Aaron Bates for Heisman The Enlightened Spartan: Aaron Bates for Heisman

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Aaron Bates for Heisman

Come on, let us all be real. The Heisman Trophy should go be awarded to the best player in America, no?

That would be Spartan quarterback Aaron Bates, who is now 2-for-2 for 50 yards, two fourth-down conversions, 1 TD, and a QB rating of 475.0. By the way, Bates is also the Spartan's starting punter, with a 45.1 average, including 7 kicks inside the 20 and 8 punts of over 50 yards each. But what has Bates as the Heisman candidate is not only his OT-game winning TD pass against Notre Dame, but today's 4th quarter, 4th-and-22 conversion on a throw to Bennie Fowler in the Michigan State 35-27 victory at Northwestern.

Give Mark Dantonio credit... many thought it may be coming, but still NW bit on the kick fake, Fowler turned open, and it led MSU to a touchdown -- and significant momentum change from a deficit to the eventual victory. Great call and BETTER execution on the fake.

MSU now sites 8-0 (4-0 Big Ten), alone undefeated in Big Ten play, and will likely move up in the national BCS standings with a loss by LSU, poor scheduling by Boise State and TCU, and potential impact of the Oklahoma-Mizzou game.

All of this, thanks, to Aaron Bates.

Team Totals MSU NU
FIRST DOWNS 24 22
Rushing 4 13
Passing 19 9
Penalty 1 0
NET YARDS RUSHING 105 170
Rushing Attempts 26 47
Average Per Rush 4.0 3.6
Rushing Touchdowns 2 3
Yards Gained Rushing 127 208
Yards Lost Rushing 22 38
NET YARDS PASSING 352 215
Completions-Attempts-Int 30-44-0 19-30-1
Average Per Attempt 8.0 7.2
Average Per Completion 11.7 11.3
Passing Touchdowns 3 0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 457 385
Total offense plays 70 77
Average Gain Per Play 6.5 5.0
Fumbles: Number-Lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties: Number-Yards 4-30 6-66
PUNTS-YARDS 6-258 5-191
Average Yards Per Punt 43.0 38.2
Net Yards Per Punt 33.0 37.6
Inside 20 1 2
50+ Yards 1 1
Touchbacks 1 0
Fair catch 0 3
KICKOFFS-YARDS 6-374 6-366
Average Yards Per Kickoff 62.3 61.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff 41.8 42.7
Touchbacks 3 2
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD 1-3-0 3-40-0
Average Per Return 3.0 13.3
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 3-70-0 3-63-0
Average Per Return 23.3 21.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD 1-16-0 0-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards 0 0
Possession Time 30:44 29:16
1st Quarter 7:07 7:53
2nd Quarter 8:13 6:47
3rd Quarter 5:59 9:01
4th Quarter 9:25 5:35
Third-Down Conversions 5 of 14 8 of 16
Fourth-Down Conversions 2 of 2 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances 3-4 5-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards 8-35 2-18
PAT Kicks 5-5 3-3
Field Goals 0-1 2-2