When the University of Hawaii yanked its starting quarterback, Cole McDonald, in the Fresno State game, some people were aghast.
How can you pull, uninjured, the presumptive conference offensive player of the year in the midst of an important game, folks wondered?
A month later, amid even more juggling at the quarterback position, the question now is: Can McDonald still be the Mountain West Conference offensive player of the year and first-team quarterback while having alternated as a starter?
The answer should be: Yes.
Voters, be they coaches or media, however, often tend to look askance at postseason honors candidates who haven’t nailed down the starting job on their own team. So, whether McDonald will be the POY and first-team all-conference quarterback makes for an interesting announcement come Wednesday when the MWC is scheduled to hand out its awards.
Voting is done by league media and coaches and in the MWC this year it is also a question of Love. Namely, McDonald’s two leading competitors for those honors are Utah State quarterback Jordan Love and San Jose State’s quarterback, Josh Love. The two Californians are not related.
It is a heavily quarterback-dominated competition, with few commanding running backs or receivers beyond UH’s Cedric Byrd II (91 receptions, 10 TDs) and Boise State’s John Hightower, who tops the conference in all-purpose yards (128.2 per game) as a receiver and return specialist.
Historically, that means it is likely to come down to the quarterbacks, all of whom have played in 12 games and participated in a similar number of offensive plays 507 (McDonald), 506 (Josh Love) and 505 (Jordan Love).
Jordan was a second-team all-conference selection last year behind Boise State senior Brett Rypien, a three-time first team selection. This year Jordan was the much-hyped MWC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and, briefly, even marketed as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He led the Aggies to a 7-5 season.
Josh, a one-time walk-on from a junior college, guided the Spartans to a 5-7 mark while leading the MWC in passing yards per game (326.9) and total offense per game (319.6).
He and McDonald engaged in last season’s epic five-overtime, 44-41, UH shootout victory at San Jose.
This year, McDonald is the leader in completion percentage (64.8), touchdowns (29), points responsible for per game (17.7) and passing efficiency (147.6), statistical areas that go a long way toward summing up his resume.
But after starting UH’s first nine games, McDonald has yielded the job to Chevan Cordeiro for three starts and came off the bench to lead comebacks in two of them, including Saturday’s 52-31 regular-season finale against Army West Point, just as Cordeiro has twice jumped in to lead comebacks.
How much weight that will carry with voters remains to be seen. But McDonald makes for an intriguing exception here in a rotation that has worked wonders helping lift, while not dividing, the Rainbow Warriors in the ascent to their best record in nine seasons.
You often hear athletes say — and sometimes, even mean — that a particular award is really a team honor. This has a chance to be one of them.
RATING THE PASSERS
Comparing three of the Mountain West Conference’s top quarterbacks
Player, School Comp. Att. Pct. Int. TD YPG Tot. PPG
Josh Love, San Jose St. 293 481 60.9 8 22 326.9 319.6 13.0
Cole McDonald, Hawaii 278 429 64.8 13 29 283.4 317.1 17.7
Jordan Love, Utah St. 263 434 60.6 16 17 257.1 270.3 8.5
Tot.: Yards of total offense per game. PPG: Points reponsible for per game.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
