!” since the season started, but since we’re in full “protesting on message boards (Wall Street) and screaming obscenities at national writers (policemen) while trying to take down the national powerhouse establishments like Stanford and Oregon (the banks)” mode, let me riff.

(might have just shattered my most run-ons in one sentence record)

Before we dive into this, I don’t want to hear any “but he’s 28” comments. I don’t want to hear any “get him a walker!” jokes. I don’t want to hear any Chris Weinke comps. I don’t want to hear any “is he a grandfather yet!” barbs. And apparently neither does he…

On Tuesday KC Joyner wrote an article on why Brandon Weeden deserves the Heisman trophy. He made the following four points:

Weeden’s overall numbers are nearly identical to Luck’s
Weeden has survived Justin Blackmon’s statistical drop-off
Weeden is peaking at exactly the right time
Luck’s recent slide has opened the door for Weeden.

We’ve been driving point #1 home for months, maybe since last year, but points #2-#4 are interesting.

I’m not sure Weeden is surviving a Blackmon drop-off as much as he is the cause of it. And what is a drop-off considered? Through 10 games last year, Blackmon had 94 for 1560 and 17, this year he has 93 for 1142 and 14. Weeden hasn’t thrown as many deep balls to him as last year but he’s also spread it around a lot more than he did in 2010. He has 313 completions through 10 games this year as opposed to 258 through 10 last year. Blackmon pretty much has the same number of catches so that means Tracy Moore, Josh Cooper, Josh Stewart, and Michael Harrison are getting more love from Weeden’s right arm.

I do agree with #3 and #4 though. Like it or not, the Heisman is won in the last three games of the year. Reggie Bush housed the trophy with his Fresno State evisceration at the end of the 2005 season. Cam Newton did the same thing last year with his single-handed comeback in Tuscaloosa.

Bedlam will be the final image seared into the minds of national writers and since we live in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately era, I think that matters. Heisman ballots are due on December 5th (the Monday after Bedlam), so if Weeden takes OU to the woodshed and puts up something like 420 and 4 on December 3rd, the Heisman is his.

Joyner goes on to say:

The Cowboys haven’t won a Bedlam battle since 2002, so if Weeden is able to pull that off while leading Oklahoma State to an undefeated season and a berth in the BCS title game, it would be perhaps the second-biggest signature win of the 2011 college season.

If enough voters will wait to submit their ballots until then, it could also lead to Weeden pulling off one of the biggest Heisman Trophy comebacks in history.

And wouldn’t that be a fitting end to what has been a roller coaster of emotions over the last three months? The Cowboy gunslinger ending his college career the way it started two years ago against Colorado: as the comeback kid with one last bullet in the chamber.