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Heisman race and Playoffs and 'Zeke

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fishleehooker's picture
October 20, 2015 at 1:08pm
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So the voting for the Heisman trophy was Dec 13, 2014.  Marcus Mariota won that, as we all know. Since then, he outplayed the previous Heisman, Winston in the Semifinals, then was thoroughly outplayed by Ezekiel Elliott in the Championship, the same day that the rest of the field was at home licking their' wounds.  This was the week after Elliott outplayed current Heisman candidate Derrick Henry and last year's candidate Amari Cooper.  Which was the week after Zeke was outplaying last year's top RB in the Big Ten Championship.  The Big Ten championship was just days prior to Heisman voting, so it  likely helped, but was too late to boost Elliott into the race last year.   This season as I watch the talking heads ( NOT the great band from the '80s, rather the idiots on TV....'cept Galloway, he is an exception as most OSU grads are), as they compare Fournette to 'Zeke and others, those Playoffs games aren't mentioned.  They could say, that was last year, but technically it was this year, and those games don't just disappear and matter to fanbases more than any wins.   LSU didn't play in a league championship game or the extra playoff game, and lost to their rivals.  Frankly, we expect to play `14 more this season, while LSU will have to claw to get there.  We need Zeke to stay fresh and will likely wait to ride him the way LSU is riding Fournette.

Here are Fournette vs Zeke as I have them:  

Fournette 2015: 150 carries  1202 yds  8.0 per carry 14 total TD;      1258 total yds                                    

post H-vote '14: 1 game, 11 carries 143 yds  13.0  2 TD; 1KO 100yds for TD

vs Alabama '14: 21 carries   79 yds   3.8   0TD.........just sayin?

Post Heisman 2014 Total: 161 carries  1345 yds    17 TD, 6 catches 56 yds

Elliott  2015:      148 carries   988 yds  6.7 per carry   12 total TD;  1129 total yds

post H-vote '14: 2 games, 56 carries  472 yds 8.4 per carry 6 TD;     

vs Alabama '14: 20 carries   230 yards  2 TD, 

Post Heisman 2014 Total: 204 carries  1674 yards  20 TD, 20 rec 131 yards

Furthermore it gets worse if you are a Fournette fan thinking it's his to lose.  Without getting too stat-heavy in this argument, let's just look at the end of least season for both players and extend it through to now. Remember, the Heisman is for the best player in college football 2015, which means you needs to factor in those games, or at least make a decision on who may be more likely to achieve success on the big stage at the end of this season.  We are going to start with 10/25/2014, which is almost a year ago to today.  

Fournette has 3 200 yard+ games in that time period, early in this season, with his highest career game of 244 yads. He kind of struggled at the end of last season, though did well in the Bowl win.  In his totals are one mid season streak of 3x 200 yard games and a current streak of 8 100 yard games in a row, following a two game drought last November.  He also has 13 career catches, in 2 years, for 180+ yards, compared to Elliot's 48 rec and 351 yds receiving.. Not sure how he compares to Elliot as a blocker, but highly doubt he is as effective.  Zeke also sells his fakes.  

Zeke now has a streak of 12 100 yard games. He has a streak of 3 200 yard games last season, in the most important games and thoroughly outperformed Fournette against common opponents Wisconsin and Alabama. He has 4x 200 yard games in the same period Fournette had 3, with Zeke's best game being 274 against Fournette's career day of 244 against Syracuse, which is 2 yards short of what Zeke gained in the National Championship against Oregon.  Zeke also has a career day of 4 TD compared to Fournette's career day of 3.  Since this time last season Zeke has 25 TDs, against 18 TD for Fournette.  

All of this is just to say: does Fournette get the Heisman this year based on hype and early season success, compared to Zeke's late season barrage and pre consistency, as well as the higher career days and better days against common opponents?  Also, since the thing that matters is how you do against your rival; what does Fournette's day last year against Alabama say, when compared to Zeke's days against Alabama, TTUN, Wiscy, and Oregon?   When will ESPN and others bring up the fact that the playoff games aren't being counted towards Heisman voting?  

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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