Ducks' Dillon Gabriel didn't win the Heisman Trophy but there's plenty of reason as to why he should have

Dillon Gabriel's case for the Heisman Trophy

Gabriel didn't have the most eye-popping numbers, but does it matter? The award isn't for the player that can accumulate the most stats. There's plenty of players at smaller programs that can put up video game numbers against lesser competition.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded annually to the best player in college football. Gabriel, the man at the helm for the best team in the country, certainly has an argument.

Gabriel finished the year with the second-highest adjusted completion percentage in the country at 82.1%, 3,555 passing yards, 28 passing touchdowns, and 6 interceptions.

Raw stats don't paint the whole picture for Gabriel, who showed up time and time again when his team needed him. On the biggest stages this season, Gabriel was absolutely nails, leading late drives, not making mistakes to allow opponents back into games, and serving as a field general in total command.

His stats when you combine Oregon's games against Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, paint a sterling picture. In those games, against the toughest competition in their new conference, Gabriel completed 68% of his passes, averaged 306 passing yards, threw for seven touchdowns, had zero interceptions, and added two rushing touchdowns as well. Gabriel threw for 341 yards against the Ohio State defense that only allowed one other quarterback to eclipse 200 passing yards in a game this season, with Northwestern's Jack Lausch throwing for a mere 201. 

The other Heisman quarterback finalist was Cam Ward from Miami, and the one that many people feel was snubbed was Sheduer Sanders. I understand the conversation — both players had plenty of flash, and finished the season with more counting stats than Gabriel. Their teams played in plenty of tight games, or games where they had to come from behind and put the game on their back. Gabriel did not. His team was simply far better.

While Sanders and Ward are done for the season and preparing for the NFL Draft, Gabriel is preparing for the Rose Bowl and, ideally, a deep College Football Playoffs run as the No. 1 seed in the country.

If your argument is counting stats, let's look at Gabriel's lowest statistical outputs of the season:

• Nov. 9 vs Maryland: 183 passing yards, 3 touchdowns. The team coasted to a 39-18 win and Gabriel was basically done, statistically, at halftime.
• Nov. 16 @ Wisconsin: 218 passing yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception. Gabriel's leading wide receiver, Tez Johnson, was out of this game injured, and Wisconsin gave Oregon a tough battle. Oregon won 16-13 on the road.
• Nov. 30 vs Washington: 209 yards, 0 touchdowns. This was a home blowout victory where the Oregon defense set a program record with 10 sacks. Oregon blew out Washington 49-21 and Gabriel didn't have to do hardly anything.

Gabriel's three lowest statistical outputs came in Oregon's last three regular season games, with one game being a hard fight and two being absolute blowouts that required him to do next to nothing. Gabriel was without leading wide receiver Tez Johnson for both the Maryland and Wisconsin game.

The month of November saw Ward and Miami fighting for their CFP lives, with Ward throwing for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns to rally past a halftime deficit, 348 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Georgia Tech, and 349 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Syracuse in their final regular season game.

Sanders was involved in similar barn burners throughout the season, starting the season with a 445 yard, four touchdown performance in a 31-26 narrow win over unranked North Dakota State. He threw for 388 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to No. 18 Kansas State. He threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime win over unranked Baylor.

Ward and Sanders played on teams with poor defenses, and had no choice but to air it out time and time again simply to stay in games. Gabriel, on the other hand, has an elite defense and did a terrific job doing what was required in order to win. He played winning football, with clean stats to show for it. That's absolutely worthy of "best player in the country" considerations.