I'm sure you guys get tired of hearing this, but it's another good post, providing some insight into media coverage that is not always of the most impartial ilk.

I would also like to add that I enjoyed Pat Forde's not-so-subtle reference to leinart's "questionable" academic status his final year at usc. I chuckled silently to myself.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 9:01 am | #

So... is it too early for Brady to change his name to "Heisquinn"?

From what I've read of Brady, there won't be any worries of distractions or lack of focus. For he knows what we all do: winning=heisman.
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 9:39 am | #

It'll be interesting to see how ND handles this. We pretty much invented Heisman hype, but, as Pat noted, we're in a strange position now of not really needing to rely upon it.

There's virtually no chance of Quinn being a light under a bushel at this point. If he has a season like last year's, he'll probably win it.
Hal | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 10:00 am | #

Winning = Heisman? Tell Vince Young!

If Quinn is to win the Heisman, he will have to win AND the ND Publicity Machine will have to be there every step of the way. I'm sure NBC will use Quinn's status as a Heisman candidate to pump up the games for our viewing pleasure. Plus being at ND just naturally provides additional media attention. ND has been out of the loop for so long (18 years), it will be interesting to see how the University handles it.

However, the proof is in the pudding. If ND stumbles out of the blocks against the fierce competition it faces, Brady's chances will be hampered severely, no matter what the Sports Information Department does.

As an aside, I vaguely remember Quinn's mom talking about him coming back to win a Heisman... oops! National Championship in his final year. The Freudian slip was rather amusing. But, not as funny as the clip on the blogspot Every Day Should be Saturday with the news team talking about a story about the blind guy who climbed Mt. Everest.
Powdermonkey | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 10:55 am | #

Yes powdermonkey, winning = Heisman. Keep in mind that the Heisman is given out before the national championship game. Both Reggie and Vince were undefeated when the votes were tallied.

Besides, Quinn's situation is completely different. He's the near unamimous pick as the front-runner and if ND keeps winning, only a very strong season from Adrian Peterson will change that. Young had to battle not only returning winner Matt Leinart, but also Reggie Bush, a once a decade talent. People outside of Texas doubted Vince until he crossed the goalline that final time in the Rose Bowl.

The only way I see ND really making a really strong promotional push for Quinn is if he struggles early and the team loses one of the first few games.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 11:02 am | #

I wonder if ND will coordinate promotion with NBC. Talk about corporate synergies n stuff . . .
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 11:08 am | #

Thank you for the post and for the risk you take on our behalf reading anything written by Dennis Dodd. I suffered through most of that article when it was posted on Sportsline the other day. Your willingness to simply summarize it could save thousands of Irish fans the rapid onset of a peptic ulcer.
Andrew | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 11:43 am | #

It seems to me that there is already a website touting Brady Quinn as a Heisman candidate. www.bradyquinn4heisman.com
Billy | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 2:28 pm | #

I think that site is largely an attempt to sell t-shirts.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 2:51 pm | #

I'm pretty sure that site existed last year and there was a similar site for each of the "candidates". They all offered you the chance to buy tee-shirts.
ND Alum | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 3:46 pm | #

hmmm, the website has articles on it about Brady and the Irish, plus his stats and his records. Looks like a decent site to me, it's actually how I found this great blog through their links page.
Billy | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 5:12 pm | #

I'm not saying it's a bad site Billy. Just that those guys are clearly trying to move some shirts in addition to hyping Quinn. They do have some good, creative shirts.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 5:23 pm | #

I have a problem with the math in the above posts.

Winning > Heisman

A Heisman trophy would be great for Quinn, but he says it himself "And the last thing, that probably mattered to me most, I came here with dreams of winning a national championship."

The Irish need a national championship much more than they need a Heisman trophy winner.
Domer97 | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 5:33 pm | #

Domer97, the math above is basically saying that if ND, and thereby Quinn, keeps winning, then he will likely win the Heisman. Ergo, winning = heisman.

No one is saying that winning itself is equal to winning a Heisman. Obviously a national championship is far far better than any individual award.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 6:09 pm | #

I don't think Adrian Peterson will have a legit chance of beating out Quinn because OU still doesnt have a good QB, and that horrendous sophomore effort will linger in voters minds. Plus, since Peterson is a junior and Quinn is a senior Quinn has the better chance. Moreover, Quinn repeating and/or improving on his numbers will prove to voters that Quinn wasn't a one year wonder. Quinn can suffer 1 loss early, but he has to BEAT SC to get the garuateed nod. Sort of like Palmer in 2003. Also, Troy Smith may have a shot, if Michigan is a title contender at the end of the year. But I think it is a better bet that SC will be ranked higher and have a better record at the end of the year than Michigan will. So barring a catastrophe I think Quinn is a lock.
Jake | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 6:42 pm | #

or was it Palmer in 02?
Jake | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 6:43 pm | #

If ND goes 12-0, Brady quinn wins the Heisman. If ND goes 11-1 and Brady played well but the defense got beat or some fluke thing happened causing them to lose, BQ still wins. With all the negative stuff going on in CFB today and the decline of the "student athlete," the NCAA's image would be vastly improved if a double major, 3.5 yr graduate, all american midwest boy, won the heisman. Leinhart was too hollywood, Vince Young is as much a student athlete as a player at a JUCO, and Bush has the taint of the whole housing scandal. CFB and the NCAA could really use BQ to win the heisman for its own image. I think the sports media realizes this and will do their part to hype him either justly or unjustly so. Now if BQ struggles out of the gate, I think it will get pretty dam ugly from the media. But with Charlie at the helm, we all know that isn't going to happen.
PM | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 6:52 pm | #

Pat, I agree with Domer97--I suggest a revision of the equation.

Heisman = Winning.

Same thing, right? Not so fast, my friend. If Brady wins the Heisman, then likely we're 12-0 or 11-1 and in the NC game, which is the more important of the two accomplishments. We could win all our games, but Quinn finish 2nd or 3rd or whatever in the Heisman race, and that'd be ok. So winning = Heisman is slightly flawed. I take the Heisman as an indicator of team success--let's face it, no one is pulling a Hornung and getting the trophy while on a losing team. It's essentially the MVP trophy for a team going to the NC game (or close). If Quinn gets the Heisman, then that must mean we're winning--and that's why I hope he wins.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 7:26 pm | #

Jesus man, winning gives Quinn a heisman, no one said it's as important to the team or the fans. Quit taking everything so literally, sheesh :)
Matt | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 11:02 pm | #

if winning is on a train traveling 40 miles an hour heading east from chicago and heisman is on a deluxe motorcoach traveling 65 mph west from new york, at what point will they collide in a fiery wreck at a poorly designated crossing in semantictown?
tjf | Email | Homepage | 05.23.06 - 11:31 pm | #

Wonderlic's for everyone!
Powdermonkey | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 8:49 am | #

The answer is Sandusky, Ohio.
Fitzwater | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 9:06 am | #

They will collide approximately 6.85 hours after they leave assuming they leave at the same time. This would be 274 miles from Chicago and 445.25 miles from New York. Somewhere around Cedar Point, which is pretty amusing. To clear up all the semantic fun how about winning ~ heismann. Just a math major getting carried away.
Domer Dan | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 9:59 am | #

I think the Irish could win every game with Quinn throwing for an average of 200 yards per game and 1-2 touchdowns per game. Not quite Heisman numbers.

They have an awesome backfield, and Charlie could be mis-leading all the future opponents into thinking that Quinn will be slinging the ball up and down the field. The fact of the matter is, Charlie looks for a well-balanced offense, and if the Irish can control the ball on the ground, and gain a healthy lead in the game that way, then that is the gameplan that he will use. He also doesn't run up the numbers, and he'll pull Quinn out of the game at the first opportunity.

I know I am preaching to the choir here, but the Irish CAN win the national championship without Brady winning the Heisman, and that would be just fine with me.
Domer97 | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 10:50 am | #

Just outside Sandusky? Near Cedar Point? That's where Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais perfected the forward pass back in the summer of 1912.

Could there be some connection?
dbldomer7375 | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 11:15 am | #

I'd like to apologize for my initial comment of winning=heisman. I didn't mean to cause a division among readers causing multiple posts, so I'll subtract my comment. In addition, I meant to say that winning is integral to obtaining the heisman.
(or is it derivative of winning?)

Please forgive me; for posting in haste is the (square)root of all evil. Hopefully I didn't dangle any participles this time around... I wouldn't want any English majors mad at me as well.

Cheers ;^)
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 1:29 pm | #

CW is not running a balanced offense. He is creating mismatchs and exploiting weaknesses of other teams. 8 or 9 of the 12 teams on the schedule do not have the db talent to handle BQ and ND's wr's. BQ should have at least 10 games over 300 yrds including several 400 yrd games. Most teams won't have the talent or will scheme their way into giving up a ton of passing yrds. ie BYU in 05
Rob | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 1:57 pm | #

The Irish ran 945 plays last season, 491 (52%) were rushing and 454 (48%)were passing. I would say that is pretty balanced.

I do agree that he creates mismatches and exploits weaknesses on the other team, BUT he also takes what the defense if giving him. Meaning, if every team is going to start gearing up for the pass because the world thinks Quinn is going to win the Heisman, then that would be a great opportunity to run it down their throat.

I am not going to make a prediction of how many 300 or 400 yard passing games Quinn will have, because I don't care. So long as ND is 12-0 at the end of the season and playing for the national championship, I am happy.
Domer97 | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 2:21 pm | #

Compare first half rushing att. vs. second half rushing att. Compare wr tds to rb tds. Walker is a solid rb but he will not have maney td runs over 10 yrds. The shark will still burn 5 foot nothing dbs on slants deepouts and jumpballs in the endzone no matter how maney there are.
Rob | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 4:48 pm | #

True remark about Samardzjia, especially if Rhema is completely healthy and starts drawing defenders. Charlie ends up running a balanced attack for the simple matter that it's a good way to keep the defense guessing. Personally I think he's going to turn Quinn loose in a few games where the outcome isn't really in doubt and then pull him in the 4th. CW is awfully media savvy, and having Quinn win the Heisman, a bunch of other post-season awards, and going #1 in the draft makes his job of recruiting a lot easier. I won't place any bets on how many games that will be, but if you look at the schedule, there's a few teams in there that Quinn shouldn't have a problem going for over 400 without Charlie having to worry about blowing a game plan or running the score up ridiculously high.
JohnWA | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 5:22 pm | #

Rob,

You missed my point, and that is fine. To continue this argument would be futile, as it would seem that I would want Brady to have a bad season, which is far from the truth.

My only point was that the Irish can win the national championship without Quinn winning the Heisman. If both happen, even better.
Domer97 | Email | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 5:39 pm | #

Sure, it would be great for Brady Quinn to win the Heisman trophy or a national championship, but who really cares? HE IS DROP DEAD SEXY WHETHER HE HAS THEM OR NOT! LOL. Ha Ha Ha. Then again, if he did win the Heisman his beautiful face would be everywhere.....mmmh.
BradyQuinn'sAStudMuffin! | Email | Homepage | 05.31.06 - 7:47 pm | #