I'm trying to figure out a way for Houston's Case Keenum to win the Heisman. First, I'm trying to figure out a way for people to care enough for Case Keenum to win the Heisman.
He plays in a league where defense is considered touch football. He plays in a league that is 4-21 this season against BCS schools. He plays in a league that had a great chance to promote the best player in Conference USA's short history. Too bad there was no scheduled coaches' conference call with reporters on Monday. The league office isn't to blame so much for what this BCS world has made Conference USA -- off Broadway football.
The previous week, the last seven coaches on the conference call didn't get asked a single question by the media.
That's just a symptom of college football's arrogance. If your league doesn't end in a number (specifically 10 or 12) or with the word "conference" (preceded by "Southeastern" or "Atlantic Coast") it ain't spit. The last 15 Heisman winners have come from four leagues -- Big 12, SEC, Big Ten and Pac-10. Surprised? Don't be. Since 1990, only two players from current non-BCS schools have finished in the top three in voting.
That has to change -- now. My guy had one scholarship offer which is about 100 less than Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy. Now he's outplaying both. At his current pace, Keenum will finish 1,300 yards ahead of the nation's next most prolific passer and already has the top three passing games this season.
Should the nation's best offensive weapon win the Heisman? Yes. Can Keenum win it? No way in hell and that sucks.
In case you don't know him, and you probably don't, Keenum is the 6-2 aw-shucks automaton who has been the most lethal, consistent, productive quarterback in the country. He is the leading passer in the country by more than 900 yards, the only player averaging more than 400 yards passing per game. No quarterback has thrown more touchdown passes (28).
Unfortunately, as Keenum's star rises, it promises to be nothing more than a talking point for Prejudice Week. Look around: Boise State can't get a break, media magpies will tell you why TCU shouldn't be allowed to play for the national championship and it's worse for Keenum, who is just plain ignored.
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Their shared trait is that they play below college football's Mendoza Line for non-BCS schools.
But I'm at the point where I'm ready to cash in frequent-flyer miles just to get the kid to New York -- he's that good and also that anonymous. Some of you only know Houston plays football because I just wrote that sentence. Like a lot of schools, it was marginalized when the Southwest Conference broke up in 1996.
Baylor made the cut for the Big 12, Houston didn't. It's taken another old Southwest Conference rival -- TCU -- this long to get to the brink of a BCS bowl. Since 1995 when the league broke up, Houston has had one more winning season (six) than coaches (five). In that span, it has had one outright C-USA title (2006).
But, gosh, is Keenum good. YouTube him, he's on there more often than Brandon Spikes' claws of death. He is Tebow without The Promise, McCoy without the hype machine. In the last two games, Keenum has thrown for 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns -- more TD passes than 14 teams have thrown this season.
I can hear you now: 'Yeah, but it's Conference USA, an arcade league.' This happens to be an apples to apples argument. Quarterback is the one position where you can make a somewhat equal comparison. Bad defenses? What exactly was McCoy running and throwing against last year when he was the Heisman runner-up? Those were Big 12 defenses, bad Big 12 defenses.
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| 'Our team believes in him,' Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said of Case Keenum. (US Presswire) |
On Saturday, Houston trailed Tulsa by two with 21 seconds left. Houston recovered an onside kick and two passes later, Matt Hogan was in position to kick a career-high 51-yard field goal.
"Our team believes in him," Houston coach Kevin Sumlin said of Keenum. "Offensively, defensively, everybody does, that no matter what the score is, we're never out of the game."
Call him Comeback Keenum. He has beaten more Big 12 teams (two) than at least half the quarterbacks in that league. He has beaten more teams from BCS leagues (three) than at least 76 teams in Division I-A. He is second only to McCoy in consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass, 26-25.
In the old days we, the media, would be sent vials of Keenum saliva, toenail clippings, moldy old socks just to keep him uppermost in our minds. It was a much different (promotion) game back then. There was swag and apparel to be had with said Heisman Candidate's mug/accomplishment plastered all over then.
Then Washington State had the subversive idea of putting a leaf in hundreds of envelopes to remind the media of Ryan Leaf and less was suddenly more. That evolved into mouse pads, CDs, e-mail and Power Point presentations. Someone eventually figured out that the big-time candidates don't need squat for promotion because every game is on TV.
Mostly, Heisman voters are lazy. They don't have or need the Jim Thorpe Award race broken down for them each day. Heisman? Hook up a mass media IV and sit back in the Barcalounger. Voting for the Heisman requires almost no research -- the rules are vague.
I picked up a couple of sports sections on Sunday that had listed the obligatory "Heisman Watch." Did they even watch games? The numbers of Tebow and McCoy are down. It seemed that even Nick Saban didn't believe in Mark Ingram on Saturday, until the second half against LSU.
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My guy Keenum wasn't listed.
Twenty years ago in a different era, Houston's Andre Ware won the Heisman piling up similar arcade numbers. The difference was that Houston mattered because it was in a major conference.
If you dig deep enough, you can find out about my guy. Keenum has his own conference call (each Tuesday) as well as Twitter and Facebook pages. It would be a heck of a thing if a barely-recruited Texas kid from Abilene could at least get the big city, bright lights trip to New York.
I've done my part. Besides, Houston probably doesn't have the budget to outfit me in a leather Case Keenum bomber jacket that I would be glad to represent in.
Comeback Keenum isn't the only one who can dream.
For the rest of the national notes read Dennis Dodd's blog Dodds and Ends.
