The Heisman Trophy. The Highest individual award in College Football. Since the Heisman's inception in 1935, the only repeat winner of the award was Ohio State's, Archie Griffin in 1975 during his senior year. Tim Tebow has been surging the last four games for the Florida Gators and has re-entered the Heisman Trophy picture. How does he compare to Colt McCoy though, who has led the Heisman race all season? Instead of looking at each players raw statistics, examining the per/game averages and trends against last season are worth taking a look.
Tim Tebow (Per Game Statistics)
Passing
Year Games Att Comp %Comp Yds TDs Ints
2007 13 26.92 18.00 66.86% 253 2.46 0.46
2008 8 22.13 14.25 64.41% 196 1.75 0.25
Rushing
Year Att Yds TDs
2007 16.15 68.85 1.77
2008 11.75 33.25 1.00
Everyone agrees that Tim Tebow has not been as prolific as compared to last season. Since the loss to Ole Miss, Tim Tebow's performance has been on par with 2007 when he won the Heisman Trophy. Of note, Tebow has improved on his per/game interception numbers, dropping from just under half a pick a game to a quarter pick. Although last season, Tebow personally accounted for over 4 touchdowns (running and passing a game) which is down to 2.75 this season, one could draw an inference that he is using the supporting cast around him better which is the reason for the drop. The same inference can also be drawn from his reduced passing and rushing yardage this season. His overall attempts per game numbers are down in both categories, indicating a more balanced Florida Gators offense.
As we progress through the remainder of the season, it will be interesting to see how Tebow's numbers will change if he has an abnormally high amount of pass or run yards which would drive his per game and season averages up significantly. I guarantee, however, if you were to ask Tebow if he would prefer a second Heisman Trophy, or a National Title that he would take the Title!
Colt McCoy (Per Game Statistics)
Passing
Year Games Att Comp %Comp Yds TDs Ints
2007 12 35.33 23.00 65.09% 275 1.83 1.50
2008 9 39,67 24.44 78.99% 287 2.56 0.56
Rushing
Year Att Yds TDs
2007 9.50 41.00 0.33
2008 10.33 47.56 0.78
Colt McCoy has put up exceptional numbers this season for the Texas Longhorns. McCoy has been leading the Heisman Trophy listings since early in the season. Back in form after slumping most of his sophomore season, McCoy has shown significant per/game improvements in all statistical categories over last year. In the rushing category, he is gaining more yardage per game than Tebow, but scoring touchdowns at a .22 per game lower clip.
Colt McCoy's passing statistics are outstanding. Just his passing completion percentage is ludicrous! He is outperforming Tebow in all categories except for interceptions per game. Now, the one outlier when comparing the two players's passing numbers is the number of pass attempts per game. McCoy is averaging over eight more pass attempts per game than Tebow and 91 more yards per game. Tebow averages approximately 8.86 yards per completion this year. If he attempted the same number of passes as McCoy, there would only be about a 20 yard per game difference between the two quarterbacks. Taking a look at the statistics for both McCoy and Tebow in this light, makes the Heisman Trophy battle seem even tighter than we originally thought!
Summary
The Heisman Trophy battle between the Longhorn's Colt McCoy and the Gator's Tim Tebow is even tighter than you realize when examining each players statistics on a per game basis! Next time, we'll take a look at how Texas Tech'sGraham Harrell and Oklahoma'sSam Bradford stack up against McCoy and defending Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow.
