Hoping For The Heisman

Like most things related to NCAA football (including the AP and USA Today polls), the Heisman Trophy is, for the most part, a popularity contest.  Voters decide beforehand who they want to win, and then spend the rest of the season trying to justify their initial choice.  Luckily for Stanford fans, this year the media almost unanimously crowned Andrew Luck the 2011 Heisman winner before the season started and, assuming Stanford continues to roll towards another BCS bowl game (or, better yet, the National Championship), it'll be hard for any of the other candidates to surpass him.  If Luck somehow does get passed up, though, it'll be Stanford head coach David Shaw's fault.

First, let me note that I'm not bashing David Shaw in this post.  I don't think that anyone can argue that he's doing anything other than a great job this season; the Cardinal are 7-0, haven't played a remotely close game yet, and are in position to do something no Stanford team - not even last year's Jim Harbaugh-led Orange Bowl winners - has done before.  Saturday's homecoming game versus a ranked Washington Huskies squad clearly proved that Shaw has his team ready to play against good competition, and that the Cardinal are far from a one-man Andrew Luck show.  Stanford ran for a school record 446 yards en route to a 65-21 demolishing of UW, and Shaw showed the country that his team has an excellent rushing game and a solid defense to complement its star quarterback.

But herein lies my problem with David Shaw.  Andrew Luck is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, not only for Stanford, but for college football as a whole.  Just as Stanford fans attached themselves to John Elway for years, going forward it might be Andrew Luck who we think of when we talk about the best, and most significant, player in Stanford history.  Having Luck win the Heisman this season will not only add to Luck's list of accolades, but will help Shaw's Cardinal team as well.  The ability to go into the homes of future QB recruits and tell them that he coached Andrew Luck to a Heisman Trophy will resonate with some kids as much, if not more so, than telling them he coached the team to a National Championship.  Getting Luck the Heisman will undoubtedly help the program solidify it's place alongside other national powers and help give the team an advantage with the media and potential recruits.

With the Stanford offense on the field, get ready for a running play.

David Shaw doesn't seem to realize this, though.  While pounding the ball via the run is nice and, as we learned against Washington on Saturday, can be extremely effective, it might be a shortsighted move.  Giving Luck more opportunities to throw, particularly in the red zone where touchdowns seem to come easily to Luck and his talented tight ends, will help build the QB's Heisman resume and, in turn, help Shaw pull in top talent down the road.  I know Shaw's first priority is to win games, but when the team is up by 2+ touchdowns why not let number 12 throw a little more?  Sure, there's a slightly increased injury risk, but he's on the field anyway and almost never gets touched.  Perhaps most importantly, having Luck's numbers skyrocket could actually have a huge impact on the team's success this season; if you think the poll voters wouldn't like to put the Heisman Trophy winner into the National Championship game again this year, you're kidding yourself.