Two observations about last night’s Rose Bowl.
1) Many articles around the country joined this one from SI.com in stating the obvious
Young Steals the Show
Texas’ Versatile QB Outshines USC’s Heisman Winners
That Reggie Bush won the Heisman was not a travesty — he put up some big numbers. His margin of victory, however, points out just how political and media-influenced the Heisman voting is. If Young’s Rose Bowl performance were an extreme outlier, it would mean little. It wasn’t. He is the only player to run for more than 1000 yards while passing for more than 2500 (he went over 3000). He scored 36 touchdowns. His passing yardage was a bit below Matt Leinart’s Heisman season in 2004, but Young’s QB rating was higher. Moreover, the stats mattered in helping Young to lead his team to an undefeated regular season while acquiring a huge road victory from the ultimate #4 team in the country (Ohio State). Yet, the likes of Brad Banks, Josh Heupal, Tommie Frazier, Ki-Jana Carter, and a boat load of other second place finishers came closer to winning the trophy than Young.
Kudos to Skip for being on top of the overblown hype surrounding the Trojans in his Trojan Antidote. I like the Trojans but hate the talking heads to whom data or relevant comparisons are meaningless. I just hope Skip really took Texas and the 7.5 points!
2) When will someone in the NFL figure out how to really use guys like Vince Young. I discussed this a bit after Donovan McNabb’s “One Carry-One Yard” in the Super Bowl. Yes, I know that Michael Vick, Steve Young, McNabb and others have enjoyed success. And, yes, I know that throwing the ball effectively is critical in the NFL. Nonetheless, Chan Gailey as coordinator with the Steelers in using Kordell Stewart (not just as “Slash” but as the main QB) is still the only coach that I have seen that really got it. Once Gailey moved on, Stewart stunk with the Steelers and elsewhere. Sometimes, the QBs themselves seem to be intent on becoming known as throwers and limit their running. In most cases, it seems to be coaches bound and determined to fit the square peg in a round whole. They player may have some success but still operates largely with half of a hand tied behind his back.
