The Heisman Trophy can't be that
ugly.
Maybe it's too heavy to carry?
Whatever the reason, no one has
emerged as a clear favorite in the Heisman race 10 weeks in.
The holy trinity of quarterbacks - Tim
Tebow, Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford - along with Cal running back
Jahvid Best were the clear preseason favorites, but none of them
have staked a claim to the little bronze statue.
Bradford went down in Oklahoma's first
game, and Best has disappeared in some big games while his Golden
Bears have struggled to score points at times.
Tebow and McCoy have put up some
pretty ordinary stats (McCoy arguably less than ordinary), but
Florida and Texas are both undefeated.
For that fact alone, I believe one of
those two senior signal callers will win the award at season's end,
though neither of them deserve it at this point in the season.
Everyone seems to be willing to
acknowledge that this year is very different than almost every
other year, as it has become easier to make a case against most of
the candidates than for them.
Here is the criteria I consider every
week when we vote in the alligatorSports Heisman Watch:
Statistical
efficiency: Not just big numbers, but big numbers relative
to the amount of times your number is called. It's nice for Case
Keenum to throw for 500 yards every week, but he also throws 60
times per game. He currently ranks 20th in yards per attempt. At
the same time, a player has to have a major role on his team to be
considered.
Team Success: This
isn't to say just pure wins and losses, but rather the effect a
player has on his team's chances of winning. Tebow was the clear
winner in 2007, and his team lost four games. He shouldn't have
been penalized for that, as he was doing everything he could and
then some to help his team win. Still, it would be hard to pick a
winner from a team hovering around .500.
Level of Opposition:
Competition certainly matters, but not as much as the other two
criteria to me. Putting up gaudy stats and wins against good teams
certainly scores you bonus points, and similar outputs against
crappy teams don't quite count as much - Jordan Shipley's 273 yards
against UCF this weekend shouldn't be counted the same way as Mark
Ingram's 174 total yards against LSU.
♦♦♦
Even with some set of guidelines, it's
still easy to see that picking a winner is an inexact science. Made
even more inexact by a clustered field of candidates here in
2009.
With all that said, there are three
players that I believe would have legitimate cases if the season
ended today.
Kellen Moore, Boise
State: He is by definition the most statistically
efficient quarterback as his passer rating of 169.3 is the best in
the nation. His 27 touchdown passes ranks him second against his
three interceptions. The Broncos are undefeated and ranked No. 6 in
the latest BCS standings. Moore is hurt by playing in the WAC, but
he led his team to a win against Oregon, giving him one of the best
signature wins of all the candidates.
Mark Ingram, Alabama:
He is fifth in nation in rushing yards and his 6.6 yards per carry
ranks him 11th in the nation, making him brutally efficient as a
ball carrier. He has added more than 200 yards receiving and has
accounted for 11 total touchdowns. The Crimson Tide are also
undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the latest BCS. He plays in the SEC,
so not much needs to be said for the level of competition.
C.J. Spiller,
Clemson: He does everything for his team. Spiller has
rushed for 739 yards, caught for 334 yards and has piled up 721
return yards. The tailback has scored five rushing touchdowns,
three receiving, three on kickoff returns and one on a punt
return.
The Tigers have gone 6-3 in their nine
games, but looking at the game log makes Spiller's season more
impressive. His two worst games have come against Middle Tennessee
State and Coastal Carolina when he touched the ball a combined nine
times on offense. Spiller has essentially taken off the team's only
two cupcake games which are usually so instrumental in piling up
Heisman statistics, yet he has done that anyway.
