NCAA Heisman Watch: The Doctor’s Top 10 November 14, 2011 — Week 11

Eleven weeks into the 2011 college football season and the separation between Heisman contenders is starting to take place!

Boise State’s Quarterback, Kellen Moore suffered a loss for only the third time in his entire collegiate career. The 3 losses came by a combined total of 5 points. One loss suffered to Nevada, 34-31 in 2010, and two losses to TCU, 17-16 in 2008 and 36-35 in 2011. Even in a loss Kellen Moore put up Heisman type numbers. Kellen completed 28 of 38 passes for 73.7% completion percentage for 320 yards 2 TDs 0 INTs and a 161.8 Quarterback Rating.

Stanford’s QB Andrew Luck suffered his first loss of the season against Oregon. And, it wasn’t pretty. Stanford and Luck got beat up to the tune of 53-30. Luck threw two INTs, one of which was returned 40 yards for an Oregon score. Luck averaged only 6.6 yards per pass attempts against the Ducks. Besides Oregon only, that WAC powerhouse, SAN JOSE STATE held Luck to 6.6 or fewer yards per pass attempt.

Robert Griffin III, Quarterback Baylor, had to go to overtime to beat lowly Kansas. But, Griffin had a pretty good game even though he played against a lesser opponent. Griffin threw for 312 yards, 3 TDs and rushed for 103 yards and 1 TD in Baylor’s 31-30 OT win over Kansas.

Case Keenum, Quarterback Houston, just continues to pile up the numbers and even though, for the most part, he plays against the so-called non-BCS automatic qualifying schools Case’s total body of work cannot be ignored. With two more regular season games left to play Keenum has thrown for 3,951 yards. He has completed 74.2 percent of his passes (279 out of 376). He has thrown 37 TD passes with only 3 INTs. Houston is 10-0 and ranked number 11 by the AP.

Oregon’s LaMichael James had another 100 yard plus game (146 yards) rushing and also 3 rushing TDs against a very suspect Stanford defense. With 2 regular season games remaining James has only scored 14 of Oregon’s 57 total TDs (24.6%). Wisconsin running back Montee Ball’s 27 total TDs is 43.5% of Wisconsin’s 62 TDs. At this time even though he has rushed for 1,207 yards to go with his 14 TDs he has only an outside shot at winning the 2011 Heisman Trophy.

University of Wisconsin QB Russell Wilson was almost perfect against Minnesota this past week completing 16 of 17 passes for 178 yards and 4 touchdowns for a 259.7 one game QB Rating. His QB Rating for the season is a paltry 201.6. Wilson has thrown 25 TD passes and only 3 INTs after 10 games. He has completed 160 of 218 passes (73.4% completion percentage) for 2,416. Wilson leads the nation with 11.1 yards per attempt and averages 15.1 yards per completion.

Wisconsin Badger running back Montee Ball added 3 more TDs to his nation leading TD total and now has 27 total touchdowns. Ball has now jumped from 10th in the nation in rushing to 4th in the nation. Ball’s 2011 season 27 TDs breaks the all-time Big Ten single season touchdown scoring record of 26 TDs, previously held by Ohio State’s Pete Johnson (1975), Indiana’s Anthony Thompson (1988), and Penn State’s Ki-Jana Carter (1994) all scored 26 touchdowns.

Alabama’s running back Trent Richardson played a so-so game against Mississippi State. Richardson gained 127 yards on 32 carries, a 3.97 yards per carry average, and scored 1 TD. Richardson is 8 TDs behind Wisconsin’s Montee Ball and also trails Ball in rushing yards and yards per carry. Richardson has only 1 receiving touchdown compared to Ball’s 4.

Landry Jones, Quarterback Oklahoma, was on a bye this past week and gets a pass to stay in the Top 10 Heisman Watch.

Brandon Weeden, Quarterback Oklahoma State, has some pretty big numbers across the board: 3,635 passing yards on 313 completions out of 428 pass attempts (73.1% completion percentage) with 31 TD passes and 9 INTs.

Missouri running back Henry Josey is lost for the season after suffering a knee injury against Texas this past week. That’s a shame because his 8.1 yards per rush is best among the top 50 rushers in the Country.

This week’s Doctor’s 2 to watch are again Houston wide receiver Patrick Edwards and second time 2 to watch entry Kansas State QB Collin Klein. Wide receiver Patrick Edwards is still overlooked by the national media but you better believe that NFL scouts have his number on speed dial. Edwards after 10 games has caught 61 passes for 1,277 yards (20.9 yards per reception) for 14 TDs. Meanwhile Kansas State QB Collin Klein continues to look decent as a passer but is really impressing as a runner. Klein has completed 129 of 219 passes (58.9% completion percentage) for 1,504 yards with 10 TDs and only 5 INTs. But, in addition to his passing numbers Klein has compiled some pretty impressive rushing statistics: 241 carries for 1,009 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and 24 rushing touchdowns. Klein leads the nation in rushing TDs and is second in the nation in total scoring, trailing only Wisconsin’s running back Montee Ball (27 total TDs) who is just shy of putting up Barry Sanders type TD numbers.

Top 10 Heisman List by the Doctor’s Gut Feeling

1Montee BallWisconsin

RB

2Kellen MooreBoise State

QB

3Russell WilsonWisconsin

QB

4Case KeenumHouston

QB

5Robert Griffin IIIBaylor

QB

6LaMichael JamesOregon

RB

7Brandon WeedenOklahoma State

QB

8Andrew LuckStanford

QB

9Trent RichardsonAlabama

RB

10Landry JonesOklahoma

QB

Let’s see how the numbers stack up at the end of the year when the Heisman ballots are cast and counted.