In this edition of Cardinal CounTree, Matt Vassar discusses whether Christian McCaffrey was actually close to winning the Heisman Trophy over Derrick Henry or if that is just a media-spun fallacy. To finish the show, he talks about the men's soccer team winning the national championship over Clemson, and how Stanford extends a NCAA-best streak of 40 consecutive years with a national championship.
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"The Heisman Trophy Ceremony!.. brought to you by Heisman Campaigning and the Eastern Standard Time zone."
There was an article written by a Heisman voter that explained away the total yards record broken by McCaffrey by saying that return yards are easy… yes, I said that right, he said return yards are easy.
By NowBoy on 12.15.15 8:53am
wow, that is just sad
By nickdempsey on 12.15.15 9:13am
The other funny thing
Is that so many people poo-pooed McCaffrey breaking the record as if it was easy or something. Like it’s something that happens every year, or they expect to happen every year. How did it not get more press? I just don’t understand. It was a monumental achievement.
By dtlong77 on 12.15.15 10:11am
Funny thing is
Take away KO return yardage and WildCaff still leads the country in yardage, take away punts and he still leads the major conferences. He had a Heisman worthy year just running and catching the ball
By dtlong77 on 12.15.15 10:13am
Yes...........This Is The Main Point
McCaffrey basically equaled the performance of any running back in the country running the ball PLUS had serious receiving yards. I get that return yards are, well, a function mostly of having the opportunity to return the ball. Heck, if you played in the Big 12, you might get 7 – 10 chances a game to pick up return yards. But in McCaffrey’s case, these were truly INCREMENTAL yards to his nation leading yardage from scrimmage numbers.
But yes, the system is broken. Voters don’t see McCaffrey play and, even if they did, 25% left him off of their ballots to ensure that their favored candidate prevailed. That is a corrupt and broken system. Plus, the media plays way too strong a role in offering up and then trying to validate various candidates. McCaffrey actually had some of this in his favor, but it was too little too late.
Anyway, it is not a fair process and therefore not one to get too worked up over. Stanford, after all, owns the runner up spot! Which says a lot about our players and team given all of the above.
By hoyaparanoia on 12.17.15 2:24pm
Great Analysis, Hoyaparanoia
The system is broken, and it won’t be fixed anytime soon. I think Shaw deserves credit for doing what was right for the team and not trying to pad McCaffrey’s stats. McCaffrey, in turn, was always focused on the main goal: winning the game. All this meant fewer rushing TDs for McCaffrey and fewer overall yards, because he exited games early on occasion (Arizona, UCLA, Colorado) and had to step aside for our monster short yardage running back, Remound Wright. It’s all good, and we can’t change it anyway. In my view, the value of the Heisman has plummeted in recent years. Mariota was a very worthy winner. Manziel and Winston, not so much.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 12.17.15 2:34pm
Everyone knows return yards are dumb and field position NEVER matters.
Also, make sure to just pretend receiving yards don’t exist because it’s harder to think of an excuse for why those don’t matter.
By Tim Eckert-Fong on 12.15.15 11:18am
Rush yards don’t count either because Pac-12 and something or other
By Cardinal&Orange on 12.15.15 7:00pm
The whole thing is jacked to the extreme
But the Pac-12’s TV contract doesn’t help matters. Many didn’t see much of us all season. That matters for things like the Heisman. where the voting is kind or broad, and has a lot of people who are only looking at our highlight reels.
By Brendan Ross on 12.15.15 8:10pm