By: Matthew Weatherby
How the Heisman trophy will be viewed for years to come will be announced on Saturday. The four finalists are Julian Sayin (Quarterback, Ohio State), Fernando Mendoza (Quarterback, Indiana), Diego Pavia (Quarterback, Vanderbilt), and Jeremiyah Love (Running Back, Notre Dame). From my view, there is a very discernible split between the four candidates. Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza are different candidates from Diego Pavia and Jeremiyah Love. The two BIG 10 quarterbacks are very valuable to their teams and their success, but I would not describe what they have done as outstanding. Which brings me to…
Heisman Definition
This definition comes directly from the Heisman website.
The Trophy remains a national symbol of collegiate football experience, prowess, and competitiveness, awarded annually to an athlete designated as the Outstanding College Football Player in the United States
Why Mendoza and Sayin do not fit the criteria
I make my case against them based on the word outstanding. I must preface the argument by saying that they are great players, and this does not diminish them or what they have accomplished this year.
What I do think is that Mendoza has had the benefit of being on the best team in the BIG 10 with the best coaching staff in the BIG 10. When you pair that with a top 5 rushing attack in the country (yes, I am aware that Mendoza was a part of that). I don’t find what he has done this year to be outstanding. Very good? Absolutely. When I watch Mendoza, it doesn’t feel like he does outstanding things; it just looks like a well-coached quarterback who is in control of an offense. I know people will talk about the throw and catch that it led to when Indiana played at Penn State. It was a good throw, but also the one that kids are taught to throw. Throw it at the crossbar so only your guy can get it. That is how it is taught.
It is a similar case for Sayin, but I have a stronger one against him. In the two games against top competition, Sayin has been ok at best. Against Texas week 1, he had 126 yards passing and 1 touchdown. Against Indiana last week, he had 258 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He was good against Washington and Michigan, but again not outstanding. He has not put up a stat line or made a throw against a team that isn’t Rutgers or Purdue that made me think this guy deserves the Heisman.
Again, these guys are good football players and important to their team’s success, but not irreplaceable. Nor do they make plays every Saturday that wow me. If you don’t believe me, Kurtis Rourke threw for more yards on fewer completions last year at Indiana and didn’t even sniff New York. The same goes for Will Howard at Ohio State. He had similar numbers to Sayin but no invite to New York.
Why it should be Pavia or Love
Because they have done some outstanding things this year. Allow me to elaborate…
As much as I think Pavia may get a bit too much airtime, he turned Vanderbilt into a place that won 10 games this year. He played a large role in their ability to recruit blue-chip guys now. He gave substance to a recruiting pitch that, if I were guessing, hasn’t changed a whole lot for Clark Lea since he has been at Vanderbilt. Now he just has a tangible result to point to.
Unlike Sayin or Mendoza, Vanderbilt is not where it is today without Diego Pavia. There were times this year when the Vanderbilt offense just could not get it going, and Pavia quite literally had to will them to some wins. His stat line was not always pretty, especially at the start of SEC play, but he wasn’t throwing to Elijah Surratt or Jeremiah Smith. He had Eli Stowers and Junior Sherrill. No disrespect to those guys, but they aren’t the aforementioned guys. Oh, by the way, Pavia LED VANDERBILT IN RUSHING YARDS. There was almost nothing more outstanding than what Pavia did this year, unless…
You turn on Jeremiyah Love’s tape. Some of the things this guy did with the football in his hands this year were ridiculous. I will go ahead and point out the elephant in the room in reference to Love’s case for the Heisman. His numbers aren’t exactly gaudy. Love spent all year splitting carries with backfield mate Jadarian Price, who amassed 113 carries on the year.
So if Love doesn’t have the numbers, how does he have a case? When you compare him to last year’s Heisman runner-up, Ashton Jeanty, they had the same average yards per carry at 7. Love scored 21 touchdowns on roughly half of the touches that Jeanty received last year. Oh, and by the way, he was doing all of this against a P4 schedule. Unlike Jeanty, who likely did not win the award based on what conference he played in. But as I said before, Love’s strongest case isn’t on a stat sheet, it is found in the film room.
Why the Heisman could be in danger
People talk about the NFL MVP award a bit begrudgingly now because it is an award that is given to the best quarterback on the best team seemingly every year. The Heisman is not the NFL MVP. In fact, extremely different by definition.
If it goes to Mendoza or Sayin, it feels like we trend strongly in the direction that the NFL MVP award has gone. In which case, we should just ship the quarterbacks of the top four seeds in the College Football Playoff to New York every year and save people the watch time to find out who it is.
The Heisman system already does not work as intended. That is shown by the fact that Texas Tech Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez will be watching the award ceremony from his house. So if it goes to one of the BIG 10 Quarterbacks, it will signal the end of the most outstanding criteria they have in place.
So how do we fix it? The guys who vote on the award should probably be required to watch these guys first. But that feels like a long shot, so instead, it starts with Pavia or Love walking away with the award Saturday night.
