Joel Klatt: Today is Johnny Manziel’s Heisman Game
Petros Papadakis: It’s Time for USC to Officially Hire Ed Orgeron
Clay Travis: Myles Jack Could Have Been a Heisman Finalist This Year
Analyst Joel Klatt says winning the Heisman Trophy is about three things and thinks today will determine if Johnny Manziel repeats: “For me, the Heisman is about three things. It’s about the numbers – you’ve got to produce; it’s about your team – you can’t be on a .500 football team; but maybe more importantly than that, it’s about the stage. You’ve got to have the stage late in the season to win a Heisman Trophy.
“You look at what Manziel has in the back end of his schedule. He’s got LSU today, and that game is going to end at night, and we all know about LSU’s home record at night. I know this game isn’t technically a prime time game, but it’s going to have a feeling of that when the lights are on. If Manziel is victorious today and they put up 40 points again for the 14th straight time as a team, today is the Heisman game.”
Analyst Eddie George says Texas A&M doesn’t even need to win for Manziel to wrap up the Heisman today: “He continues to carry this team despite their bad defense. This team, at best, without Manziel is 6-6. I think this kid’s NFL-ready. He’s gotten better from the pocket this year. He’s become a better passer, he’s running less. He’s just a fantastic football player all the way around. He can wrap it up today with a win or loss.”
Analyst Petros Papadakis says Manziel deserves to be only the second repeat Heisman winner in history: “Johnny Football’s been putting up these numbers with the game on the line, with everybody out to get him. I think that he deserves it. I think he’s outperformed Archie [Griffin], sorry Eddie. If anybody’s going to win two Heismans, Johnny Football deserves it.”
Papadakis says top teams shouldn’t be playing inferior non-conference teams this late in the season: “I don’t like it. It’s not fair to the players. I know that the athletic departments make money, but you’ve got to go play at Bryant-Denny in November just so Alabama can beat up on you and get a rest before they play the Iron Bowl. I just don’t think it’s cool. I know why it worked for the SEC, but I feel like it is insulting to all of us when everybody’s playing these great games down the stretch.”
Klatt says UCLA needs to be careful with how they use Myles Jack today against Arizona State: “I think they need to be careful with Myles Jack, because his importance on the defensive side in this game is going to be of the utmost. They can’t steal from the left hand to pay the right. I think Myles Jack has been tremendous on the offensive side, but the defensive side in space is where they need him.”
Analyst Clay Travis says UCLA two-way player Myles Jack could have been a Heisman finalist this year if he’d started playing earlier in the season: ““If they had started him early in the year, the way the Heisman Trophy continues to be falling down, he would be in New York.”
Papadakis says he love the way Jack attacks the line of scrimmage: “Watch this guy attack the line of scrimmage. Whether he’s a tailback or at linebacker, he’s a wild player and I love him.”
Papadakis, a former USC captain, says the Trojans should hire interim head coach Ed Orgeron full time: “I think they’re in a position where they have to hire him. I think they should hire him and see what he can do because nobody has done anything like this in a month and a half. He’s turned one of the most negative situations in college football into one of the most positive.”
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