The single season passing touchdowns record.
The single season quarterback rating record.
The single season highest percentage of passes for touchdowns.
Colt Brennan, the University of Hawaii quarterback, barring a bad game against 7-5 Arizona State University in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24, will be the brand new owner of all of these records.
The college football regular season has come to a close with yet another controversy. Not the controversy over the Bowl Championship Series and the nation title game, but rather the Heisman Trophy.
ESPN.com uses a panel of 15 so-called experts each week to create the "Heisman Watch." "Heisman Watch" is the compilation of the expert's rankings of their Top 5 Heisman hopefuls. In ESPN.com rankings, Troy Smith of The Ohio State University was a unanimous No. 1, receiving 15 first place votes.
Brennan wasn't even a unanimous Top 5 selection. Brennan is ranked fifth in the final poll, receiving five fourth place and two fifth place votes.
Some sports fans claim ESPN has a bias towards teams east of the Mississippi River, and Brennan only getting seven out of 15 votes is a prime example of the supposed east-coast bias.
Brennan's record-breaking season received little attention because he plays thousands of miles away in Hawaii. Hawaii has few, if any, games televised to a national audience each year, and the games that are tend to not start until many people have gone to bed.
An example is the game two weeks ago against 8-5 University of Purdue. The game, which Hawaii won 42-35 thanks to Brennan passing for 434 yards and three touchdowns, didn't start until 11:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. If anyone on the east side of the Rocky Mountains wants to watch Brennan display his talents, they must stay up until at least 2 a.m. to do so.
Smith has passed for 2,507 yards, which would make him the first Heisman winner since Eric Crouch in 2001 to not reach 3,000 passing yards. Brennan leads the nation with 4,990 yards, 2,483 more yards than Smith.
Smith passed for 30 touchdowns, making him the first, if he were to win, Heisman winner since Crouch to not pass for more than 30. Smith has a plus-25 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Meanwhile Brennan has a plus-42 touchdown-to-interception ratio, 17 better than Smith.
Brennan also has a 5.1 percent higher completion percentage with 72.1, and his quarterback rating is 14.93 points higher than Smith's.
The Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the most outstanding player in NCAA Division I-A each year.
"Supposed to" are the key words.
There is a trend with the Heisman going to a player that is not the most deserving. In 1991, Desmond Howard won over Ty Detmer. In 2000, Chris Weinke won over Drew Brees. In 2001, Crouch won over Ken Dorsey. In each year the loser had a better season and therefore deserved the Heisman Trophy.
This Saturday, Smith can be added to the list of underserving Heisman winners.
It's a shame when an individual has one of the best seasons ever for the most important position and not only doesn't win the Heisman Trophy, but doesn't even get to be one of the three finalists invited to the Downtown Athletic Club where the winner is announced.
Instead, Smith, quarterback Brady Quinn from the University of Notre Dame and running back Darren McFadden from the University of Arkansas will be attending the ceremony.
There is good news in all of this.
Brennan is a junior and unless he goes to the NFL early he will be the leading favorite next August.
The bandwagon is officially open for business.
Write to Levin atltblack@bsu.edu
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