Notre Dame, IN (UHND.com) – Brady Quinn added to an already impressive Heisman resume with a 23 of 35, 346 yard, 4 touchdown performance this past weekend in Notre Dame’s 45-26 win over North Carolina. After a slow start to his Heisman campaign, the senior signal caller has been on fire with eighth straight multiple touchdown games.
Against North Carolina Quinn was at the top of his game, completing 65% of his passes against the 35th pass defense in the country while adding his sixth three touchdown or better performance of the season.
After putting up another nice day on the stat sheet, Quinn’s numbers for the season now look like this – 63.9%, 2,579 yards, 25 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and 150.0 QB rating. Quinn also has two touchdowns on the ground this year.
Quinn also benefited this weekend from everyone’s (read the media) Heisman front runner, Troy Smith having his worst performance of the season. Smith and the Buckeyes got a scare from Illinois and squeaked out heroically held on against all odds for a 17-10 win over the Illini.
Smith failed to throw a touchdown for the first time this season and completed just 13 of 23 passes for 108 yards and he threw his 3rd interception of the season. The poor performance from Smith doesn’t remove him the permanent perch that has been built for him as Heisman front runner, but it did close the gap between Smith and Quinn some.
It will still take a loss from Ohio State and a big performance against USC for Quinn to have a real shot at taking home the award, but a couple more Saturdays like this past weekend and the race for the Heisman will be a lot closer than most of the national media is making it out to be.
With two more tune-ups before the season ending showdown with USC, Quinn will have two more chances to add to his resume with what should be more stat-padding opportunities.
Smith has a chance to lock up the award before Notre Dame’s Thanksgiving weekend contest with USC on November 18th when the Buckeyes host the Wolverines in one of the more highly anticipated games of the year. A strong performance and a Buckeye win and the award will all but on Smith’s mantle by the time December rolls around.
Should Smith and the Buckeyes fall to Michigan with Smith having a subpar outing and Quinn will have a chance to make his case in the Coliseum on November 25th. A big day from Quinn and a win over the Trojans could sway the vote in Quinn’s favor if Smith falters the weekend before.
Michigan knocked Quinn out as a front runner early in the season after picking off Quinn three times in their dominating win over the Irish in South Bend, but will have the unique opportunity to put Quinn right back in the race with a win in Columbus.
Since that Michigan game, Quinn has gone on to throw 22 touchdown passes to just one interception in six games – all Irish victories. Quinn also has two fourth quarter comebacks under his belt.
Quinn will have the advantage of having the last impression on Heisman voters with his final game coming a week after Smith’s. Should the Buckeye’s win, however, this will be a major disadvantage for Quinn as most Heisman voters who were thinking of voting for Smith will most likely cast their ballots before the Irish and Trojans ever kick it off.
