Go Mighty Card

The Stanford (Gettysburg) Address

Abraham Lincoln travelled through time this morning to make an appearance at Stanford. It seems that President Lincoln has become quite a fan of college football, watching televised games by virtue of a hole in the space-time continuum and a magic box he keeps in his office. (It should be noted, however, that not even this cosmic phenomenon is powerful enough to allow him access to the Pac-12 Networks, and Honest Abe is angry about this.) Anyway, after enjoying a quick tour of the Stanford Football facilities, Mr. Lincoln gave me a few minutes of his infinite time, and we talked some football while slowly walking through the stadium.

The Mac Meter

After Christian McCaffrey's record-setting performance against UCLA last week, he has suddenly vaulted into the football conscience of fans and media alike. Earlier this week ESPN.com placed him on its mid-season All-America list, along with teammates Josh Garnett and Blake Martinez. McCaffrey has also found his way into some Heisman Trophy conversations, and if he can keep doing what he's doing, it won't be a surprise if he's one of the finalists for that award in December.

McCaffrey has excelled in his primary role as running back, becoming just the fifth Stanford player to rush for more than 100 yards in four straight games and breaking the all-time single game record with 243 yards rushing against the Bruins, but he's doing so much more than that. In addition to his 844 yards rushing, which is second in the Pac-12, McCaffrey leads the world in all-purpose yardage. In fact, if he keeps up his current blistering pace of 253 yards per game, he'll shatter the NCAA record of 3,250 yards set by his teammate's father, Barry Sanders.

For the rest of the season, near the upper right-hand corner of this page, I'll be tracking McCaffrey's yardage and updating what he'll need to average to break the Stanford, Pac-12, and NCAA records. Feel free to copy the data and paste it into an email to your local Heisman Trophy voter. I'm sure he or she will appreciate the extra information.

Does the Heisman Matter?

For weeks I had looked at the lull between the Notre Dame game and the Heisman Trophy ceremony in much the same way that David Shaw did -- that would be the time when I would use this space to hammer home my belief that Andrew Luck deserved to win the Heisman.

Sure, his numbers weren't as prolific as pass-happy quarterbacks Case Keenum and Matt Barkley, his overall game wasn't as electric as Robert Griffin III, and he didn't play in the SEC like Trent Richardson, but he was more than all of that. All season long it seemed clear that the voters would see that. They'd understand that Andrew Luck was the greatest football player in America, and the votes would fall to him in a landslide.

But then his statistics took a dip in the second half of the season, just as America was falling in love with RG3. Even so, Luck still led in all the relevant polls, and most experts predicted that he would wrap up the Heisman with a quality performance in a Stanford win over Oregon on November 12. Luck fumbled the ball once, threw two interceptions (though one was meaningless and not his fault), and the Cardinal lost by twenty-three points. The Heisman was lost.

Redefining the Quarterback; Defining the Heisman

Here's the short version, a slick -- and incredibly cool -- video package presented by the athletic department. Must watch.

And now here's the long version, something which I believe is unprecedented. A thirty-minute press conference by head coach David Shaw, dedicated almost exclusively to promoting Andrew Luck as the only candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Every year one coach or another touts his player for the award, but usually in a few statements in an interview. You'll likely remember Jim Harbaugh's twenty-second pitch for Toby Gerhart after his three-touchdown performance in his final game against Notre Dame.

But here, Shaw did something different. He met with the media who follow the Cardinal on a daily basis and laid out his case for Luck, complete with a Power Point slideshow and even a peek at the Stanford playbook. He cited one call, "15 DART OPTION KILL 14 BOOK OPTION ALERT HOUND 800 THUNDER 'X' OMAHA," and explained that it actually represents three different plays. Luck makes that call in the huddle, then comes to the line to read the defense and decide which of those three plays presents the best option. If none of those three plays will work, he checks into a fourth.

Shaw's main point is that while people naturally tend to look at statistics when evaluating and comparing players -- and Luck has some impressive statistics -- these numbers pale in comparison to everything else he does on the field.

"Andrew's making the decision at the line of scrimmage," explained Shaw. "I studied quarterbacks for nine years in the NFL; I never heard of a guy -- ever -- doing this in college. Never seen it. Never heard of it." 

He went on like this, building his case brick by brick, and concluding without a doubt that Andrew Luck is the best player in college football. In all, he spent about twenty-five minutes of the half-hour press conference pushing Luck's candidacy.

He had me at "hello."

 

Andrew Luck Highlights

With spotty national coverage of the Cardinal's games against San Jose State and Duke, some fans haven't seen enough of Andrew Luck this season. Thankfully, the football department comes to the rescue with this small highlight package of the first two games. Enjoy...

Season Predictions: The Offense

The season will finally be here tomorrow, and all of these preseason prognostications will be moot, so I figured I should make a few predictions of my own before the deadline hits. (For some general predictions, check out this list -- featuring Willys from The Daily Axe, Scott and Red Oscar from Rule of Tree, and me -- over at Rule of Tree.) For now, though, here are a few things to look for over the next few months. I can't promise that I'll get to the defense, but here's what I think about the offense. Please let me know what you think. Am I dead on? (Probably.) Off base? (Doubtful.) Have some predictions of your own? Let me know...

A Conversation with Marcus Allen

There are two things you notice when you're standing next to Marcus Allen. First, he's big. There's a tendency to think of running backs as smaller than the rest of the behemoths on the football field, small enough to squirt the narrowest of gaps, but Allen stands roughly 6'2" or 6'3". The second thing you notice comes quickly. Even though he's on the other side of fifty years old, he still looks like he could leap over the line and score from the one yard line.

I had two separate conversations with Marcus Allen during last month's Pac-12 Media Day. We talked only briefly during the morning when I interrupted him in conversation just so I could shake the hand of a Heisman Trophy winner, but when I ended up standing next to him in the back of the press room as USC head coach Lane Kiffin and quarterback Matt Barkley spoke to the assembled media, I couldn't resist asking him a question. I wondered if he remembered how he had felt when he was doing press tours before his senior season, back before he had won the Heisman Trophy and won a national championship and won a Super Bowl and gained election into the college and pro football Halls of Fame.

Andrew Luck Returns

This was never supposed to happen.  Andrew Luck was supposed to say thank you to his coaches and teammates, talk about all of the goals he had accomplished, and then diplomatically explain how excited he was to be able to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the NFL.  He wouldn't have to mention the money, but everyone in attendance at that press conference would know the particulars -- Luck would surely be the first overall selection in this spring's NFL draft, and the Carolina Panthers would gleefully snap him up and present him with a contract worth something close to $50 million.  And who could blame him for wanting to start his career?

But then Luck did the unexpected.  Instead of the press conference and the payday, he simply issued a twenty-nine-word statement: "I am committed to earning my degree in architectural design from Stanford University and am on track to accomplish this at the completion of the spring quarter of 2012."

With those words he likely solidified a pre-season top-five ranking for the Cardinal in 2011 and placed himself firmly atop next year's Heisman Trophy watch list.  Even more important than that, his decision will definitely influence the decisions  of the recruits who are still two months from signing their letters of intent.  

But here's the craziest part of all this.  In 2009 Toby Gerhart ran roughshod over the opposition and was the runner-up in the Heisman voting, and this year Luck received the same honor.  If things go as expected on Thursday night, we'd expect to see Luck at the Downtown Athletic Club, making that ceremony the third straight program featuring a Cardinal player.  

So in review, the Mighty Card will enter the 2011 season as a top-five team with national championship aspirations, and Andrew Luck will be everyone's favorite Heisman candidate.  

Pinch me.

With One Hand Tied Behind His Back

We know how good Andrew Luck has been this season.  The more interesting question might be how good he could have been.  Sure, his numbers would have been drastically inflated had he played in a spread offense, but that's not the change I'm thinking of.  If things had gone differently in Palo Alto, Luck's record-setting season might have been even better than it was.

Andrew Luck, Heisman Finalist

First, for your viewing pleasure, eleven minutes and thirty-one seconds of Andrew Luck highlights, courtesy of the Stanford Athletics Department...

Along with Auburn's Cam Newton, Oregon's LaMichael James, and Boise State's Kellen Moore, Andrew Luck was named a finalist for the 2010 Heisman Trophy on Monday afternoon, capping a phenomenal regular season.  Let's take a moment to let that sink in...

Okay, so what does that mean?  If you're a golf fan you might remember the mockery that was the 2001 Skins Game.  (First of all, the entire Skins Game concept is a mockery.  You know how it goes --four golfers are chosen to play a casual skins game, just like you and your three buddies down at the local links, only they're playing for a million dollar pot while wearing microphones so a television audience can listen to their inane conversations: "Nice par, Freddie!" or "That's a good ball, Phil."  But I digress...)

Anyway, in 2001 the network execs decided to crank up the drama by implementing the "validation rule."  In order to get the cash, it wasn't good enough just to win a hole; you had to validate it by either winning or sharing the following hole.  This turned out just as ridiculous as you might guess, as no one was able to validate until Greg Norman turned the trick on the 17th hole and pocketed eight hundred grand.

If Toby Gerhart's trip to the Downtown Athletic Club last year announced the Stanford Cardinal as a legitimate football program deserving of a seat at the table alongside USC, Texas, Alabama, Notre Dame, and all the rest, Andrew Luck's selection yesterday simply validated it.