Fledgling said

Vince Young doesn't have a great delivery either… so it could happen… if Rusty wins the Heismann too  ;D

How realistic/unrealistic is the idea of Rusty Smith contending for the Heisman in his senior year? What would he have to do and would he even be looked at if he was doing those things?

owlcountry said

Fledgling said

Vince Young doesn't have a great delivery either… so it could happen… if Rusty wins the Heismann too  ;D

How realistic/unrealistic is the idea of Rusty Smith contending for the Heisman in his senior year? What would he have to do and would he even be looked at if he was doing those things?

I look at someone like Colt Brennan as a possible comparison to Rusty in terms of the ability to get a Heisman look. I am not saying they are on the same level, but they are both from schools in lesser conferences which hurts their ability to be taken seriously. While Colt Brennan has gotten a mention many times, he ultimately gets overshadowed by players from BCS conferences. Colt Brennan put up HUGE numbers last year and is doing well this year, but he just doesn't play against top competition nor is he in the national spotlight.

Another example is Kevin Kolb who played for Houston last year. Huge numbers, great season, non-BCS conference, no real Heisman look.

Rusty will face the same issue. He might put up monster numbers, but he comes from a relatively unknown program in a weak conference. Even great numbers won't make up for the negatives associated with playing for a "mid-major."

GO OWLS!!!

Someone mentioned that Rusty has 21 TDs this year. He could finish with 26 or 27. That is solid especially considering that he didn't play into the 4th quarter in many of this years games. Had he played all game he might well be over 30 TDs. One thing that Rusty needs to really work on is completion percentage. He is only at 55%. That is the same as last year. If he gets that number up to around 62-65% he will be looking very good.

Back to the Heisman question. Colt Brennan had 58 TDs last year…yes, 58 TDs and completed 72% of his passes and he never really stood a chance of winning it. So to answer the question that was posed about the Heisman, no Rusty won't even get mentioned as a potential Heisman candidate. However, he could easily be the SBC player of the year and maybe even earn a spot on someone's All-America list (3rd team or honorable mention).

GO OWLS!!!

Rusty won't win a heisman but if maybe he can lead us to a few bowls N.O. or otherwise and have some great games like he did against Minnesota against some of our out of conference foes then I think he would be talked about. They would say Rusty Smith leads the charge for the surprising owls against so and so. He could get some recognition maybe a few more USA today players of the week or some highlights on college game day if he develops the way we all think he will. As the group Timbuk3 once sang "The future's so bright I gotta wear shades" lol.

Sadly, the odds of a Heisman -- no matter how good the performance -- are extremely long. The vote, based in large part on national coverage and image, is very biased toward established programs.

Let's just get someone drafted before we start looking for a heismann

If Rusty breaks the school record for passing yards in a single season on Saturday do we get to stop the game and have FIU make an announcement like UF did for Bubba Caldwell? I mean it's going to be a home game for us anyway lol