Holtz: Preseason prognosis calls for Irish sweepstakes

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Love Notre Dame. Loathe Notre Dame.

But Notre Dame is Notre Dame. No one who follows sports is ambivalent about Notre Dame football. No other school has a Rockne or a Gipper or a Touchdown Jesus or a fight song people know better than Happy Birthday to You. No other school is on free network television pretty much every game. And no other school has Notre Dame's ever-spinning hyperbole machine.

The Irish are the Yankees of college football. And for the school's legion of adoring fans, it's a travesty no one from college football's most storied program has hoisted the Heisman Trophy since Tim Brown did it way back in 1987.

That was the first year of the Rocky Mountain News Heisman poll. If this year's preseason poll, the 20th, is prophetic, Notre Dame loyalists' wait for the bronze, stiff-arming guy will be over soon.

Irish senior quarterback Brady Quinn, who passed for nearly 3,919 yards last season and posted the obscene touchdown-to-interception ratio of 32-7, is the overwhelming preseason favorite to win the Heisman.

And why not? He's tough. He's tested. He has a howitzer for a right arm. And not only does he play for college football's most recognizable brand name, his senior season dovetails nicely with what many think will be Notre Dame's return to over- the-top national glory.

If the Irish contend for the national title and Quinn stays healthy and approximates his numbers of last season, they can go ahead and wrap up that fearsome-looking bronze dude and ship him to South Bend, Ind.

"Brady Quinn has a great arm and an even better propaganda machine," poll voter Dennis Dodd of CBSSportsLine said.

Quipped John Rohde of The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City: "I believe it's a federal law to consider the Notre Dame quarterback for the Heisman every year."

OK, maybe not a federal law, but let's just say the Golden Dome and the Heisman have some history together. Notre Dame players have won the Heisman seven times, tied with Southern California for the most for one school.

True story: We were in the Notre Dame athletic offices a few years back when we noticed a Heisman statuette being used as a doorstop for the office of the sports information director. Someone asked if it was a real Heisman Trophy.

"Yeah, that one is John Huarte's, I believe," the publicist said. "We don't have enough room for all of them in the trophy case."

And you don't think Quinn has a big advantage?

"Quinn is the obvious choice for three reasons," poll voter Mike Griffith of the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel said. "Notre Dame's exposure, the expectation he'll put up big numbers and the expectations of the Irish team's success."

Several of our poll voters made jokes about Notre Dame's omnipresence on the American sports scene. No matter. Eight of the 10 still voted Quinn tops in the preseason.

The other two first-place votes went to Ohio State's run/pass threat at quarterback, Troy Smith. Smith is third overall in the preseason voting, just behind Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson. Quinn, Peterson and Smith were far above the rest of the pack, with other votes spread among 11 players.

"I see Quinn and Peterson as co-favorites coming out of the blocks,"

Vahe Gregorian of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said. "Quinn really has it together, and Peterson is a once-in-a-decade back. But I also think the race is totally unpredictable."

Can someone win it besides Quinn? Sure. But there's no question who's the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to hype.

"Brady Quinn has set himself apart as the clear and early Heisman favorite," Austin (Texas) American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls said.

Bohls paused, grinned.

"Now, if he can only get a little exposure at that little Catholic school he plays for," he said.

Irish with Heismans

• Brady Quinn, the overwhelming preseason favorite in the Rocky Mountain News Heisman poll, is at the right school to win college football's top individual prize. Notre Dame is tied with Southern California for the most Heisman winners, with seven.

Year Player, position Legacy

1943 Angelo Bertelli, QB T-formation quarterback known for making big play.

1947 John Lujack, QB Played for the Chicago Bears.

1949 Leon Hart, DE/FB Punishing lineman who never lost a game at Notre Dame.

1953 John Lattner, RB Prolific runner and pass-catcher played for the Steelers and once coached at the University of Denver.

1956 Paul Hornung, QB One of the best run/pass threats in college history, later played for the Packers, then became a TV analyst.

1964 John Huarte, QB    Threw 16 touchdowns during his Heisman season.

1987 Tim Brown, WR Best receiver in Notre Dame history went on to become one of the most consistent pass-catchers in the NFL.

Preseason Heisman poll

• The Rocky Mountain News Heisman poll is the longest-running weekly Heisman Trophy poll in the country, in its 20th year. The final poll taken in December correctly has predicted the Heisman winner 16 of the previous 19 seasons. There are 10 voters, two from each of five regions of the nation, who vote for five players each week. The tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four points for second and so on. First-place votes are in parentheses. Preseason poll, with statistics from last season:

Name, position School Statistics Points

Brady Quinn, QB Notre Dame 292-of-450, 3,919 yards, 32 TDs 48 (8)

Adrian Peterson, RB Oklahoma 220 carries, 1,108 yards, 14 TDs 33

Troy Smith, QB Ohio State 2,282 passing yds, 611 rushing, 27 TDs 31 (2)

Chris Leak, QB Florida 235-of-374, 2,639 yards, 20 TDs 11

Marshawn Lynch, RB California 196 carries, 1,246 yards, 10 TDs 8

• Others receiving votes: Dwayne Jarrett, WR, Southern California, 4 points; Kenny Irons, RB, Auburn, 3; Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech, 3; Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville, 2; Jeff Samardzija, WR, Notre Dame, 2; Pat White, QB, West Virginia, 2; Michael Bush, RB, Louisville, 1; Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas, 1; Eric Weddle, DB/KR, Utah, 1.

• The voters: Kirk Bohls (Austin (Texas) American-Statesman); Scott Cain (Arkansas Democrat Gazette); Dennis Dodd (CBSSportsLine); Vahe Gregorian (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Mike Griffith (Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel); Randy Holtz (Rocky Mountain News); John Lindsay (Scripps Howard News Service); Michael Lewis (The Salt Lake Tribune); John Rohde (The Oklahoman); Michael Vega (The Boston Globe).

holtzr@RockyMountainNews.com