Heisman Trophy? How 'bout the Mariota Trophy?

I wasn't able to put up a post about Oregon's sweet victory over Stanford the week before last. So shall we just take a moment to enjoy these photos of Stanford losing?

 

UTAH TO BE KIDDING ME!
The greatest touchdown in Oregon history, of course, is The Pick. They're calling this The Pick-UP.


This single play has gone super viral. It immediately hit YouTube from several different angles. Twitter and Facebook blew up. And last Sunday night, there it was on both the ABC and CBS Evening News with the anchor saying something smarmy like, "Let that be a lesson to you kids out there."

Ute Kaelin Clay could not wait to drop the ball so he could begin his dance. In the press conference after the game, he said he took "full responsibility" for that.

Well GREAT, Clay. Was there someone else trying to steal the blame for that one?

And here is a reaction from a Utah fan . . .


This game was a battle. A cage match. It was so nice to have beaten Stanford the week before with the Cardinal putting up little fuss. But these Utes were particularly fussy, sacking Mariota four times and forcing him to fumble once.


Cheaters!

Down goes Marcus.

Injuries were huge. Guys on both sides were dropping right and left. Utah's starting QB and wide receiver. Oregon's center Hronis Grasu, then Tight End Pharoah Brown went down.

Watching the replay of Brown's injury the next day, I listened to the announcers say the guys in the truck had a camera angle on the injury, but thought it best not to show it. So I checked YouTube. Here is a 3 second video of what happened to Pharoah Brown. Warning: This is not pretty. If you're eating, stop for a second. If, during this cold and flu season, you're already battling nausea, don't even watch it.

But when you do watch it, you'll instantly understand why he was in so much pain, why he spent days in a Salt Lake Hospital and is now recuperating in his hometown in Ohio, and why the coaches said, "Obviously he's out for the season."


Here is what I don't get. The four big injuries mentioned above -- they were all non- or otherwise little contact. They were all weird twists between the person's leg and the ground. I'm looking at all of them wondering "What is with that turf?"  It's like it has funny seams or a sticky surface that suddenly grabs a foot and won't let go. Maybe just bizarre coincidences.

Pharoah Brown scores in 2nd quarter.

MARIOTA AND OREGON'S #2 RANKING.  
ANOTHER COINCIDENCE?
After the barrage of sacks he had received from Washington State and Arizona, It appeared to me that Mariota finally came to full acceptance of what everyone was telling him. If he didn't play like Super Mariota, Oregon would lose. If he didn't dedicate himself to doing EVERYTHING he could to make the plays needing to be made, Oregon would not go anywhere. No Pac-12 Championship. No College Playoff. No Heisman. Nowhere.

Granted he could not have done it without his offensive line suffering through their own wake up call. But together, they all regrouped and rededicated themselves to the cause. In this latest stretch of wins, I think Mariota has kept the ball and run it more often than he did all last season.
*(If I were a responsible journalist, I would actually research the stats and compare how many rushes he's had then and now. But I'm too lazy and it's easier just to offer that point and say it's true -- you know, like Fox and Friends.)
 The result is Oregon is on target for the College Football Playoffs, and Marcus Mariota is on target for the Heisman Trophy.

I mean is there any doubt? At this point in the season, does anybody see Oregon playing at this level without Mariota? Does anyone not see any other team with Mariota suddenly vault to the upper slots in the polls.

Not only should they give Mariota the Heisman already,
but they should recreate the Heisman
in this image of him.

The rest of this season is just hoping nothing terrible happens. Word is Mariota has got this. Here is an excerpt from USC's SB Nation blog "Conquest Chronicles".

But the biggest takeaway from this week's update of the college football odds is that Marcus Mariota is now dominating the Heisman Trophy odds. After another four-touchdown performance (239 passing yards, 3 TD; 114 rushing yards, 1 TD), Mariota's odds are now an overwhelming 1/5.

Everyone else on the Heisman odds list dropped with the exception of Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett and TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin. Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott is second but dipped for the second week in a row. His odds are now down to 13/2.

 

It's his to lose. 

 

HEY SEC, QUIT BEATING UP ON CHURCH LADIES

I propose a new rule in college football. If you play a patsy lower division school in November, it counts as a loss regardless of the score. Last week two SEC teams, Ole Miss and Mississippi State played football opponents in the loosest sense of the words.

 

#11 Ole Miss played a church, Presbyterian, and beat them convincingly 48-0. And then #1 Mississippi State got by a team called UTM 45-16. I've checked around, and I still don't know who UTM is. I think they're a labor union.

 

Although they have beaten every SEC team they've played, Missy State's strength of schedule rating is tied with Oregon's at #7 thanks to their scheduling very weak non- league teams.

Missy State vs. UTM
"Ha ha. We're KILLING these guys!"

Meanwhile in that same strength of schedule tally, Florida State is ranked #14. Being a member of the Atlantic Conference, they have played only one other ranked ACC team, Clemson. And their tough win over Notre Dame now looks suspect after ASU just slaughtered the Irish. That explains why Oregon passed them in the Playoff poll. Oregon has beaten three ranked teams this year (Michigan State, Stanford, and at UCLA) and they lost to a currently ranked Arizona team. Pollsters tend to see that as a "good loss".

 

I point this out because when I see these allegedly awesome teams schedule unbelievably weak teams, it just pisses me off further knowing that Texas A&M had a perfectly good home-and-home series scheduled against Oregon, and they pulled out. Now let's hold our breaths to see what cupcakes Jack Boot U. schedules in those open slots.

Oregon is bye this week in perfect time to heal and finish strong against Colorado, Oregon State, and then the Pac-12 Championship.

In a few days, I will post a special report about a different team. Which team (mentioned above) best comes to mind when I say the word "shame"?

--kb