Awards Season

So they started passing stuff out yesterday in college football. A list of the men and the hardware they now hold:

• Antoine Cason, DB, Arizona - Thorpe
  
• Tim Tebow, QB, Florida - Maxwell, O'Brien
• Dan Connor, LB, Penn State - Bednarik
• Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas - Walker, Camp
  
• Thomas Webber, K, Arizona State - Groza
• Durant Brooks, P, Georia Tech - Guy
• Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech - Biletnikoff
• Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU - Outland, Lombardi

No real surprises there except for the fact that Crabtree became the first freshman ever to win the Biletnikoff Award. Glad he did, otherwise the Big 12 would've been shut out of the major non-Heisman awards. (And Chase Daniel is not winning that, either.)

But seeing Crabtree's success brought up something interesting regarding the Heisman. Why isn't Graham Harrell heading to New York right now? Here are his stats for 07: 160.5 QB Rating, 72.7 Comp. %, 5298 passing yards, 441.5 yds./game, 45 TDs, 14 INTs.

Now here are Colt Brennan's stats for 07: 166.5 QB Rating, 71.4 Comp. %, 4174 passing yards, 379 yds./game, 38 TDs, 14 INTs.

What's the difference? Harrell did play one more game than Brennan and, while it's at least possible that Brennan could've closed the seven touchdown gap between them in four quarters, he wasn't going to throw for 1124 yards in a game. Additionally, I've never seen Harrell wear a baseball cap over his ears on national television and I presume he doesn't say "brah." (I'm also assuming that Brennan does. Again, that's just an assumption, but when you look the part...)

June Jones says that Colt Brennan isn't a system quarterback and maybe he's not. That's not the point. The point is he has system stats. Graham Harrell does too but you barely heard his name mentioned in the Heisman race. Tim Tebow might win it and he's got the dreaded system stats as well.

So what's Harrell's major knock here? Was it because he didn't go undefeated against the likes of Charleston Southern, Norther Colorado, and Idaho? Is it just because nobody ever pays attention to the QB at Texas Tech? Why is their system always discounted more than others?

In all honesty, I don' care who wins the Heisman. Of the candidates actually invited, I'd go with McFadden, but only in Harrell's absence. It will be truly interesting to see what happens down in Lubbock next year. Crabtree is only a RS freshman and Harrell should be back for his final season, it's possible they'll be even better than they were this year.

Could he win it then in spite of the fact that he chose to play for Texas Tech? I, for one, hope so.