Alabama Crimson Tide
Striking The Pose
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s been 19 years since wide receiver Desmond Howard won the Heisman Trophy, but on Tuesday night DeVonta Smith ended the drought by earning the 2020 Heisman.
Smith joins running back Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015).
Smith received the trophy after 12 games of SEC-only play and rewrote the Alabama and SEC record books. The Amite, LA native caught 105 passes for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns (all three led the nation).
Think about what it takes for a receiver to be recognized as the best player in the game. That player must dominate and make it known immediately and obvious that he’s more responsible for his team’s success than his quarterback.
Smith passed the test. He is the best offensive player on a team loaded with NFL talent at every position.
You could argue that Jones is the guy throwing the ball to Smith and deserves the credit, but Smith gets open play after play, no matter the coverages or routes.
Smith received 447 first place votes and 1,856 total points. Clemson and future Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence was second with 222 first place votes and 1,187 total.
Smith’s teammates Mac Jones and Najee Harris, finished third and fifth and Florida’s Kyle Trask finished fourth.
Smith already had an all-time highlight when, as a freshman, he ran by a Georgia defensive back to catch a Tua Tagovailoa’s 41-yard touchdown pass to win the College Football Playoff Championship.
He will have a chance to score another title Monday when Alabama faces Ohio State for the College Football Playoff Championship in Miami.
Former Heisman winner Steve Spurrier had these thought on DeVonta, “DeVonta, gosh I still remember when he was a true freshman when he caught the touchdown to beat Georgia for the national championship. Nobody knew who he was, he just flew down the sideline and obviously Georgia was in a bad coverage. Some kind of the Cover 2 on that side, which doesn’t make sense but that’s what they were doing.”
Nicknamed the “Slim Reaper,” Smith has already collected plenty of awards for his 2020 efforts, ranging from consensus All American to the Biletnikoff Award to AP College Football Player of the Year (first ever receiver to win), but the Heisman is a completely different class of Hardware.
Smith delivered an inspiring and heartfelt acceptance speech after winning, “To all the young kids out there that’s not the biggest, not the strongest: just keep pushing. I’m not the biggest. I’ve been doubted a lot because of my size and really, it just comes down to if you put your mind to it, you can do it. No job’s too big.”
The experts at SportLine.com have revealed the 2021 Heisman odds: Spencer Rattler QB, Oklahoma is the favorite followed by three ACC quarterbacks D. J. Uiagalelei, Clemson; Sam Howell, North Carolina and D’Eriq King, Miami.
High Tide
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC Championship Game saw #1 Alabama (10-0) face off against #7 Florida (8-2).
These two programs played in the first SEC Championship Game in 1992. This was a matchup of two historically great programs, but it also determined the Heisman winner.
Mac Jones and Kyle Trask were the two frontrunners to win the Heisman and they did not disappoint.
This was the first real test for the Crimson Tide against a Gators team that would not quit. This is the case of the best player on the best team versus the best player in college football.
Mac Jones threw for 418 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Najee Harris rushed for 178 yards and scored five TD’s. DeVonta Smith caught 15 receptions for 184 yards and two scores. It was enough to win a 52 – 46 shootout in Atlanta.
“Those guys are pretty phenomenal. They have been all year,” Nick Saban said. “They certainly delivered tonight when we needed them to.”
The Gators trailed 35 – 17 at halftime but they scored a couple of third quarter touchdowns and held Alabama scoreless. They scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but Bama scored 17 points.
Kyle Trask threw for 408 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“We were rolling pretty good,” said Trask. “We just ran out of time.”
Harris was the MVP of the game. He had 31 carries for 178 yards, but he also caught 5 passes for 67 receiving yards and turned three of those into scores.
“I’ve been catching the ball since birth,” he quipped. “People don’t expect it because of the running back name, but I can catch.”
Harris set an SEC championship game record with his five touchdowns, breaking the mark of four scored by Auburn’s Tre Mason in 2013. The Alabama senior also broke a couple of school records, setting new standards for career rushing TDs (44) and overall TDs (54).
Kadarius Toney led the Gators with 8 receptions for 153 yards 1 TD. Tight end Kyle Pitts had 7 catches, 129 yards and a touchdown. Florida’s leading rusher only had 2 carries for 24 yards. I think the lack of offensive balance has been a problem all season that came back to haunt them in this game.
“I thought we showed a lot of character,” coach Dan Mullen said. “That was an excellent team we played … give them credit. That’s why they’re ranked No. 1 in the country.”
This win completed an undefeated season for Alabama. They are the clear favorites going into the College Football Playoff.
“This has been a year with a lot of disruptions,” said Saban, who had his own bout with COVID-19. “The resiliency this team has shown this season to win 11 games is pretty phenomenal.”
The only team that I think is capable of beating Alabama is Clemson. The Tigers would not see them until the National Championship, assuming both teams win. They beat #2 Notre Dame 34 – 10 in the ACC Championship Game.
Striking the Pose
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Heisman race is narrowing down to a two-man race, but it’s tightening up at the same time heading into the final week before conference championship games begin.
Mac Jones and Kyle Trask have separated themselves from the pack, but players like Desmond Ridder, (QB, Cincinnati) Najee Harris, (RB, Alabama) Zach Wilson, (QB, BYU) Trevor Lawrence, (QB, Clemson) Justin Fields, (QB, Ohio State) Jaret Patterson, (RB, Buffalo) and Breece Hall, (RB, Iowa State) have made major impacts in the 2020 season.
The Heisman trophy went to the best player in college football once upon a time. Today, the Heisman goes to the top quarterback on any winning team.
Last year at this time, Joe Burrow was being announced as the 2019 Heisman trophy winner after putting up early-gen PlayStation stats.
Burrow completed 402 passes for 5,617 yards and 60 touchdowns in 15 games. He also threw 44 touchdowns in the regular season.
The two front runners in this year’s Heisman race will have only played 10 regular season games, and only against SEC teams.
The voting deadline has been moved back to December 21st with finalists announced on Christmas Eve.
For the first time, voters will judge a Heisman winner on his conference championship game. That game being the SEC Championship in Atlanta on December 19th.
Mac Jones runs the Alabama offense at an exceptionally high level while putting up crazy numbers in the process. Against LSU, Jones completed 20-28 passes for 385 yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Now that gives the first-year starter over 3,100 yards passing with 27 touchdowns and only three interceptions. It obviously helps having a stacked offense including DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris, but Jones puts throws on the money and is a tough quarterback to stop.
Kyle Trask has brought the Fun & Gun back to Gainesville. Trask has no problem chucking the ball around without much of a running game.
Trask’s ability to make smart decisions and avoid mistakes helps make that a winning formula for the Gators offense.
As absurd as it may sound, Trask is on a better scoring pace and on the same yardage pace as last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Trask ignited the Heisman talk by leading the Gators victory of Georgia Bulldogs 44-28.
Trask was 30-43 for 474 yards passing 4 touchdowns and a pick. Trask’s ability to place the ball where only his teammate can make the catch is amazing.
That’s how good the Gators quarterback has been with over 3,200 yards and 38 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions with the season finale against LSU this Saturday.
The Heisman race might come down to the SEC Championship game in a couple weeks, but barring a complete drop off from Kyle Trask against LSU, it’s hard to imagine Jones catching Trask in this race.
One question to all my readers, if you took both quarterbacks off their respective teams, which team would be affected more?
The Heisman Race
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Normally this time of year means the college football regular season is almost over.
Due to the pandemic, the season was delayed for several conferences like the Big Ten and Pac 12. I’m going to take a look at the top five Heisman Trophy candidates.
Kyle Trask/ Florida: I feel like he should be the hands down favorite at this point. It’s hard to believe this guy was sitting on the bench behind Feleipe Franks.
Earlier in the season I said he’s this year’s Joe Burrow. I don’t think anybody can match Burrow’s video game like stats from 2019 but I’m talking about the drastic improvement he made. Also, both of them were not expected to play at that level going into their final season.
They have had the LSU game postponed due to several players on the team having COVID. I hope that game can get played in December so Trask can play the maximum amount of games.
He led the Gators to a win over No. 5 Georgia that they desperately needed. The defense is not very good, so they basically have to outscore their opponents. Trask is basically good for at least four passing TD’s every game.
Trevor Lawrence/ Clemson: He’s the clear consensus as the best quarterback and number one pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Unfortunately, he had COVID and had to miss two games.
One of them was at No. 4 Notre Dame and that could have been his Heisman moment.
The Tigers like to run the ball with All-American running back Travis Etienne so that takes away from Lawrence’s stats.
If he plays well against Notre Dame in the ACC Championship that could catapult him to the top of the Heisman list.
Travis Etienne/ Clemson: I know this has become a quarterback award but he really deserves consideration.
He’s a true dual threat running back and his number are very good.
Mac Jones/ Alabama: He has the Crimson Tide undefeated (6-0) and he’s playing very well. Jones has thrown for 2,196 yards (8th), 16 TD’s (tied-13th), 2 interceptions with a 95.6 QBR (2nd).
He’s on the best team and I think Bama will finish undefeated. His stats are impressive because Alabama is another team that likes to run the ball. Najee Harris has over 700 yards rushing.
The LSU game has been postponed due to a Coronavirus outbreak in the program. We don’t know if that game will actually get played but that would be an easy win for Bama.
The only challenge should be against Florida in the SEC Championship.
Justin Fields/ Ohio State: The Buckeyes have only played three games because the Big Ten started the season late and the Maryland game was canceled.
Fields only has 7 games to make a case as the best player.
