Allen Pinkett

In the season-long voting by MSNBC.com readers for Notre Dame's MVP, quarterback Brady Quinn -- one of seven players I nominated for the award -- was a runaway winner with 78 percent of the vote.

And I certainly agree with that majority as in my mind Quinn gets this honor hands down.

Adjusting his game
Quinn encountered a lot more blitzing and pressure this year because opponents knew that if they let him sit back in the pocket he would torch their pass defense.

The teams Notre Dame faced also made it a priority to take away the deep ball from Quinn so the senior didn't have any 400-yard passing performances like he did in four games last season (487 yards vs. Michigan State, 440 vs. Purdue, 467 vs. BYU, and 432 vs. Stanford).

The temptation for a quarterback like Quinn who has a strong arm is to try and challenge defenses deep by forcing the ball in to a receiver, but Quinn resisted that temptation, and made adjustments to be successful against the way defenses were playing the Irish.

When Quinn had his opportunities to go deep, he went deep, but he had to throw underneath a lot of times so I think he did well to just remain patient, and throw it where the defense wasn't.

That meant more times than not the Irish weren't a quick-strike offense, but rather one which took around eight to 12 plays to drive down the field before scoring.

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I think Quinn was at his best when the Irish went to the no-huddle offense. It was then he seemed to be in more of a comfort zone, which to me showed that he had a complete understanding of the offensive scheme, a complete understanding of what the opposing defense was trying to accomplish, and also of how to attack defenses to get the ball down the field.

Handling the spotlight
Quinn came into his senior season with tons of hype over his Heisman Trophy chances, and the chances of the Irish at winning a national championship.

I think he handled all the attention and scrutiny quite well, and I feel a big reason for that is how Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis stayed on Quinn to remain focused, not get overconfident in his ability, work on his game, and concentrate on the team winning.

Quinn knows that all the accolades in college football come primarily as the result of winning games. So that's what he centered his thinking on -- what he could do to help his team win. What I saw in Quinn was a quarterback who was always concerned about winning, and not about individual statistics.

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Through a stretch of the season when Quinn's performances were being very closely dissected, he did not take it as an attack on his abilities -- as many quarterbacks do -- but rather he was always congenial with the media. There was never a foul word out of his mouth even when he was being criticized.

If anything on the offense was below par this year, it wasn't Quinn's play, but rather the protection he received from the offensive line. Considering the veterans blocking in the trenches for Notre Dame, it was surprising they didn't play better in front of Quinn.

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