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TCU QB Max Duggan named Davey O’Brien Award finalist

The third-round fan vote will occur from Nov. 29 through Dec. 2.

By MatthewSgroi
/ new

Max Duggan has been named a finalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, the award given annually to the NCAA’s best overall QB.

The nomination came early Tuesday morning.

An award named after TCU’s great QB of past, Davey O’Brien, may now be awarded to TCU’s great QB of present.

Since the award was established in 1977, directly after O’Brien’s death, a TCU QB has never lifted the prestigious award, created in remembrance of O’Brien’s legacy.

A legacy which includes winning the 1939 National Championship, still the most recent Horned Frog championship to this day, and the 1938 Heisman, still TCU’s only Heisman winner.

Duggan is nominated alongside QBs Caleb Williams of USC, and C.J. Stroud of Ohio State, who both had tremendous seasons and whose stats are objectively better than Duggan’s.

Caleb Williams is currently the Heisman favorite, and C.J. Stroud led the nation in passing touchdowns.

  • Caleb Williams: 65.8% completion percentage, 3,712 passing yard, 34 TDS, 3 INTs, 86.8 QBR
  • C.J. Stroud: 66.2% completion percentage, 3,340 passing yard, 37 TDs, 6 INTs, 87.6 QBR
  • Max Duggan: 67% completion percentage, 3,070 passing yard, 29 TDs, 3 INTs, 79.7 QBR

But - we know stats don’t tell the whole story. ‘Mad Max’ is the only finalist who hasn’t yet lost a game this season. Surely that should mean something?

Duggan is only the second TCU QB ever to be named as a Davey O’Brien Award finalist, as Trevone Boykin was nominated both in 2014 and 2015, but lost out to Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, respectively.

Since 2005, Watson is the only QB who’s won the Davey O’Brien Award without winning the Heisman Award (Louisville’s Lamar Jackson took it home that season).

As Caleb Williams’ odds to win the Heisman are stuck at -2500, this doesn’t bode too well for Duggan, but fan voting begins today, Nov. 29, and ends Monday, Dec. 5, giving Horned Frogs fans a full week to spam as many Max Duggan votes as they can.

The award’s ceremony takes place during the College Football Award Show on Thursday, Dec. 8, on ESPN. If Duggan wins, he’s enshrined right into the Davey O’Brien Hall of Fame.

Could the Davey O’Brien trophy be coming back home to Fort Worth??

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