Huskies ratchet up Lynch Heisman hype
Jordan Lynch’s Heisman campaign began in earnest Thursday when Northern Illinois plastered its senior quarterback on so many pieces of literature at its Chicago Media Day that he could have easily been mistaken for a candidate for elected office.
To boot, Lynch’s player profile occupied five pages in the Huskies’ preseason prospectus and came before that of any coaches or other players whose profiles were listed alphabetically and consisted of a few paragraphs.
And those who think the somewhat over-the-top campaign for Lynch detracts from the concept that football is a team game need to reminded that he is the team.
In last season’s run to the Orange Bowl Lynch threw for 3,138 yards, rushed for 1,815 yards and accounted for 44 touchdowns. He became the only player in NCAA history to throw for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 1,500 during a season in which he accounted for 75.3 percent of the Huskies’ offense.
The scary thing for Lynch and Northern Illinois is that he might need to play better if the school hopes to return to a BCS bowl.
“People know who we are now and we have a target on our backs,” Lynch said. “But as a defense you can only do so much. It’s a quarterback-driven offense, but if people are going to spy in on me we have tons of playmakers who can make plays.”
Though that might hold true, what plays more into Lynch’s favor is the return of his entire offensive line and the promotion of Rod Carey to coach. Carey, who ended last season as the team’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, takes over for Dave Doeren, who left for North Carolina State.
When Doeren left, Lynch and the rest of the offense were focused on finding someone who would maintain the offensive system in place. Carey fit the bill. While Carey says he’s made some changes, schematically the Huskies remain the same.
And other than Lynch, no one is under more pressure to build upon the success than Carey.
“Pressure is a positive,” Carey said. “Any time you line up in a game there’s pressure to win.”