BCS, Heisman, and Capital One

So for the next few weeks, we are going to have our hands full. The BCS picture is complete, the Heisman is not really the Heisman, and a big match-up in the Capital One Bowl. So for the next few weeks we are going to focus on these items and possibly break down some of the BCS match-ups. As for a little side project, as bowl season progresses, I am going to keep a tab with each conferences bowl record, I will update it every few days throughout bowl season.

As for today, we are solely going to focus on the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman trophy historically, is presented to college football's best player each year. This year has been a little bit difficult because no one contender has separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but the truth is that college football is becoming more and more competitive and this is a great problem for the sport of college football. However, this problem does have a terrible effect on the significance of the Heisman trophy.

This year, the winner of the Heisman trophy, and even some of the most recent winners of the Heisman trophies are not even going to be the best player in college football. So by definition, they are not deserving of the crown. The truth is that this generation is ruining the reputation of the Heisman and actually redefining its significance. The Heisman now stands for the best player on the best team, in college football for that year.

Take last year for example, when there were three cut throat candidates for the Heisman trophy in Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, and Sam Bradford. Last year, they all put up ridiculous numbers, but the voters from the Southwestern region of the country wanted a representative from one of their region's teams to win the Heisman. They believed that Texas and Oklahoma were the best teams in the country and some intentionally left Tebow off of their ballot in order to ensure that one of those guys would win. In the end, Sam Bradford won the Heisman trophy, and Tim Tebow became the first Heisman candidate to receive the most first place votes but lose the Heisman trophy. (Don't believe me, take a look for yourself at the bottom of this page for the voting breakdown http://www.heisman.com/winners/s-bradford-08.php)

By the way, how can Bradford be the best player in his conference if McCoy beat him head to head? Yes, Bradford threw for 4800 yards and 50 touchdowns, but the best player in college football last year was Colt McCoy. He was the most well rounded player running and passing the ball. He passed for 3900 yards and 34 touchdowns with a 77% completion rate, but also ran for 560 yards and 11 touchdowns. Bradford simply got the nod because his team was playing in the National Championship.

This trend is going to continue into this year, I would be strongly suprised if it doesn't. This year, the Heisman finalists include:

Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
1736 yards rushing, 26 rushing TD, 5.6 yard average, 150 yards receiving, and 1 passing TD.

Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
1542 yards rushing, 15 TD, 6.2 yard average, 322 yards receiving w/3 TD.

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
2413 yards passing, 18 TD, 859 yards rushing, 12 TD

Colt McCoy, QB, Florida
3512 yards passing, 27 TD, 348 yards rushing, 3 TD

Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
82 tackles, 23 tfl, 12 sacks, 1 int, 10 pass breakups, 1 Forced fumble, 3 blocked kicks, and 24 quarterback hurries.

The top player left off of the list of finalists:

CJ Spiller, RB, Clemson
1145 yards rushing, 5.7 average, 11 TD, 445 yards receiving w/4 TD, 1 passing TD, 918 combined return yards w/5 TD. Approximately 200 all purpose yards per game.

Take a look at the statistics yourself, see if any of the players standout statistically. Take into consideration their position, the impacts they have had on big games, and look for yourself as to which player was truly college football's best player this past year.

Now all of these players listed above are game changers, but there are three that stand above the rest, but neither will win the Heisman this year. The Heisman this year will go to Mark Ingram, simply because he is the best player on the best team in college football according to the rankings.

The truth is that the three that deserve the Heisman above the rest are Spiller, Suh, and Toby Gerhart. Each of their teams have four or more losses, but that has nothing to do with them being the best player in the country. The media needs to stop with their input and stick to the foundation of the Heisman trophy, which is ultimately the best player. For these players to put up those numbers on four loss teams should be even more impressive, as it shows that they had little to no support, hence the fact that they were gamebreakers.

Either way, my Heisman winner is CJ Spiller with Suh coming close in second. By the media's standards my opinion does not really matter, but Spiller deserves a shout out for his historical performance in college football this year. Last time there was a player that was as great of an all purpose threat and put up similiar numbers to Spiller, Reggie Bush, and he won with flying colors. Either way, CJ Spiller, you are the best player in college football today, enjoy the offseason and good luck in the draft.

WE ARE..................