If it were not for his last name I truly believe people would not even be talking about Eli and the Heisman in the same breath. By those same standards, look at these other two QB's and tell me that he deserves the award over either of them. While I believe Roethlisberger deserves much more praise than Manning, look closely at River's numbers. The two things that stand out to me are his Completion percentage of 71%, which is 10% better than Manning, and his Yards Per Attempt of 9.2... that's almost a first down every time he throws the ball which is over a yard better than Manning. The award is a joke anyway as I've heard voters say that some have left Fitzgerald completely off the ballot due to his age. He deserves the award as the best player in the country but the best QB is Rivers or Roethlisberger and NOT Manning.
Oh, and all the OU fans who will be screaming about Jason White if they can answer the question of when in the next 7 years White will even step foot on an NFL field he can be discussed. You can make a case for him as the MVP of his team but how can you possibly say the best player in the nation deserves the Heisman award and then has a slim chance to make an NFL roster or be drafted this April... makes no sense to me. White will go along with Josh Heupel, who is now a coach with OU, Eric Crouch, Danny Wuerffel and the list of long college QB's who went no where.
Here are the only 3 QB's to discuss in my mind and all of them will be playing on Sunday for years to come:
Ben Roethlisberger
Quarterback | #7 | Junior | Roster
Age: 21
Height: 6-5
Weight: 242 lbs.
Hometown: Findlay, OH
Totals Passing Rushing
SEASON CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA TD INT SACK RAT
2003 12-1 321 462 4110 69.5 8.9 33 10 17 163.5
Eli Manning
Quarterback | #10 | Senior | Roster
Age: 22
Height: 6-5
Weight: 218 lbs.
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Totals Passing Rushing
SEASON CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA TD INT SACK RAT
2003 9-3 253 410 3341 61.7 8.1 27 9 19 147.5
Philip Rivers
Quarterback | #17 | Senior | Roster
Age: 22
Height: 6-5
Weight: 236 lbs.
Hometown: Athens, AL
Totals Passing Rushing
SEASON CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA TD INT SACK RAT
2003 7-5 311 438 4016 71.0 9.2 29 7 17 166.7