Every time I listen to Mike Valenti’s historic rant when Michigan State gagged in their matchup against Notre Dame in September, denying us of a Notre Dame-free society in the world of college football, I can’t help but ask myself what would have happened if Michigan State had won that game against the Fighting Irish.
We wouldn’t be talking about Brady Quinn for Heisman for one thing.
Heck, he shouldn’t been mentioned after what he did when the Irish faced the Wolverines in South Bend and got spanked by almost three touchdowns, which should have eliminated any talk of him being mentioned for the Heisman because he didn’t win any big games.
Emphasis on the last three words of the previous paragraph.
Quinn went 24 fo 48 in that game against Michigan, running up 234 passing yards with 3 touchdown passes and three picks.
In tonight’s game, the senior quarterback threw for three touchdowns and no picks, while running up 268 yards in the air.
So if you add the two games that are the marquee matchups for the Irish, you would get 502 yards, an average of a 251 yards, which is respectable by all means.
But the important thing that the Heisman voters will look at is this, did Brady Quinn win those two games?
No.
What people outside of East Lansing don’t know is that Quinn had to bring the Irish back from a 37-21 deficit (which is possible when you’re playing Michigan State) and win 40-37.
So you really can’t say the Irish won that game, because as we all know, Michigan State handed it to them like a scared tourist handing over a million dollars to a robber in Downtown Memphis because of the coaching staff’s inabilty to coach with a lead.
The only big game that I would look at if I was a Heisman voter would be the game against Penn State, when he lit up the Nittany Lions for 287 yards in a 41-14 rout in Happy Valley.
1-2 against Penn State, Michigan, and USC.
Which says it all for Quinn.
Not Heisman worthy.
When you get pasted by 26 against Michigan at home and 20 against Southern Cal on the road, don’t expect to be standing on the podium in New York City when the Heisman is given out.
The reason why Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Desmond Howard, Ricky Williams, and others have won the Heisman in the previous 15 years, is because they performed well in big games while their teams won those big games they performed well in.
Quinn has not done that in a big game this year except once when the Irish went on the road and pasted Penn State in the beginning of the season.
Don’t get me wrong, he performed well against Michigan and Southern Cal and didn’t even throw a pick against the Trojans in tonight’s game.
But did the Irish win those games against the Wolverines and the Trojans?
No.
Enough said, then.
