Nov 14, 2013
At the conclusion of this 2013 season, college football great, Archie Griffin, may not be the only two-time Heisman trophy winner. It’s a very good possibility that Johnny Manziel will be joining Mr. Griffin in that exclusive club.
Regardless of what you think about Manziel’s personal life style and offseason shenanigans, you simply cannot ignore the video game type stats he is putting up in his 2013 campaign. Through the first 10 games of the season, Manziel is third in the nation and leads the SEC with 3,313 passing yards. He ranks second in the nation in completion percentage at 73% and passing touchdowns with 31, and is also third nationally in efficiency rating with a 186.9. He’s first in the SEC with 331.3 pass yards per game and is 12th in the conference with 611 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. He has thrown for 300 yards six times, and in four out of those six he eclipsed 400 yards. He is also 4th in the country in QBR with an 88.5.
Clearly Johnny Football has been nothing short of electrifying this season, even more so than his Heisman winning year last season. At this same time last year, he had 2,780 passing yards and 18 touchdown passes. That means that this year he currently has a whopping 533 more yards and 13 more touchdowns than he did last season.
People complain that he can’t win the Heisman because his team already has 2 losses. I say that is an unfair statement based on the quality of Texas A&M’s defense, which allows an SEC worst 454.4 yards per game and over 30 points each week. They simply can’t stop anyone, forcing Johnny Football to have to put the team on his back and carry them to victories. In A&M’s 49-42 loss to #1 ranked Alabama, Manziel led the team back from a 3 touchdown deficit with 464 yards passing, 5 touchdowns and 98 rushing yards. In A&M’s loss to Auburn, Manziel had 454 yards passing with 4 TD’s, and 48 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Clearly A&M’s losses weren’t caused by poor play from Manziel.
At this point in the season, the Heisman race seems to be down to a two-man battle between Manziel and Florida State quarterback “Famous” Jameis Winston. Winston is the real deal and will be the #1 pick when he becomes eligible in a couple years, but he is also lucky to be on an ultra-talented and complete team in the Seminoles. Florida State has a strong defense that allows Winston a big cushion to relax and do his thing, where A&M is much less of a complete team with their defense really being nothing short of awful. All you have to do is look at the numbers between Manziel and Winston and you’ll see Winston has 1,106 less total offensive yards, and 9 less touchdowns. Regardless of the 2 losses on Johnny Football’s resume, those numbers simply cannot be ignored.
The Heisman trophy is supposed to go to the most outstanding player in college football. By looking at the numbers, and just simply watching him play, you’ll see that Johnny Football is the most electric, exciting, and outstanding player in the nation. If the season ended today, it’d only be right to hear Mr. Johnny Manziel’s name being called in New York City as the second player in the history of the game to win two Heisman trophies.
