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In today's USA Today, there is a listing in the back for "Odds against winning the 2005 Heisman Trophy." Omar is tied for 4th at 5:1 with Texas' Vince Young. The Top-5 odds are:

Matt Leinhart, USC, 3:1
Reggie Bush, USC, 4:1
Adrian Peterson, OU, 4:1
Omar Jacobs, BG, 5:1
Vince Young, UT, 5:1

Not bad company to be in, considering the top three guys listed were at the 2004 Heisman Trophy presentation and one of those three won it! We have got to get a campaign going for Omar next year, and the year after!

Has leinhart said whether he is coming back or not yet? I would suspect that we will declare because his stock is at an all time high.

Unofficially I heard that he is going into the draft this season. I don't know what his exact reasoning for doing so would be, but with SF looking for a QB and with his stock as high as it is, I doubt he would have a better opportunity to remain in California.

This is awesome news. I think we sometimes forget that for all the Heisman hype Leftwich and Pennington recieved, Omar is obliterating their numbers. This is for real. I swear we are not dreaming.

kdog27 wrote:Has leinhart said whether he is coming back or not yet? I would suspect that we will declare because his stock is at an all time high.

I don't think he has. And while I totally agree with ya, maybe he doesn't know where his stock lies personally draft-wise, and the thought of potentially winning another Heisman and a third national title appeals to him...

Bowling Green really needs to get his name out there. He definitely deserves it after his last season. It would be cool to see him as finalist and it would be great publicity for the university.
I think Leinhart would be foolish to not enter the draft. It would be pretty hard to have a season just as good as the last. That said, I would admire the guy for coming back for his senior season if he did.

While the raw talent is so greatly coveted by the NFL, it always makes me sad to see young kids walk away from school to apply for the draft. Why not spend a few years maturing your game in college and getting a degree before going to the NFL? I guess I am just... I dunno.

You are dreaming though. BG does not get the exposure required to win a Heisman. How much better do you think his numbers can get? It's going to be nearly impossible for him to repeat that kind of offense. And even if he does everyone will knock the lack of competition and the gimmicky offense.

TG1996 wrote:

kdog27 wrote:Has leinhart said whether he is coming back or not yet? I would suspect that we will declare because his stock is at an all time high.

I don't think he has. And while I totally agree with ya, maybe he doesn't know where his stock lies personally draft-wise, and the thought of potentially winning another Heisman and a third national title appeals to him...

I beleive Leinhart is waiting to see what happens with his coach. If Pete is hired by the Niners, he is said to likely be going out so he could play for Carrol. I also heard that if Norm Chow leaves, he may go pro because of this too. Regardless of what Leinhart does, it's great to see Omar listed this early. It shows that the national media is already watching us. The GMAC bowl seems to have projected him to the forefront of the media's attention

bgfanwisc wrote:You are dreaming though. BG does not get the exposure required to win a Heisman. How much better do you think his numbers can get? It's going to be nearly impossible for him to repeat that kind of offense. And even if he does everyone will knock the lack of competition and the gimmicky offense.

Alex Smith was on the podium this year, so much for "lack of competition" and "gimmicky offense". (Which I don't buy the offense argument at all. I'd say at least 40% or so of the offenses in D1 utilize some sort of spread offense most of the time. Throwing a QB in a shotgun with 4 receivers is no longer a gimmick.)

While Utah got alot of pub this past year, alot of it was because of what they were doing on the field. If BG can knock off Wisconsin (which I firmly believe we can), the attention will be there, and it will be ours to lose. Not just for Omar and the Heisman, but for BG and the MAC to make the waves Utah did this year. Beat Boise State and the table is set. (No matter how much 1987alum warns us about Temple! )

2005 is the first year that BG has solid, yet beatable OOC opponents, a favorable MAC home schedule (most likely, no matter how it turns out with realignment), and a head of steam going into the season. THIS is the year to do it.

SaxyIrishTenor wrote: Why not spend a few years maturing your game in college and getting a degree before going to the NFL? I guess I am just... I dunno.

A base package of $45 MILLION, that could escalate to 6 years and $54 million. Including a signing bonus of $20 MILLION (that's guaranteed your money).

Those are the figures of Eli Manning's contract last year. If Leinart leaves he will almost assuredly go in the top 3 of this year's draft. The #1 pick will start his negotiating at the above figure + 20% increase for it being a new year. The following picks will fall in line behind that.

That is why you say to hell with the degree. Why get a degree when they'll give you $20 million for putting your name on the paper? Why risk the injury? If he gets hurt his stock would plummet and seriously effect his money. If he has a slightly less stellar season, same thing. If he were to drop only down to the 15th pick he'd take a tremendous pay cut, but an injury would likely result in falling further than that. Last year's #15 pick (Michael Clayton) got 6 years for $13 million with a $6.2 million. That's a pretty big pay cut for dropping 14 players. Sure its still a LOT of money, but why risk losing that much jack?

I'm all for staying in school. Especially considering the dropoff is even bigger once you get past the #15 area. If you drop out of the 1st round (the first 32 picks) you're taking a real big cut. However, when somebody is a surefire first rounder, you must advise them its in their best interest to leave early. If they're in the top 5 for sure, it makes no sense whatsoever to stick around. College will always be there. Your ACL may not be.

bgfanwisc wrote:You are dreaming though. BG does not get the exposure required to win a Heisman.

Those odds don't appear to be a dream. Some fairly serious sports junkies appear to think Omar is for real.

I'd want longer odds before I laid money on Omar.

But, look, if Bowling Green had run the table in 2003 or 2004, we would have been a serious (so-called) national title contender, much like Utah was this season.

If Bowling Green runs the table in 2005 -- and this certainly is a possibility -- why wouldn't Omar be a serious candidate?

How much better do you think his numbers can get?

His numbers are already sick... but he was just a sophomore. Most sophomores grow by leaps and bounds by their junior year.

It's going to be nearly impossible for him to repeat that kind of offense.

The NCAA record is around 5,000 yards in a season. I think Ty Detmer holds it. Presumably, he pulled it off in 13 or 14 games.

Nothing would surprise me the way Omar played last season.

hammb wrote:

SaxyIrishTenor wrote: Why not spend a few years maturing your game in college and getting a degree before going to the NFL? I guess I am just... I dunno.

A base package of $45 MILLION, that could escalate to 6 years and $54 million. Including a signing bonus of $20 MILLION (that's guaranteed your money).

Those are the figures of Eli Manning's contract last year. If Leinart leaves he will almost assuredly go in the top 3 of this year's draft. The #1 pick will start his negotiating at the above figure + 20% increase for it being a new year. The following picks will fall in line behind that.

That is why you say to hell with the degree. Why get a degree when they'll give you $20 million for putting your name on the paper? Why risk the injury? If he gets hurt his stock would plummet and seriously effect his money. If he has a slightly less stellar season, same thing. If he were to drop only down to the 15th pick he'd take a tremendous pay cut, but an injury would likely result in falling further than that. Last year's #15 pick (Michael Clayton) got 6 years for $13 million with a $6.2 million. That's a pretty big pay cut for dropping 14 players. Sure its still a LOT of money, but why risk losing that much jack?

I'm all for staying in school. Especially considering the dropoff is even bigger once you get past the #15 area. If you drop out of the 1st round (the first 32 picks) you're taking a real big cut. However, when somebody is a surefire first rounder, you must advise them its in their best interest to leave early. If they're in the top 5 for sure, it makes no sense whatsoever to stick around. College will always be there. Your ACL may not be.

I have often said that if you don't know enough to take this kind of money and go to college later, you aren't smart enough to be in college in the first place.

BJ Symons, QB for Texas Tech, broke the 13 year old Ty Detmer record. Detmer threw for 5,188 yards in 1990, and BJ Symons threw for 5,833 yards in 2003, pretty much putting that way out of reach.

Another point of seemingly useless trivis: Before 2003, both the #1 and #2 season passing records occured in 1990. First was Detmer, but close behind was David Klinger of Houston, with 5,140 yards, just 48 short of Detmer. Klinger threw 54 touchdowns in 1990, while Detmer threw 41.

If Houston and BYU were to have played in a bowl game that year, im sure it would have been one to remember. Instead, BYU played Texas A&M in the holiday bowl and lost 65-14. Oh well, too bad I guess.

Go falcons!

TG1996 wrote:

bgfanwisc wrote:You are dreaming though. BG does not get the exposure required to win a Heisman. How much better do you think his numbers can get? It's going to be nearly impossible for him to repeat that kind of offense. And even if he does everyone will knock the lack of competition and the gimmicky offense.

Alex Smith was on the podium this year, so much for "lack of competition" and "gimmicky offense". (Which I don't buy the offense argument at all. I'd say at least 40% or so of the offenses in D1 utilize some sort of spread offense most of the time. Throwing a QB in a shotgun with 4 receivers is no longer a gimmick.)

While Utah got alot of pub this past year, alot of it was because of what they were doing on the field. If BG can knock off Wisconsin (which I firmly believe we can), the attention will be there, and it will be ours to lose. Not just for Omar and the Heisman, but for BG and the MAC to make the waves Utah did this year. Beat Boise State and the table is set. (No matter how much 1987alum warns us about Temple! )

2005 is the first year that BG has solid, yet beatable OOC opponents, a favorable MAC home schedule (most likely, no matter how it turns out with realignment), and a head of steam going into the season. THIS is the year to do it.

Very well said TG. I think we're gonna beat Wisky period. It's the Boise State game that can determine how the rest of the season will go. Boise doesn't take any mercy on teams on the Smurf Turf.

2005 is THE year to make it happen...and I think we get it done.

8 months til kickoff!

GO FALCONS!

Just the mere fact of Jacobs getting Heisman mention next year is outstanding publicity for him and for Bowling Green. Honestly, I would be surprised if a MAC player ever won the award because of the people who vote for the award and most of these players don't even see MAC football. But unlike the mass majority of people who don't watch and pay attention to MAC football and always give it a strike without really knowing what their talking about, we do.

Year after year we hear the excuses and reasons why a non-BCS players shouldn't win it, yet, year after year we continue to see non-BCS teams line up and beat BCS teams on the road and on neutral fields in bowl games. You'd swear they thought the MAC was like D-III sometimes. Funny though, it's pretty amazing how MAC competition has prepared QBs like Big Ben, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington for football.....as starters in the NFL! And you can't tell me that Marshall and it's players didn't get a ton of added exposure because of Leftwich and Pennington and they didn't win the award either.