Did Kyler Murray overtake Tua Tagovailoa for the Heisman?
By Mark Thomas
Kyler Murray is displaying his talents every Saturday, and now America and the Heisman Committee are paying attention.
Coming into the season, everybody in America thought Tua Tagovailoa would be the runaway Heisman Trophy winner after his performance in the national title game last year. He’s played well throughout the year, with the exception of the Mississippi State game, and deserves credit for the Tide’s success.
As Alabama continues to win, however, the fact Tua doesn’t play entire games could kill his Heisman chances. Tagovailoa is a phenomenal talent, but he has all the tools to be successful. He has a top-10 defense, 5-star playmakers all over the field on offense and one of the best coaching staffs in the country on both sides of the ball.
Week in, week out Alabama takes the field as heavy favorite, and rightfully so, beating teams into submission every week. Alabama has been beating teams by an average of 31 points a game, and Tua has played the fourth quarter three times all year.
In Norman, Oklahoma, there’s a quarterback that has put up better numbers than Tagovailoa and he hasn’t been getting the attention he deserves. His name is Kyler Murray. He’s been putting on a show down the stretch, trying to avenge the loss from the Red River Showdown.
Murray took America and Heisman voters by storm after his performance against Will Grier and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Murray went for 364 yards on just 27 passing attempts along with 114 yards on the ground, as he had to bail out the defense for the fourth time in four weeks, leading them to a 59-56 victory on the road.
On the season, Murray has thrown for thrown for 3674 yards and 37 touchdowns on 70 percent passing along with 853 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns. He’s combined for 4,527 yards of total offense and 48 touchdowns.
You can thank the Oklahoma defense for getting Murray to where he is right now, as they’re giving up a slew of points every game. The Ruffin McNiell/Mark Stoops defense is giving up over 48 points a game and nearly 600 yards in the last four weeks.
When you have defensive stats like this in a normal world, your team is supposed to be 0-4 but not when you have the Oakland A’s first-round pick back there as your signal caller. Murray is something you see in NCAA 14 (bring it back, please), like a combination of Doug Flutie and Michael Vick.
Still we shouldn’t punish Tua for playing on a good team. He’s been amazing. Tagovailoa has thrown for 2865 yards on 69 percent passing, and has 31 touchdowns to two interceptions. He also has a higher QBR than Murray. And again, this is despite not playing a lot of fourth quarters.
Beyond the numbers, however, Murray has had the more impressive year. If you take Murray out of Oklahoma and replace him with an average group-of-five quarterback, OU wouldn’t have a chance at the playoff.
According to the Heisman official website, “The winners of the trophy epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.” Murray fits that description to a tee. Almost every snap he takes he knows could be the end of Oklahoma’s potential playoff run because he knows he has no help on the other side of the ball. Tua has had a great year, but Murray deserves the Heisman.