Category: 
The weekend’s games are done and here’s how I think the Heisman race looks right now:
1. With one week to go, Colt McCoy is the current front runner and likely winner. Pending a status report on the health of Mark Ingram, I am close to calling the race in his favor.
2. With his monster game againt Notre Dame, Stanford’s Toby Gerhart has assured himself of a trip to New York and he has a shot to finish a strong second in the race.
3. Ingram is fading fast, but he could rebound with a heroic performance against the Gators. As it stands, he had his least-productive game of the season at the worst possible time: When Heisman ballots had gone out and many voters were seeing him up close for the first time.
4. With his emotionally-driven performance against Florida State, Tim Tebow might’ve solidified his place at the Heisman ceremony. He won’t win, but he’ll get one last go-around in the Big Apple.
If the vote were held right now:
1. Colt McCoy
2. Mark Ingram
3. Toby Gerhart
4. Tim Tebow
5. Kellen Moore
Comments
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Gerhart has been the most outstanding all season, and capped it off with the HUGE game against ND. He’s the best RB for sure, and the best player in the nation in my book. Give Gerhart=Heisman!
It’s a shame Colt finally has a great game just when all the media schlubs need him to have one to justify picking him over the more deserving Gerhart, who has been having great games all year long. Not only did he set the Pac-10 rushing TD record (in a conference with a history of USC heisman winning backs), he’s taking 21 units of credit. That’s the most you’re allowed to take at Stanford, and he’s not just taking mickey mouse courses either. Mirrors the tough schedule Stanford has played, in comparison to the cupcakes Texas eats up.
McCoy hasn’t been the best all season and had one good game before the vote, which isn’t what the Heisman is for. I don’t think anyone in the East has respect for the defenses he’s played so I’m curious how he’ll do in the different regions. I suppose this is the politics of the Heisman.
This is what it SHOULD be (outside of the politics):
1. Gerhart
2. Tebow
3. McCoy
4. Ingram
5. Moore
- Gerhart has been the best all season, has great stats, and is the only truly outstanding performer ALL season.
- Tebow has a higher passing rating than McCoy and rushed for more TDs than Ingram… that is unbelievable when you think about it. His leadership has led to 22 straight wins.
- McCoy has closed strong, but has played very weak defenses. He is on an undefeated team.
- Ingram has played great, but hasn’t been consistent in the big games.
- Moore is in a non-BCS conference, but has incredible stats. The competition isn’t there though.
I’ll admit I’m a McCoy fan. I do think it’s between McCoy and Gerhart. Gerhart problem this year was Colt’s last year. When Colt was supposedly in the lead his games were over and Bradford had the Big 12 Championship game left to impress one more time. If McCoy plays above average against (what everyone says is a great Neb defense) he’ll probably win in a landslide. I still don’t know how impressive 1736 yards is? I remember Troy Davis from Iowa State several years ago going WAY over 2000 yards 2 years in a row and didn’t win either year and his O-line was mainly 8th graders.
Don’t forget Gerhart was a no show in two of their 4 losses, one of which was against lowly non-bowl eligible Wake Forest.
if mccoy is a lock over tebow because of “tebow fatigue,” then i can certainly understand that.
but i don’t see how mccoy has definitively better stats than tebow. in fact, i’d much rather have tebow’s statline on my team. as paul points out above, tebow has the better passer rating (160.7 to 152.9). tebow’s thrown 10 fewer TDs (17 to 27) for 1,000 fewer yards (2166 to 3328), but he’s also run for 450 more yards (796 to 368) and 11 more TDs (13 to 2). and while tebow’s had more opportunities to run, he also has a yard-better YPC (4.1 to 3.3). he’s the number one rusher on the number one rushing team in the country, AND he has a better passer rating than mccoy, AND his team still has the chance to win the highest-profile game of the season (the SEC championship game against another heisman candidate).
i honestly don’t get it. i’ll have to go back and look through the archives to better understand, i guess. i know this is a political award as much as anything, but i don’t find a mccoy argument that doesn’t fit with tebow (“career award” clearly applies to both). if TT wins against ‘bama next week, they’ll both have undefeated records and TT will have played against statistically better defenses…including one game where the coach took the ball out of his hands due to lingering fears about his concussion.
I agree with Paul’s ranking of what the vote should be (as of now), although I would switch McCoy and Ingram.
Toby Gerhart should be the leader, as he has been consistently great all season. As a Gator fan, I am really impressed. Would put Tebow second as the “face” of the #1 team, as well as this entire season. McCoy truly sucked in his team’s biggest game this season (Oklahoma) thus far.
Regarding Troy Davis in 1996, he did have a truly remarkable season, but so did the Heisman winner and national champ Danny Wuerffel. I think it was a testament to his performance that he managed to finish 2nd while playing for somewhat obscure Iowa State.
florida the number one rushing team in the country? nevada begs to differ
As a UT fan and resident of Austin, I have to say McCoy is NOT the best player this season. Colt had a great game against an admittedly not so great, but inspired, Texas A&M team, but such does not a season make. And with Texas playing the non-conference likes of Wyomming, UTEP and LA-Monroe, not to mention an admittedly weak Big XII, McCoy has not really been tested. For this I blame Mack Brown or however is responsible for scheduling.
Having watched Gerhart play a few times, he is a punishing back, and there is no faking the effort it takes to run over oppossing defenders. He had outstanding games against Oregon and USC, not to mention quite a few others. Notre Dame’s defense is horrible, but still, hard to argue with 200+ yards in a game.
Gerhart seems the best, and deserving of the award.
ahh, my bad, locker. honest mistake, i must have misheard or misinterpreted that stat from a telecast.
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/ncaa-m-footbl-fbs-team-rushing-offense.html
revised: leading rusher on the best rushing offense in the SEC, the best of any BCS conference team besides georgia tech.
still…tebow has these stats over mccoy: all rushing stats + total TDs (rushing and passing) + passer rating.
but this is the quote from HP’s nov. 25th post:
“Colt McCoy, Mark Ingram and Toby Gerhart have all crossed the statistical threshhold [sic] of Heisman-worthiness for this season. C.J. Spiller and Tim Tebow are still trying to get there and may yet do so.”
i’m not going to claim that tebow’s stats are clearly superior to mccoy’s, because they aren’t. but i do think they are superior. both teams stand undefeated. tebow still has a chance to show off against alabama. after the AL game, UF’s SOS ranking will jump. what is the threshold that mccoy has passed but tebow hasn’t?
A Gators coach summed my sentiment sup perfectly:
[quote]
The Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio stated the case for Tebow.
“That’s the best college football player in America,” he said. “Period. It’s kind of joke to me. You’re talking about a guy who does it all. He does it all on the field. He does it all off the field. He’s a great representative of college football. He’s the best player in college football. Last time I checked, that’s what that award was.”[/quote]
Gerhart no-show? Completely false- he’s by far been the most consistent Heisman candidate. His two worst games of the season he went for 82yards rushing 12 receiving against Wake Forest, in a game across the country at 9am PST. His other “bad game” against Oregon St. he rushed for 96 yards and 2TDs and 11 yards receiving. Those two games were also the fewest carries he’s received.
Stanford’s four losses have nothing to do with Toby, and it can be easily argued that if Jim had given him the ball some more, several of those losses (Cal, Arizona, and Wake) would’ve been wins.
Tebow is fulfilling 2 positions for the Gators at an elite level — primary runningback and QB. I don’t see how any runningback can compete with that especially if they aren’t putting up record breaking numbers for a runningback. And McCoy does fulfill the dual threat QB role BUT he is doing it against terrible defense and still not putting up really great numbers all season. Can anyone doubt that Tebow would be putting up far more record breaking numbers in the BIG12 than Colt? I am sure the BIG12 voters that left Tebow off their ballots last season will do the same again this season. Even after they saw what happened to Sam Bradford in the championship.
The threshold is that Tebow’s stats are only so-so in terms of yards thrown, plus Tebow for a TRUE rushing quarterback he has never even run for 1000 yards in a season. For a QB a 4.1 ypc for a rushing qb is pretty poor (Colt is clearly a pass-first qb this year if you’ve been watching). Vince Young ran for 1000 yards EVERY season he played at Texas (except one in which he ran for 998), and he Tebow had more carries as a starter every single year than Vince had in any single season (Tebow’s max rushing total is 895 yards). Not many people care about passer rating, what matters to people is yards and TD’s. Everyone keeps talking about the SEC rushing TD record. Which do you think is more impressive, rushing TD’s in a single conference or, NCAA record for wins as a starting quarterback. Tim Tebow is a great qb. He is not the greatest this year, Colt has performed better in the national spotlight when his team needed him to comethrough.
One more thing, Everyone says Tebow can WILL his team to victory. However, Tebow has only 2 4th quarter comebacks in his entire career (‘Bama last year and Ole Miss this year). He is a winner don’t get me wrong. Colt on the other hand has 8 4th quarter comebacks. I would rather have the guy who has shown MANY times that he can lead his team back, than a guy who gets emotional and yells at his teammates then gets angry at the world. Colt is a good person and student as well(not necessarily quite as good as Tebow but he still deserves some recognition).
BOTH are great leaders, they just have different styles. One is a quiet leader, and one is…………..not so quiet.
I LOVE TEBOW, its just he is overrated so much that you would think he is the greatest being in the universe EVER.
How is it Gerhart is still in the running with a four loss team but Case Keenum suddenly dropped from contention after Houston’s second loss?
I thought this was an individual award, not a team popularity contest.
And don’t give me that “system” stuff again. It takes a very skilled QB to run the offense UH runs. Tebow, he’s a nice guy, but he couldn’t lead UH to 10 wins. McCoy, maybe. Keenum was second in the poll the week before Houston’s second loss. He hasn’t slowed down all year, but yet no one talks about the most prolific passer in FBS.
The only reason Keenum isn’t atop the Heisman polls is because he isn’t from one of the BCS conferences. Period.
If Keenum ran the same offense at Notre Dame or USC with the season he has had this year the vote would be without a doubt his. The Heisman has turned into nothing but a Mr. Congeniality contest.
I hope voters decide to turn a deaf ear to the Pundits out there who only care about the big schools rather the than maintaining dignity and respect of the award by voting for the best player in the game for the Heisman Trophy.
Keenum has lead the 18th ranked UH Cougars to a 10-2 record by orchestrating the nation’s most productive offense–nearly 600 yards per game.
Keenum lead UH to a 59-0 halftime lead over Rice this past Saturday. Sure it was Rice, but has anyone else done anything comparable in FBS this year?
Keenum and UH run a spread, hurry-up offense. Pundits count this fact AGAINST Keenum when they ought to count this FOR him. Keenum routinely takes UH 80 yards down the field on 8 plays all in two minutes. UH does the 2-minute drill all game long. It takes a skilled quarterback to be able to run such an offense so effectively for an entire season.
Case Keenum ought to be in New York for the ceremony this year. Maybe he won’t win it. But if Keenum puts up another 5,000 yard season next year while leading UH to another season far above expectations you can guarantee the Heisman will be returning to Houston.
What about Keenum…???
Forget Keenum’s Superman-like stats.
UH is 10-2 folks.
Houston is ranked 18th in the country.
How can you not include Keenum on your ballot?
Give any other Heisman contender the UH defense and suddenly their name wouldn’t even show up on this Pundit website because the likes of Tebow, Ingram, and McCoy would suddenly find their undefeated records morphed into 6 loss teams.
Keenum has won games for UH. That’s what great players do.
Keenum for the Davey O’Brien Award!!
Why is Tebow even still considered here? One QB ran for 175 yards this past week. It wasn’t Tebow. Infact Colt McCoy’s 175 yards RUSHING was more than 50 yards more than any game Tebow has had this entire season!
And Tebow is the “rushing” quarterback folks, not McCoy. How can you even consider Tebow for Heisman knowing a “pocket passer” McCoy outrushed Tebow?
Tebow’s a great quarterback, but shouldn’t be on anyone’s ballot this year. 2009 was no 2007 for Tebow.
Which player has gone above and beyond for his team this year making them better than expectations?
Which player makes his team better by stepping onto the field?
Which player’s team doesn’t stand a chance of winning if he isn’t wearing a uniform?
Alabama would win without Ingram showing up to play–they have infact.
Florida’s defense wins games week in and week out.
Ditto for Texas on the defense.
Only two players fit the MVP mold. Gerhart and Keenum. Stanford isn’t even 8-4 without Gerhart’s consistancy. UH 10-2 without Keenum?? UH would be lucky to be above .500 if Keenum wasn’t QB.
I don’t see how Colt McCoy is a front-runner here. Texas won DESPITE him quite a few games earlier this year. Not because of him, but DESPITE him.
Tebow even having a down year has more TD’s than McCoy and less INT’s. We aren’t even getting into the competition that they’ve played. I could complete 80% of my passes against the Big 12 and the D5 schools Texas plays.
Then you throw in signature wins that Tebow has like at Death Valley on a Saturday night coming off a concussion where LSU had won something like 20 or 30 straight Saturday night games. Then the season finale against in-state rival Florida State with 5 TD’s, and then you add in a potential win over an undefeated Alabama and it’s not even close.
I’ve been saying this for a couple of months now, but there are some serious biased people out there or just flat out Tebow haters who are ranking McCoy ahead of Tebow right now.
It’s also the same people who robbed Tebow of the award last year by putting players like Graham Harrell (LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL) on their Heisman ballot over Tebow.
This year the Heisman should go to Toby Gerhart. He has consistently been the necessary cog in Stanford’s return to national relevance. Statistically his season is better than Ingram’s and Colt has come on hot as late but not all season. Gerhart is the only one to play big in all of his big games. The most outstanding football player should not have to be a media darling.
The Heisman has been limited to the QB or RB of the two teams in the National Championship game since 1999 Ron Dayne- Wisconsin, one exception *2002 Carson Palmer – USC which finished #3 after winning the Rose Bowl, not the NC game.
McCoy has been in the top 3 or 4 leaders all year. Now he just had the biggest single game performance of any of the candidates so far this year. With one game left he should be the front runner. Don’t hate the playa……
Gerhart did have a big game against ND, but so did Connecticut, so how impressive was it??
Tebow’s game against LSU IS HIS HEISMAN MOMENT? That is quite possibly his WORST game of the season. He turned the ball over, and had ONLY 172 yards of total offense, the defense won that game. Against Tennessee? He turns the ball over TWICE and has only 191 yards. In the 2 biggest games of the year to this point TEBOW HAS PLAYED VERY POORLY! Passer rating doesn’t matter. It just shows that you can complete goaline passes (same for Tebow’s rushing Td’s). Colt has more total yards, and a better completion percentage, it doesn’t matter that he plays in the big 12, you can’t base stats off of conference stats. SEC qb’s (as a general rule) are VERY poor (excluding Mallet, Tebow, and…….) thus pass defense statistics for the SEC ARE INFLATED.
AND ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND STEPHEN, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN NEAR THE BIAS FOR COLT AS THERE HAS BEEN FOR MR. TEBOW. HE ONLY HAS 1 title and one heisman as a starter. Is the fact that he has won a title as a backup what pushes him over the top as GREATEST BEING IN THE UNIVERSE.
Best qb ypc this decade (for career, big names)
Vince Young 6.84 ypc,
Pat White 6.5 ypc,
Michael Vick 6.2 ypc,
Tim Tebow 4.16 ypc
Quarterback sneaks when you’re inside the 5 aren’t impressive, yet you ignorant fanboys don’t understand this. One of the WORST passing offenses (Florida) and you think their QB deserves a Heisman?
You people shouldn’t pollute the gene pool, remain abstinent.
Tebow = overrated fullback.
Any one who thinks the SEC defenses are ‘inflated’ should just look at the past 3 national championship games and recent games (see UGA versus GT / South Carolina versus Clemson). Most people not in the Big 12 or Conference USA probably recognize that.
Gerhart has been the best player this year which is what the Heisman is for. If Gerhart doesn’t win, the Heisman should either have an asterisk that the 2009 wasn’t given to the best player or the definition of the Heisman should be changed. McCoy definitely doesn’t deserve it for his late padded stat surge against weak opponents (A&M is the worst defense in the Big 12). Has Mack Brown even used a backup QB against the likes of UCF, Wyoming, etc.? Does anyone know the rankings of the defenses Texas played this year?
Paul,
Because Mack Brown won’t run the score up on anyone McCoy has played in 39 of a possible 48 quarters this year. That is more than 2 games he sat when he could have been “padding” his stats. How many quarters did Gerhart sit this year? And he still barely hit 1700 yards.
McCoy winning this year would be a joke to the Heisman when Gerhart is the obvious choice.
McCoy’s ‘Heisman moment’ came against A&M, which is ranked as one of the worst defenses in all of college football. Also, in 12 games, Mack Brown let his backup come in to throw a whopping 124 yards. This against UCF, Wyoming, UTEP, etc. Kudos to Mack Brown for stat padding McCoy! Also, let’s not forget that McCoy through an interception in 8 of his first 9 games. How is that Heisman worthy?
Paul,
You have just shown that you don’t know what you are talking about. Colt WAS pulled for the fourth quarter in Wyoming and UCF (Texas played 4 QB’s in that game, including one off of the practice squad)… in fact, McCoy has been pulled for the fourth quarter in every game except Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Kansas (he was only left in here so that he could get an ovation in his last game at home.)
I think McCoy should get it, but if Gerhart wins I would not be upset.
Chuckles,
Gerhart played in 12 games and his worst yard per carry was 4.4. His total yards could easily have been higher with more touches. He had ‘Heisman moments’ against Oregon, USC, and Notre Dame… games that really matter. McCoy played great against A&M and UCF, but let’s put that in perspective is all I’m saying.
Like I mentioned earlier Paul, I like Gerhart a lot, but w/ the other top candidates all having one game left to impress voters and Gerhart’s season over, I don’t think he has a chance. Especially with McCoy getting the last look Saturday night.
TIM TEBOW!!!!!!!!!
Chuckles,
You’re probably right with that last game being the deciding factor for better or worse for McCoy, Tebow, and Ingram. I think years like this the winner (who ever it is) will have a tough time defending why they won… except for Gerhart.
Here are McCoy’s stats from Texas’s biggest game of the year (Oklahoma):
Passing: 21-39, 127 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT that was one missed tackle away from a 4th quarter likely game-winning pick-six.
Rushing: 14 carries, 33 yards, a lost fumble in the red-zone, and a sack in Oklahoma territory to end the first half
Seriously, how can everyone forget that McCoy had such a horrible game against his team’s main rival? I thought that would be like an “automatic disqualification” and how he performed against the likes of Central Florida and the Big 12′s worst defense wouldn’t matter.
Note that even though he had a horrible passing game against Oklahoma (averaging 3.3 yards per pass attempt), he still completed 54 percent of his passes. Goes to show how overrated the pass completion statistic can be.
Paul, you do realize that Notre Dame, Oregon, and USC’s rush defenses are all outside of the top 30 in ypg allowed. Not saying he doesn’t deserve it, but its not like he was running against the best in the country. Notre Dame is 90th in the country against the run. And lets all remember, pass defense statistics are going to be inflated a little in the big 12 b/c there are 4 or 5 teams in the big 12 that exclusively pass the ball and don’t run it any. Baylor, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State are all in the top 50 in pass efficiency defense. Oregon State and Cal are both in the top 20 in rush defense, what happened in both of those games? Stanford lost.
[...] So what does it all mean? Well there’s still one weekend of football remaining, but the Heisman Pundit has almost called the race for the good guy: [...]
Shane,
Other than this week’s performance, Ingram also struggled against Arkansas where he has 17 carries for 50 yards (2.9 ypc).
As for comparing McCoy to Tebow, in Florida-Mississippi State, Tebow was 12-22 for 127 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 picks. He did average 4 yards per carry on his rushing though, which is far more important for a QB… oh wait.
Only 2 players in the BCS era have won on nonchampionship game teams, Carson Palmer and Tim Tebow. Gerhart is although the best player in football, he is not far enough ahead in the voters eyes above Ingram and McCoy for him to win the award. If Ingram does not play this weekend(he was injured) or loses, and Texas loses as well, then Gerhart will have a chance to win the heisman. And even then I believe that some of the EXTREMIST Tebow lovers will push for him to win a second Heisman.
I think Gerhart is most deserving…
McCoy flat out stunk up the joint against Oklahoma and did everything he could to lose the game. This is in addition to throwing picks in 8 of his first 9 games. I am simply incredulous that he has been elevated as the Heisman frontrunner based almost solely on his play against UCF and Texas A&M.
The award is for the most outstanding player in college football — not the best player on the best team. It has to be Toby Gerhart.
McCoy is averaging well over a yard per attempt worse than last year and more than 20 QB effeciency rating points worse than last year on much worse stats. He shouldn’t get it for this year.
The notion that guys like Ingram are being listed ahead of Gerhart is just bizarre. Maybe if Gerhart was black he would get more votes because nobody seems to believe he’s as good as he is.
If you watch 30 seconds of his highlights the debate is over… Toby should get the Heisman.
One more thing name all of the effective pass-first offenses in the SEC, I’M NOT SAYING THEY AREN’T GOOD DEFENSES, I JUST WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEIR STATISTICS IF THEY PLAYED OFFENSES LIKE KANSAS AND TEXAS TECH WEEKLY. I think they are still the best in the country……..I just think its a little closer than most people think. BTW how many top 25 passing offenses are in the big 12, there are 6. The SEC, only Arkansas. Their is a different level of passing in the big 12 than the SEC.
Also Gerhart has done it against better competition than McCoy.
Ricky Williams won on a 9-3 Texas team that didn’t win its division or conference in ’98.
This best-player-on-best-team stuff is a new phenominon (the first winner was on a 4-4 team and Paul Hornung won on a 2-8 team).
There is no comparison between Gerhart and the others except that Stanford is “merely” 8-4 against a very, very tough schedule and with wins against a couple of top 10/11 teams.
Ricky Williams however did it before the BCS era, he set the CAREER RUSHING RECORD, and he had a 2397 yard season (in the 11 game regular season). Gerhart is only about….. 650 yards off of that(and he played one more game). Don’t even compare Gerhart to Ricky Williams, there is no way he can stand up to that comparison. He even had more tds rushing (29 to 26) Gerhart’s best stat. DON’T COMPARE HIM TO WILLIAMS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
“2009 was no 2007 for Tebow.”
thomas, colt mccoy’s 2009 was no 2009 tebow, either.
“2009 was no 2007 for Tebow.”
thomas, colt mccoy’s 2009 was no 2007 tebow, either.
arrgh…excuse early morning typo.
Vince Young 6.84 ypc,
Pat White 6.5 ypc,
Michael Vick 6.2 ypc,
Tim Tebow 4.16 ypc
ted, are you joking here? tebow is used like a fullback. he runs inside the tackle.
so after reading through all the comments, i’m still no more enlightened about the colt resume’s “stat threshold” that the tebow resume doesn’t have. i can understand debates about yards thrown and percentage completed vs. TDs/INTs/passer-rating. but there’s no way one of those two is clearly superior to the other, so much so that one player has reached a threshold and the other player hasn’t. particularly when the player on the short side of this magical threshold is also the leading rusher on a rushing offense.
You still have to remember that Tebow might have played his worst game at LSU despite having a concussion and playing below 100%. A win’s a win. And if you want to talk about heart, Tebow plays with 110% heart.
A win’s a win.
Using that argument you could give the heisman to Mark Ingram for his great play against Auburn.
Some folks pretend Tebow wasn’t seriously injured before the LSU game. Tebow executed a very conservative game plan with little practice. He limited LSU to 8 possessions and Florida played ball-control only punting once all game. Tebow helped shatter a 32-game winning streak by the Tigers in front of the largest crowd in LSU history. This game symbolizes how Tebow has overcome adversity to keep the Gators undefeated since his famous speech. Tebow’s turnover was on the LSU 5 yard line with less than 5 minutes to go… this only affected the margin.
After the game, several LSU defenders waited for Tebow to finish interviews so they could shake his hand. As DT Charles Alexander put it: “He came out there and gave a great effort. He is one of the greatest college football players to play the game.”
Here’s what Kiffin said about Tebow after the Tennessee game:
“I don’t think he’s human. I really don’t. There were times when I asked [the coaches in the booth] on the headset, ‘Is he ever going to wear down?’ But he never does. Our defense worked hard and you just prayed to get it to third-and-4, because if it was third-and-3, he was going to put his head down and run over people.”