Jackson answers Heisman critics
What is the problem with
Actually, nothing, it appears.
For months now, Heisman Trophy voters have argued the talented Louisville quarterback didn’t deserve college football’s top prize. In a classic case of buyer’s remorse, some even insinuated that former Clemson quarterback
deserved the award instead based on their comparative final month of the season.
During the final month of the season, Watson led the Tigers to an ACC championship, a win over Ohio State in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff and a come-frombehind victory over Alabama in the National Championship Game. Jackson, meanwhile, struggled down the stretch as the Cardinals lost three consecutive games on their way to a disappointing finish to the season.
Perhaps that’s why so much of the preseason Heisman hype focused on USC quarterback
Oklahoma quarterback
and Penn State running back
Jackson was an afterthought.
It’s true that winning the Heisman more than once is one of the most elusive feats in college football. It’s been more than four decades since former Ohio State running back won the award in back-to-back seasons (1974-75). Oklahoma’s came the closest to matching Griffin’s feat in 1979 after winning the award in 1978.
Don’t tell that to Jackson, who has put together another great start to this season.
Jackson accounted for 393 yards passing and 132 yards rushing with a combined six total touchdowns in leading No. 17 Louisville (2-0) to an impressive 47-35 road win over North Carolina Saturday. He became just the second player in Football Bowl Subdivision history to record at least 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing in consecutive games.
He’s already surpassed 1,000 yards of total offense for the second consecutive season, becoming just the second player since 2000 COMMENTARY to accomplish such a feat.
The hot start prompted Fox Sports college analyst
to tweet out, “Who was that IDIOT that didn’t have Lamar Jackson in his top 5 QBs to start the seas ............ wait ...... umm ....... this...is...awkward.” For the record, Klatt’s preseason top five Heisman candidates were Darnold, of Ohio State,
of Oklahoma State, Mayfield and
of Penn State. And for all of those remorseful Heisman voters who need a reminder why Jackson won the award last season, you’re in luck because Louisville hosts Clemson Saturday.
The Tigers, who feature the second-best defense in the country this season, terrorized Auburn’s
during the weekend. The transfer quarterback must have left Death Valley with a permanent paw print on him after being sacked 11 times in a 14-6 loss.
ESPN’s College GameDay will be on hand for the Louisville-Clemson game, adding to the buzz.
So Jackson’s time to shine will once again come this Saturday against a top-three team. Last season, he racked up 457 yards and three touchdowns during a heartbreaking 42-36 loss to the Tigers.
Perhaps this time around, things will be different.
The highly-anticipated matchup between No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 2 Ohio State provided ABC with the highest-rated college football game of the weekend, drawing an unofficial 5.3 overnight rating. Zap2it.com reported 8.22 million TV viewers for the game.
The ratings for the Sooners’ 31-16 win over the Buckeyes were up 75 percent from last year’s prime-time game in the same time slot, according to ESPN.
The other prime-time games were strong, including Notre DameGeorgia (NBC), which drew 4.3 million viewers, followed by Stanford-USC (Fox), which drew an audience of 1.7 million viewers, according to zap2it.com.
Third-ranked Clemson’s 14-6 victory over No. 12 Auburn earned a 2.0 overnight rating for ESPN. The network also earned big numbers with Cincinnati-Michigan (2.8) and Pittsburgh-Penn State (2.7).