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Nobody can run away with Heisman

Greg Jayne: Commentary

The Columbian
Published: October 30, 2010, 12:00am

C’mon, Aristotle.

C’mon, Plato.

I’m looking for some help here.

At the risk of turning the debate into an academic exploration, maybe it is time to take a philosophical approach to the Heisman Trophy.

As in, “Can a running back be more valuable than a quarterback?”

OK, OK, so it’s not as deep as, “What is the meaning of life?”

But consideration for college football’s highest individual honor this year could come down to an issue of ideology.

Why, look no further than Oregon. The Ducks are ranked No. 1 in the polls, and they are averaging 55 points a game. It stands to reason that they should have a Heisman candidate, and yet the media has been perfectly unreasonable about which player has been anointed.

Running back LaMichael James has, inexplicably, been targeted as one of the favorites to win the hallowed trophy. Which makes about as much sense as a relief pitcher winning a Cy Young award.

Oh, this is nothing against James. He leads the nation in rushing and is averaging 7.25 yards a carry.

Those are strong credentials.

And yet the philosophical argument goes like this: There is no way, in this age of modern offenses, that a running back should be considered for the Heisman Trophy. There is no way, in this era of spread offenses and option reads and West Coast passing attacks, that the award should go to anybody other than a quarterback.

That might sound overly dogmatic. So we asked somebody who is a scholar on the subject: Hugh Millen, a former University of Washington and NFL quarterback who now makes a living talking about quarterbacks on Seattle TV and radio.

“It’s 2010,” Millen said. “I mean, c’mon, it’s a quarterback-dominated world, college or NFL. A great quarterback, he has to be on to make that passing game work. For some of these quarterbacks in the modern era of the spread option, they have a duty to run the football. I don’t think people understand how much the threat of a running quarterback can open up lanes for a running back.”

Which brings us to Oregon’s Darron Thomas, who has rushed for 38 yards per game and thrown for 220 yards per game, completing 61 percent of his passes with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions. The running totals aren’t overwhelming, but Thomas is always a threat, and he’s difficult to sack.

I’m not saying that Thomas should be a Heisman candidate. But if Oregon has a candidate, he is the one.

Thomas keeps the Ducks’ runaway train of an offense in sync; he makes reads at the line of scrimmage; he makes assessments as the play unfolds. Thomas makes decisions and handles the ball on every play, while James gets it only if Thomas decides to give it to him.

“A lot of the runs are based on reading an unblocked defensive lineman,” Millen said. “It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out, but it does take a great athlete and Thomas is a great athlete.”

Mind you, Millen isn’t advocating Thomas for the Heisman. He even thinks there are scenarios in which a running back could deserve the award.

But he agrees that quarterback play has changed since Millen was a third-round NFL draft pick in 1986.

“Quarterbacks were taking half the plays off 25 years ago,” Millen said, referring to handing off and then being a bystander.

Those days are gone, at least for the quarterback who has the reins of Oregon’s offense. The Ducks’ attack is a constant frenzy of motion, speed and deception for the offense, followed by confusion on the part of the defense. And it requires a maestro to orchestrate it.

For their part, Oregon athletic officials have not designated a Heisman candidate.

“It’s obviously Chip’s philosophy that actions speak louder than words,” athletic department spokesman David Williford said of coach Chip Kelly. “He’s gone on record to say that voters are intelligent enough to determine who is a candidate and who isn’t.”

Well, Chip apparently hasn’t met many sportswriters, but that’s beside the point.

So, in the philosophical question of quarterback vs. running back, we’ll leave you with the musings of Aristotle:

“Thine quarterback is most important. Lo, he maketh the offense go.”

Or maybe it was Plato. I can’t keep them straight.

Greg Jayne is Sports editor of The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4531, or by e-mail at greg.jayne@columbian.com. To read his blog, go to columbian.com/weblogs/GregJayne

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