His two interceptions against Michigan made him a household name even more than he had already been. But as the Irish showed in that game, intercepting a Michigan quarterback wasn't exactly difficult.
Of Te'o's seven interceptions, only two were in Notre Dame territory, and none closer than the 27-yard line, so it's not like he stopped a sure touchdown drive. Both of those interceptions were then turned into Notre Dame punts, by the way.
In fact, four of his seven interceptions led to Notre Dame punts. The Irish converted his seven turnovers into just 13 points.
Over the weeks, I have been critical of Te'o's candidacy and have spent too much time on Twitter comparing Te'o to Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier. I only do this to compare Te'o's numbers to Shazier's, who is not any type of award candidate and was recently voted a second-team All-Big Ten player by the Big Ten's coaches.
Shazier forced just two turnovers this season. One was an interception return for a touchdown against Penn State, and the other was a forced fumble against Wisconsin inside the one-foot line. In essence, Shazier's two turnovers were worth 14 points to the Buckeyes, and they meant more to Ohio State than Te'o's seven meant to Notre Dame.
Te'o has all kinds of defenders, citing the fact that he has low tackle numbers because the Notre Dame defense isn't on the field as much as most defenses, and that's true. But since when is lack of production a legitimate defense for an award based in most part on statistics?
There are a ton of statistics from Shazier that I can give you that dwarf Te'o's, but the detractors will simply go back to Notre Dame's low number of defensive snaps.
I could cite the fact that Shazier finished with 13 more tackles than Te'o, or 11.5 more tackles for loss, or 3.5 more sacks, or three more forced fumbles, but I won't.
Instead, I'll give you a stat that isn't based on number of snaps. Manti Te'o's average tackle took place after 5.1 yards had already been gained by the opponent. Ryan Shazier's average tackle took place after 4.3 yards had already been gained, and that's including a tackle 74 yards down the field against Nebraska as Shazier tracked down receiver Kenny Bell.
Over the second half of the season, Shazier cut that number down to just 2.4 yards. Te'o allowed more than twice that over the course of 12 games.
Simply, Shazier made more plays, and made them closer to the line of scrimmage than Te'o, and yet nobody (including myself) is saying Shazier should be a Heisman contender.
People point to the fact that Notre Dame is undefeated and Te'o is the leader of the defense. How is that different than Shazier?
Being a leader doesn't make you a Heisman candidate, you also have to produce numbers that are well above average. Te'o hasn't done that.
Yes, he has seven interceptions. Go talk to the Thorpe Award committee.
