Team Heisman: USC's Leinart surrounded by trophy talent
By Gregg Doyel | SportsLine.com Senior Writer Follow GreggLOS ANGELES -- You know how the media's East Coast bias is supposed to work against Heisman candidates from the Pac-10? In the candidacy of Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart, the East Coast bias might just come in handy.
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| Quarterback Matt Leinart and USC coach Pete Carroll both know that one person doesn't carry the program.(AP) |
They'll look awfully pretty in the Sunday newspaper, which is the only way most Heisman voters will be able to view them. The Trojans game ended Saturday at about 10:45 p.m. local time -- well past midnight for most Heisman voters.
For Leinart's Heisman hopes, ignorance could be bliss -- and please, USC fans, read a few more sentences before firing off an angry e-mail. Leinart's a great player, he really is, but he's playing in a situation that is kinder to a quarterback than anything we've seen since mid-1980s Miami.
The Trojans have waves of NFL talent at receiver, tight end and tailback, plus the best offensive coach in college football in coordinator Norm Chow, whose quarterbacks set all kinds of records at Brigham Young and N.C. State. Using a quarterback as his scalpel, Chow has carved up opposing defenses for three decades. At Southern California he has talent to match his system. He has traded in his scalpel for a pickaxe.
Chow's first USC QB, Carson Palmer, went from head case to Heisman. Leinart had never thrown a college pass entering 2003 spring practice, when he barely won the starting job. Nine months later he finished sixth in the 2003 Heisman voting.
Leinart will do better than sixth this season, and probably will win it. That's what voters do if at all possible -- give the trophy to the quarterback of whichever team is ranked No. 1 in early December. Last year it was Oklahoma's Jason White. This year it will be Leinart, unless you're delusional enough to think the Trojans will lose Nov. 27 to Notre Dame or Dec. 4 at UCLA.
In fairness to Leinart, he really might be the best player in the country. Or he might not be the best player in his huddle. Sophomore tailback Reggie Bush also is garnering Heisman attention, although only from voters who know Bush returned punts for scores in two recent games -- but don't know about his fumbles in each of the past three games.
That kind of voter isn't only a reality -- that kind of voter is the majority. The Trojans are playing a school-record six night games this season, which means most of the country is drunk, asleep or both while Leinart and Bush are racking up their numbers.
Voters whose only look at Southern California comes from the morning newspaper will see Leinart's 23 touchdowns and five interceptions, his mounting yardage total (up to 2,344 with two regular-season games to play) and his 66.2 completion percentage. As well a voter should.
Voters won't see the NFL-ready size and skill of true freshman receiver Dwayne Jarrett or the way tailback LenDale White softens the defense's stomach until Bush goes for the knockout blow to the head. Voters don't see USC junior tight end Dominique Byrd (who's he?) becoming a bigger and bigger part of the offense, with size and speed that ought to jeopardize his return to campus next season. Injured in August, Byrd had zero catches through five games. He has 28 in the last five.
"I'm happy for Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart," said White, whose 118 yards Saturday night gave him four 100-yard rushing games on the season, which is four more 100-yard rushing games than you probably realized. "We need somebody to get the publicity. I get in the game, the defense doesn't worry about me too much. I can get what I want."
