SEC Heisman Hopefuls (Post Week 4)

Sep 26, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly (10) during the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

What do Chad Kelly threatening to shoot up a bar in Buffalo and Chad Kelly’s Heisman hopes have in common?  They were both just talk.  Kelly had Ole Miss fans on the edge of their seat, half expecting him to tear his shoulder to shreds. What they saw Saturday against Vanderbilt was “deja vu all over again” (R.I.P. Yogi Berra) as they were having flashbacks of Bo Wallace, who came shortly after Jevan Snead.  I’m not wishing that career path on Chad Kelly, but the start to his Ole Miss career has begun like those before him.  Huge hype, comes out slinging, and then that game happens that seems to set things off course.

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Sure, Vandy always plays Ole Miss close.  But coming into this game the Vanderbilt defense had ZERO forced turnovers.  Let me break this down real quick:  Vanderbilt had played 3 previous games, and 2 of their opponents were Western Kentucky and Austin Peay.  Yet their defense had zero forced turnovers.  They go on the road to face an Ole Miss team that had just defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and they intercept Machine Gun Kelly twice!  Just to be clear, he had twice as many turnovers as he did touchdowns, against a defense that had previously forced zero turnovers in their previous 12 quarters.

I’m not burying Ole Miss, but I am burying Chad Kelly’s Heisman talk.  Heisman winning quarterbacks don’t have bad games against bad teams.  They just don’t.  When was Marcus Mariota’s bad game last year before the National Championship?  In fact,  13 of the previous 15 Heisman Trophy winners have been quarterbacks.  Please feel free to leave me a comment giving me an example of a 24 for 42, 1 TD, 2 INT game from any of those Heisman winners against a team comparable to Vanderbilt.  Just to be clear, this column isn’t about who’s good and who’s bad in the SEC.  This column isn’t burying Ole Miss as an SEC championship contender.  This column is about SEC Heisman trophy contenders.  To call Kelly a Heisman contender today is an insult to the Heisman trophy itself.  Lets move on to those who impressed this past weekend and are looking to build their SEC Heisman hype.

Next: 5. Dak Attack