LETS ALL RELAX ... MATT RYAN IS NO HEISMAN WINNER

by The Original JD, Six Pack Sports Report

There are a couple things in life that I don't understand. I don't understand why Dane Cook is the voice of the baseball playoffs, I don't understand why someone thought it was a good idea to let a fat drug induced Britney Spears dance on a stripper pole for her new video, and I don't understand everyone's love affair with BC quarterback Matt Ryan. People are going to get mad at this because if there is a bigger group of d-bags then Boston College supporters I don't know who they are (note: apologies to the fellow Carnies who support the Eagles but even you have to admit your fan base majors in douchebaggery). I think Matt Ryan is a good quarterback who at this point in the season has put up some pretty good numbers but does he really deserve to be considered a Heisman front runner?

The bible of college football as far as I am concerned is CBS Sportsline (if you can't find the sarcasm in that quote you're a waterhead and should be sterilized). On the Heisman Hopefuls list Matt Ryan is tied with Tim Tebow as the front runner for the top individual award in college football. On the WWL's college football page Ryan is second to Darren McFadden (who coincidentally is ranked third by CBS). Put aside for a minute the fact that we're simply not ready as a society to have our Heisman trophy winner come out of the ACC - does anyone else think that we might be overrating Matt Ryan a little bit?

The numbers are pretty impressive for Ryan it's tough to deny that. Thus far in 2007 he has thrown for 15 touchdowns to only 5 picks. He's thrown for 1,857 yards with a completion percentage of 62.7, and a QB Rating of 139.4. Since this will come up later I should also mention that Ryan has used his tremendous speed to run in a touchdown so all in all he's produced 16 offensive touchdowns. His best game by far was this past week against Bowling Green when he completed 75% of his passes and threw 4 touchdowns. Those are nice numbers although he has also only played one road game (against Georgia Tech, 1 TD/0 INT), and he has yet to play any of the quality teams in the ACC (if there are any quality teams in the ACC this year). Ryan has had some average at best games including completing 44% of his passes against NC State (1 TD/1 INT) and 57.1% of his throws against UMass (1 TD/0 INT).

It's tough to deny that he's been good - but has he been so much better then the other quarterbacks this season that he deserves to be one of the top two quarterbacks mentioned in the Heisman talk? I won't talk about Tim Tebow because all the experts (and I use that term loosely) seem to agree that he's at least in the discussion when it comes to QBs. I do want to talk about two other guys who I think deserve just as much credit (if not more) than Ryan but don't get nearly as much play.

Dennis Dixon in Oregon has been a man possessed for the Ducks. He has completed 69.3% of his passes for 1238 yards, 12 TDs and 2 INTs. The second aspect of Dixon's game is his ability to scramble which adds 308 yards and 5 TDs of offense to his numbers. Taken together Dixon has created 1546 yards, 17 TDs and 2 INTs for Oregon with a QB Rating of 169.0. Dixon's best game was probably his 75% passing, 4 TD/0 INT (plus 1 rushing TD) day against Stanford in a game that the Ducks won 55-31 in Stanford to a team that the next week knocked off USC in LA. I'm not saying that Stanford is good but you have to at least give credit where credit is due in that Dixon's solid performance against Stanford is at least as impressive as Ryan's numbers against a pretty terrible Bowling Green team. Being fair because after all I am a credible journalist (note: punching elderly people is my hobby) the worst game Dixon played all season was probably his last game against #3 Cal where he threw 2 TD/2 INT and rushed for another touchdown. In that game he completed 70.5% of his passes and while the game was still a loss for the Ducks is that performance any better or worse then Ryan's game against NC State? You be the judge.

The other guy I think stacks up well with Ryan who nobody is talking about plays in the Valley of the Sun and I admit that I am biased because I've been riding the ASU bandwagon all season. If you don't know who Rudy Carpenter is then let me take a moment to educate you my kiddies. You've got 14 TDs, 6 INTs, 1503 passing yards, a 66.7% passer and a QB rating of 162.6 - and you put that under center of a team that 6-0, 3-0 in the Pac-10 and what do you get? I say you get a guy who isn't talked about at all in the Heisman race while someone with very similar numbers, in a less conference gets all the glory. What makes Ryan more credible then Carpenter to be man ESPN and CBS gargle as the next great QB? Carpenter had 3 TD/1 INT against Colorado (who beat Oklahoma), and 1 TD/1 INT on 20-27 passing against Stanford on the road (who just beat USC).

If team wins and loses didn't count towards who should be represented at the Downtown Athletic Club then I'd tell you all to go check out Alex Brink who has almost identical numbers to Ryan except that his team sucks and stand at a miserable 2-3 right now. I'm also not going to get into the case for Andre Woodson, Mike Hart, or Darren McFadden. With Colt Brennan hurt I think we can cross his name off the list and because Sam Bradford is a freshman I think we can all agree that he's got no shot.

Before all the Superfans take issue with me calling our the Matt Ryan love I don't mean to imply that he doesn't deserve to be in the conversation. If the Eagles can come out of this stretch against Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State and Maryland with their record in tact and Ryan still putting up these types of statistics then I will personally go to New York with a #12 Eagles jersey on and cheer for the kid. However, how about you put up some numbers against someone - and don't tell me about Wake Forest or Georgia Tech because neither of those teams is that good and those were both home games. When Ryan goes on the road, into a hostile stadium (think Clemson) and produces like he has this season I'll be impressed.

Sure I might have allowed my BC bias to taint my argument but at least I wrote about something other then abortion and tranny hookers for once and you all at least have to give me credit for that.