Andrew Luck looks rattled early. There's a lot on the line. If Stanford wins this game, they'll remain in the hunt for a national title shot and Luck will be a Heisman front runner.
I think Luck remains a front runner even with a loss. It'd obviously kill their title chances, though.
If Stanford loses, I feel like he'll be a top three Heisman candidate, but he'll lose to a player in a more powerful conference. Trent Richardson will be the top guy if Stanford loses. Brandon Weeden is a serious dark horse for the award though.
Mostly in terms of hype. Nobody really expected Tebow to make it big in the NFL, so yes, it's not a great comparison. People are expecting Luck to take whatever team he lands on to the SB. I think his hype is >>>>> than his arm.
Luck throws for a TD after play-action, but there was no one in position to take the hand off. Pretty funny play fake.
Luck's the best quarterback prospect since Carson Palmer. His hype is necessary...he's that good. Prototypical size, arm strength, smarts, athleticism...it's all there. If the Dolphins weren't in the running for the kid, you'd most likely fee differently.
Yes, which isn't really fair either, I'm kind of practicing not like him before he goes to the Colts or Dolphins. But I largely agree with Phil Simms assessment (which I don't like to admit). His arm is ok but not enough to carry him on the NFL career that people are expecting of him. If you saw this game and the USC/Stanford game, and knew nothing of the quarterbacks other than what you saw, it would be hard to say that Luck had really distinguished himself. I think Barkley is at least as good- objectively at this point.
Herbstreit has been talking about the lack of talent in his receiving corps all night. Chris Owusu is out tonight, so they have basically no speed at the position. He's had to rely on a mid-round type talent as his tight end and a bunch of Patriot-esque scrappy white wideouts at Stanford. Surround him with talent and he should perform.
Carson Palmer was awesome until Kimo von Oelhoffen took him out in the playoffs a while back. ...so if Luck leads a bottom-feeder franchise to the playoffs and gets injured because of a dirty hit, then maybe?