 "Photo: Stephen Durda, Daily Texan Staff")
By winning on Saturday in Boulder, Colo., Texas did more than silence doubters who said the Longhorns couldn’t hold on in Big 12 play — they also pushed Colt McCoy into serious contention for the Heisman Trophy.
That’s because no Heisman winner, in the modern era of college football, has come from a Big 12 or Southwest Conference team that lost its conference opener.
The Rocky Mountain News kept McCoy on its Heisman watch list at a stagnant No. 3 after the victory, but he is preceded by No. 3 Missouri’s Chase Daniel and No. 1 Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford.
That’s the Rocky Mountain News out of Denver, less than 50 miles southeast of Boulder, where the Longhorns beat the Buffaloes 38-14 Saturday. As the longest-running weekly Heisman ranking in the country, the Rocky Mountain News’ poll compiles a comprehensive view of Heisman candidates from AP voters, and has correctly predicted the trophy winner in 18 of the last 21 seasons.
“Clearly, Colt is a Heisman-type player,” said Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins. “I think he’s much more assertive [than last season]. I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence; he’s been very efficient with the ball.”
Texas’ offensive line allowed McCoy to be sacked three times Saturday, tripling the total number of sacks the quarterback suffered through the previous five weeks.
McCoy’s few errors stemmed from excellent defensive play. He was intercepted twice, with one bouncing off the hands of tight end Peter Ullman before being snagged by Colorado.
But Texas head coach Mack Brown isn’t worried.
“The first interception was because the defender just made a great play on the ball,” Brown said. “It wasn’t a bad decision by Colt or anything. The second wasn’t Colt’s fault because it was a ball we should have caught.”
Both of these statistics brought McCoy’s passer rating down from 209.7 to 197.94. However, his completion rate remained at 76.6 percent, and McCoy padded his overall numbers by raising his passing touchdown total to 16. McCoy has accounted for 20 touchdowns overall, with four coming on the ground, and he has only thrown three interceptions.
Standing in McCoy’s path to a Heisman is Oklahoma’s Bradford, who McCoy will see firsthand Saturday, setting the stage for one quarterback to be knocked out of the race.
“Sam has gotten better from last year and that’s hard to believe as good as he played his freshman year,” Brown said.
Bradford kept himself in front of McCoy with a solid performance Saturday when the Sooners defeated Baylor 49-17. Bradford threw for 372 yards with two touchdowns. He remains near the top of the Heisman race in both the Rocky Mountain News and in every major ranking. Yet the big-time quarterback from Oklahoma City is focusing on something else.
“You really can’t worry about it. You worry about going out and playing within the system and playing your own game and just helping the team win,” Bradford told the Norman Transcript. “I don’t think you worry about any individual awards. It’s all about the team.”
Not even Vince Young could bring a Heisman home to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Young finished 2005 with a passer rating of 163.95 and brought the first national championship to Texas since 1970.
USC’s Reggie Bush won Ed Smith’s award that year, though Texas beat USC in the Rose Bowl. Young also accounted for 467 total yards in that game, the most ever by a single player in BCS history.
Gene Menez of Sports Illustrated has moved McCoy onto his Heisman watch list. The Longhorns QB is also a contender on ESPN’s online rankings. However, with three other Big 12 quarterbacks in Heisman contention, it’s unlikely a player could win the award without his team capturing the conference.
Bradford and the Sooners pose a serious challenge in Big 12 play, but they are only the first of many opponents McCoy will have to best to prove he’s worthy. For now, much of McCoy’s chances rest on the performance of the entire team.
But that’s just history.
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