BRADFORD WINS THE HEISMAN!!!!
- Thread starter Jamaica1997
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I saw it -500 at some places
I saw it -500 at some places
Stiff Arm Trophy got it right again, they are a perfect 7 for 7 now.
I wonder how much the line moves when results from surveys such as this are released?
from The Numbers Guy:
December 10, 2008, 6:11 pm
Pollsters Struggle to Project Heisman Winner
Electoral-vote projections were all the rage in the run-up to November?s big vote. But they?re old hat for the big December vote: the one for the Heisman Trophy, college football?s top award.
Sam Bradford is ahead in some Heisman projections but trails Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow in others.
For the 22nd year now, Scripps Howard News Service is polling 10 of the 925 Heisman voters from around the country; for 18 of the past 21 years, the poll, administered by the Rocky Mountain News, has gotten the winner of the often-predictable contest right. Stiff Arm Trophy, a Web site run by Kari Chisholm, a Democratic strategist who is president of Portland-based Mandate Media, is a newer entrant with an even better record: It?s a perfect six for six in predicting the winner of the vote. Chisholm collects public ballot disclosures ? such as those of sportswriters who publish their picks, and the reasoning behind them ? and also emails voters to solicit their ballots. He?s collected 117 ballots so far this year, dwarfing Scripps?s sample size, with about half coming from each source.
Unlike with the presidential race, polling for this year?s Heisman race suggests a very close finish, with three top contenders, all quarterbacks for the nation?s three top-ranked teams, in the running. Scripps Howard?s final poll showed Texas?s Colt McCoy narrowly ahead. Florida?s Tim Tebow, last year?s winner, is ahead on the ballots collected by Stiff Arm Trophy, but the site so far is projecting a narrow victory for Oklahoma?s Sam Bradford, based on adjustments by the geographical source for the ballots collected so far. (Chisholm won?t make a final projection until Friday night, 24 hours before the winner is announced.) Three other projections are split, with two going to Bradford and one to Tebow.
?I?ve been working on this thing for about 15 years, and it?s the closest I?ve seen it on the final poll,? said John Lindsay, sports editor of Scripps Howard, whose poll showed McCoy ahead with 42 points, Bradford in second with 41 and Tebow holding 34 points. Remarkably, Bradford led McCoy in the prior poll; then McCoy was idle while Bradford threw for 384 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday while leading Oklahoma to the Big 12 championship ? and then he was passed in the poll. ?It makes absolutely no sense,? said Lindsay, who voted for Bradford.
Votes for the Heisman, like those for political candidates, aren?t always logical. Chisholm said that the early ballots he collects tend to favor underdogs and regional favorites. In some years, these come in even before the regular season is over, but this year, with Tebow and Bradford both active on Saturday, nearly all votes were placed this week. (It?s unclear how or whether recently imprisoned former Heisman winner O.J. Simpson will vote.)
Chisholm acknowledged he was nervous about the balloting. ?This will be the year that proves whether my method is a good one,? he said. ?There?s not a whole lot to be gained by projecting a landslide.?
Lindsay said that no matter the accuracy of the Scripps poll this year, nor the fate of the financially troubled Rocky, he?ll carry on next year. If the Rocky folds, ?I?ll have to try to round up the voters myself,? Lindsay said, adding of the Heisman, ?It?s a silly popularity contest, but people just love it.?
I saw it -500 at some places
Stiff Arm Trophy got it right again, they are a perfect 7 for 7 now.
I wonder how much the line moves when results from surveys such as this are released?
from The Numbers Guy:
December 10, 2008, 6:11 pm
Pollsters Struggle to Project Heisman Winner
Electoral-vote projections were all the rage in the run-up to November?s big vote. But they?re old hat for the big December vote: the one for the Heisman Trophy, college football?s top award.
Sam Bradford is ahead in some Heisman projections but trails Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow in others.
For the 22nd year now, Scripps Howard News Service is polling 10 of the 925 Heisman voters from around the country; for 18 of the past 21 years, the poll, administered by the Rocky Mountain News, has gotten the winner of the often-predictable contest right. Stiff Arm Trophy, a Web site run by Kari Chisholm, a Democratic strategist who is president of Portland-based Mandate Media, is a newer entrant with an even better record: It?s a perfect six for six in predicting the winner of the vote. Chisholm collects public ballot disclosures ? such as those of sportswriters who publish their picks, and the reasoning behind them ? and also emails voters to solicit their ballots. He?s collected 117 ballots so far this year, dwarfing Scripps?s sample size, with about half coming from each source.
Unlike with the presidential race, polling for this year?s Heisman race suggests a very close finish, with three top contenders, all quarterbacks for the nation?s three top-ranked teams, in the running. Scripps Howard?s final poll showed Texas?s Colt McCoy narrowly ahead. Florida?s Tim Tebow, last year?s winner, is ahead on the ballots collected by Stiff Arm Trophy, but the site so far is projecting a narrow victory for Oklahoma?s Sam Bradford, based on adjustments by the geographical source for the ballots collected so far. (Chisholm won?t make a final projection until Friday night, 24 hours before the winner is announced.) Three other projections are split, with two going to Bradford and one to Tebow.
?I?ve been working on this thing for about 15 years, and it?s the closest I?ve seen it on the final poll,? said John Lindsay, sports editor of Scripps Howard, whose poll showed McCoy ahead with 42 points, Bradford in second with 41 and Tebow holding 34 points. Remarkably, Bradford led McCoy in the prior poll; then McCoy was idle while Bradford threw for 384 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday while leading Oklahoma to the Big 12 championship ? and then he was passed in the poll. ?It makes absolutely no sense,? said Lindsay, who voted for Bradford.
Votes for the Heisman, like those for political candidates, aren?t always logical. Chisholm said that the early ballots he collects tend to favor underdogs and regional favorites. In some years, these come in even before the regular season is over, but this year, with Tebow and Bradford both active on Saturday, nearly all votes were placed this week. (It?s unclear how or whether recently imprisoned former Heisman winner O.J. Simpson will vote.)
Chisholm acknowledged he was nervous about the balloting. ?This will be the year that proves whether my method is a good one,? he said. ?There?s not a whole lot to be gained by projecting a landslide.?
Lindsay said that no matter the accuracy of the Scripps poll this year, nor the fate of the financially troubled Rocky, he?ll carry on next year. If the Rocky folds, ?I?ll have to try to round up the voters myself,? Lindsay said, adding of the Heisman, ?It?s a silly popularity contest, but people just love it.?
In my opinion, Sam is certainly deserving to be awarded the Heisman Trophy in a year where there were three finalists that were each equally deserving of the honor. This was the closest voting in the history of this incredibly prestigious award and arguments can be made for each of the finalists.
Regarding the perceived ?snub? of Graham Harrel, Bradford earned 1,726 points from the voters, while McCoy finished 2nd with 604 points and Tebow was the closest ever 3rd place finisher with 1,575 points.
Harrell was fourth in the Heisman voting with 213 points. That?s why he was not invited to New York. No snub here, that's just reality.
The following is what I consider to be one of the best early articles on this year?s award:
By: Pete Thamel
The New York Times
December 13, 2008
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford arrived in Norman three years ago with modest hype and low expectations. The Sooners? staff acknowledged that they had recruited him for depth behind Rhett Bomar, who had been the country?s top quarterback recruit.
But Bradford?s rise from relative obscurity to national pre-eminence was sealed Saturday night when he won the Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the country?s most outstanding college football player.
Bradford, a redshirt sophomore, seemed giddy and overwhelmed as he hugged his parents and his coach, Bob Stoops, and shook hands with a row of former Heisman winners.
?I was definitely surprised,? Bradford said. ?I think it was everything I imagined. It?s going to take a few weeks for it to sink in.?
His victory did not come without a dash of drama, as Bradford edged Texas quarterback Colt McCoy by a total of 1,726 to 1,604. It was the closest finish since Eric Crouch edged Rex Grossman by 62 points in 2001.
In a sign of how top heavy the balloting was, McCoy?s second-place total was high enough to have won four of the past eight Heismans.
?Now I know what its like for those people on ?American Idol,? ? McCoy said. ?My heart was pounding. What a great experience.?
The third-place finisher, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, received more first-place votes than Bradford (309-300), becoming the first third-place finisher to do so since 1956. That did not matter to Tebow, who became the first sophomore to win the Heisman last season.
?You lose, you lose,? he said with a smile. When told he had been left off 154 of the 904 ballots, Tebow added, ?Either they love us or they hate us ? that?s Florida.?
In leading No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) to the Bowl Championship Series title game, Bradford orchestrated the most prolific season in the modern era of college football. The Sooners scored 702 points, the first modern team to break the 700 mark. They finished with a flourish, scoring more than 60 points in their final five games.
Bradford, a redshirt sophomore, led the nation with 48 touchdown passes and threw only 6 interceptions. He finished with an average of 14.78 yards a completion.
?It?s as good of an offense as I?ve ever seen on video,? Florida Coach Urban Meyer said of Oklahoma.
Bradford is the fifth Sooner to win the Heisman, joining Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969), Billy Sims (1978) and Jason White (2003). Only Southern California, Ohio State and Notre Dame have had more Heisman winners; each university boasts seven.
Bradford will also hold a place in Heisman history in that he became the first American Indian to win the trophy since Stanford?s Jim Plunkett in 1970. Bradford is one-sixteenth Cherokee, and he has become a role model in Oklahoma, a state with a rich American Indian heritage.
?I feel like that?s another blessing God gave me,? Bradford said. ?He?s given me a great platform within the Cherokee Nation.?
Bradford?s victory set up a thick subplot in the title game Jan. 8. He will square off with Tebow, who led the No. 1 Gators to their second national title game in the past three seasons.
The last time two Heisman winners played for the national title came at the end of the 2004 season when Southern California and Matt Leinart (the 2004 winner) blew out Jason White (2003) and Oklahoma, 55-19, in the B.C.S. title game.
Tebow said he was looking forward to the opportunity to beat Bradford on the field.
?We still get to play on January 8 and decide something a little bit bigger,? Tebow said.
He added that Bradford?s Heisman victory had already provided some motivation for the Gators? defense.
?I think so,? Tebow said when asked if his defense would be motivated. ?They?re a little bit excited. I already got quite a few texts from some guys.?
It was also an odd year in the Heisman voting in that none of the three finalists were seniors, the first time that has happened in the award?s 74-year history. There is a chance that all three players could return in 2009. McCoy has already made his intention to stay at Texas clear, and Tebow said he was going to test the process and see if he was expected to be among the top 15 picks in the NFL draft. Bradford will also test the draft process.
?Hopefully we?ll be here again,? McCoy said.
In a bitter twist to what has been a tough few weeks for Texas fans, the Sooners beat the Longhorns again. Texas defeated Oklahoma, 45-35, on a neutral field earlier this season. But Oklahoma won the Big 12 South and a spot in the Big 12 title game thanks to a tie breaker that used the B.C.S. rankings over the teams? head-to-head result.
Not only did the Big 12 championship game give Oklahoma an avenue to the BCS title game, it also gave Bradford one final platform to impress voters.
?I feel like having the opportunity to play in the Big 12 championship, things would have been a little bit different,? McCoy said.
But Bradford?s winning the Heisman was another example of how it has been a good year to be a Sooner. On Jan. 8, he will have another chance to show that.
Regarding the perceived ?snub? of Graham Harrel, Bradford earned 1,726 points from the voters, while McCoy finished 2nd with 604 points and Tebow was the closest ever 3rd place finisher with 1,575 points.
Harrell was fourth in the Heisman voting with 213 points. That?s why he was not invited to New York. No snub here, that's just reality.
The following is what I consider to be one of the best early articles on this year?s award:
By: Pete Thamel
The New York Times
December 13, 2008
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford arrived in Norman three years ago with modest hype and low expectations. The Sooners? staff acknowledged that they had recruited him for depth behind Rhett Bomar, who had been the country?s top quarterback recruit.
But Bradford?s rise from relative obscurity to national pre-eminence was sealed Saturday night when he won the Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the country?s most outstanding college football player.
Bradford, a redshirt sophomore, seemed giddy and overwhelmed as he hugged his parents and his coach, Bob Stoops, and shook hands with a row of former Heisman winners.
?I was definitely surprised,? Bradford said. ?I think it was everything I imagined. It?s going to take a few weeks for it to sink in.?
His victory did not come without a dash of drama, as Bradford edged Texas quarterback Colt McCoy by a total of 1,726 to 1,604. It was the closest finish since Eric Crouch edged Rex Grossman by 62 points in 2001.
In a sign of how top heavy the balloting was, McCoy?s second-place total was high enough to have won four of the past eight Heismans.
?Now I know what its like for those people on ?American Idol,? ? McCoy said. ?My heart was pounding. What a great experience.?
The third-place finisher, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, received more first-place votes than Bradford (309-300), becoming the first third-place finisher to do so since 1956. That did not matter to Tebow, who became the first sophomore to win the Heisman last season.
?You lose, you lose,? he said with a smile. When told he had been left off 154 of the 904 ballots, Tebow added, ?Either they love us or they hate us ? that?s Florida.?
In leading No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) to the Bowl Championship Series title game, Bradford orchestrated the most prolific season in the modern era of college football. The Sooners scored 702 points, the first modern team to break the 700 mark. They finished with a flourish, scoring more than 60 points in their final five games.
Bradford, a redshirt sophomore, led the nation with 48 touchdown passes and threw only 6 interceptions. He finished with an average of 14.78 yards a completion.
?It?s as good of an offense as I?ve ever seen on video,? Florida Coach Urban Meyer said of Oklahoma.
Bradford is the fifth Sooner to win the Heisman, joining Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969), Billy Sims (1978) and Jason White (2003). Only Southern California, Ohio State and Notre Dame have had more Heisman winners; each university boasts seven.
Bradford will also hold a place in Heisman history in that he became the first American Indian to win the trophy since Stanford?s Jim Plunkett in 1970. Bradford is one-sixteenth Cherokee, and he has become a role model in Oklahoma, a state with a rich American Indian heritage.
?I feel like that?s another blessing God gave me,? Bradford said. ?He?s given me a great platform within the Cherokee Nation.?
Bradford?s victory set up a thick subplot in the title game Jan. 8. He will square off with Tebow, who led the No. 1 Gators to their second national title game in the past three seasons.
The last time two Heisman winners played for the national title came at the end of the 2004 season when Southern California and Matt Leinart (the 2004 winner) blew out Jason White (2003) and Oklahoma, 55-19, in the B.C.S. title game.
Tebow said he was looking forward to the opportunity to beat Bradford on the field.
?We still get to play on January 8 and decide something a little bit bigger,? Tebow said.
He added that Bradford?s Heisman victory had already provided some motivation for the Gators? defense.
?I think so,? Tebow said when asked if his defense would be motivated. ?They?re a little bit excited. I already got quite a few texts from some guys.?
It was also an odd year in the Heisman voting in that none of the three finalists were seniors, the first time that has happened in the award?s 74-year history. There is a chance that all three players could return in 2009. McCoy has already made his intention to stay at Texas clear, and Tebow said he was going to test the process and see if he was expected to be among the top 15 picks in the NFL draft. Bradford will also test the draft process.
?Hopefully we?ll be here again,? McCoy said.
In a bitter twist to what has been a tough few weeks for Texas fans, the Sooners beat the Longhorns again. Texas defeated Oklahoma, 45-35, on a neutral field earlier this season. But Oklahoma won the Big 12 South and a spot in the Big 12 title game thanks to a tie breaker that used the B.C.S. rankings over the teams? head-to-head result.
Not only did the Big 12 championship game give Oklahoma an avenue to the BCS title game, it also gave Bradford one final platform to impress voters.
?I feel like having the opportunity to play in the Big 12 championship, things would have been a little bit different,? McCoy said.
But Bradford?s winning the Heisman was another example of how it has been a good year to be a Sooner. On Jan. 8, he will have another chance to show that.
