SEC Heisman Hopefuls: The Takeover

Nov 14, 2015; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers running back Leonard Fournette (7) watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Tiger Stadium. Arkansas defeated LSU 31-14. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

2.  Leonard Fournette

After the terrible performance against Alabama, Leonard Fournette and the LSU Tigers set their sights on the Arkansas Razorbacks.  Many saw this as a “must” bounce-back type game for Leonard Fournette and his Heisman chances.  His stat line did very little to erase his 19 carry, 31 yard performance against Alabama.

Again, Fournette had 19 carries.  He almost tripled his yardage total from the previous week, true, but was yet again held to under 100 yards on the ground as he managed to gain only 91 yards on the ground against Arkansas.

There has been a drastic decrease in Leonard Fournette’s ypc as the season has gone along.  The first game of the year, Leonard Fournette averaged 5.7 ypc against Mississippi State.  He followed that by rattling off 3 straight games with 228 rushing yards or more against LSU’s opponents.  Even though he rushed for 180 yards against Florida following those performances, it took him 31 carries.  We deemed it to be a great performance considering the strength of Florida’s defense.  We also fully expected him to run through Western Kentucky the next week.  He then went on to carry the ball 26 times for 150 yards to average the exact same 5.8 ypc that he had against Florida the previous week.

When we put it that way, maybe we should have seen the terrible performance against Alabama coming.  We were blinded by the force and speed with which Fournette ran.  So much so, we deemed him the next Herschel Walker before he faced Alabama.  We couldn’t just admit that maybe we got a little bit carried away, could we?  Arkansas has forced us to accept that maybe Fournette is mortal after all — and Alabama wasn’t just Superman’s kryptonite.

In his last 2 games against Alabama and Arkansas, Fournette has a total of 38 carries for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns.  I’m not burying his Heisman chances, but his Heisman chances are most definitely on life support as another running back in the SEC West has seemingly saved his best for last.

Next: Following in the Footsteps of a Heisman Predecessor