Heisman Trophy Presentation

Tonight the Downtown Athletic Club will give out the 73rd Heisman Memorial trophy. Four candidates made the trip to New York hoping to be presented with college sports most prestigious honor. The candidates are Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, and Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel. What is interesting to me is how unique each of these players are. Tebow scored almost as many touchdowns on the ground as he did through the air and he is essentially a linebacker player quarterback. Brennan is a pocket passers whose stats are inflated by playing in a spread offense. Daniel is a mix between the two, running sometimes, passing others, sometimes even employing the option. McFadden is a prototypical power back but even he at times lines up as a quarterback in Arkansas' "Wildcat" offense. The selection of these four players both highlights the diverse playing field college football has become with more and more complex offenses and the craziness that was this season.

Of these candidates only McFadden as a legitimate Heisman choice at the beginning of the season, with Brennan hanging vaguely on the fringe. Over the course of there year, no fewer than 20 players were in the Heisman conversation, almost all of whom proceeded to play themselves OUT of said conversation. The fact that there were no clear cut favorites for the award should come as no surprise when you consider that upsets and disappointing performances occurred more during this season than any other in recent memory. Only one team (Hawaii) finished without a loss and only two (THE Ohio State University and Kansas) finished with one loss. Every other team, no matter how good, had at least 2 loses and many powerhouse programs had at least 3. It was a crazy year and on any given week any team could beat another. At last count, I believe 12 times this season an unranked team beat a top 5 time. That stat is incredible! Vegas lost some serious money this year. Here's a look at some of the Heisman candidates throughout the year and where they lost their chances.

John David Booty, QB, USC - A preseason favorite, Booty was lackluster throughout the year but lost it with a terrible performance in a loss to Stanford. (Plus, his name is Booty. Do we really want to engrave 'Booty' on the side of the trophy?)
Chad Henne, QB, Michigan - His Heisman season was over before if began when Michigan lost it's opening game to Division 1-AA Appalachian State. Also suffered numerous injuries.
Mike Hart, RB, Michigan - Also lost his shot with the loss to App State but even still might have had a chance if not for a ton of injuries and the no show he pulled against OSU.
Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville - Put up great stats all year but his team, ranked in the preseason top 10, had to make a desperate comeback to finish at .500 for the year.
Andre Woodson, QB, Kentucky - At one time Woodson may have been the favorite. His stats were ridiculous and he was lead Kentucky to some of the biggest wins in school history. He faded down the stretch, however, and threw too many interceptions that eventually killed his team.
Todd Boeckman, QB, OSU - It was more by default than anything else that Boeckman's name made it into the Heisman conversation, but two straight miserable performances against Michigan State and Illinois put him back in his rightful place.
Todd Reesing, QB, Kansas - Never quite got the attention he deserved because no one thought Kansas was for real. He struggled in his first taste of real national exposure (playing against Mizzou) and that game probably put Daniel into the race and eliminated Reesing.
Pat White, QB, West Virginia - If WVU beat Pittsburgh on the last week of the season, White is probably in New York tonight. As it was, he struggled BADLY in the two loses and once against demonstrated that you cannot win on the big stage with a QB who can't throw the ball.
Graham Harrell, QB, Texas Tech - A good game on national TV against Missouri could have kept Harrell in the conversation. As it was, he had the worst game of the season throwing 4 interceptions and his fate was sealed.
Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU - It would have been near impossible for a non-skill position player to win the award even in a down year and Dorsey had a long stretch of games in which he simply did not perform.
Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon - Without question the saddest story in college football. Dixon was almost certainly the favorite until a gruesome injury that was later diagnosed as a torn ACL. Oregon crumbled without Dixon, demonstrating just how important he was to the team, but unfortunately missing games almost always eliminates you from award contention.

That leaves four standing. If I had a vote I would have cast my ballot this way:
1. Darren McFadden
2. Tim Tebow
3. Dennis Dixon

When it's all said and done I believe Tebow will be the winner and I can't really argue that. The stats he put up are amazing. I personally think McFadden was more impressive considering he played with none of the weapons Tebow had, split the carries with Felix Jones, and STILL managed to put up ridiculous numbers. In truth, there is a string case to be made for Daniel as well. He was without question THE leader of the Tigers this year and played without the talent that Tebow had around him. Brennan is the only candidate who I would have a problem with were he to come away as the winner. It's not that I don't think Brennan is a great player because he is. My problem is that he seems to be getting a lot of credit while CLEARLY running a system that inflates the numbers while also playing against sub-par competition. I do not understand how Brennan, playing against the Louisiana Techs of the world, is deserving of recognition when the same people who will be handing out this recognition consider Graham Harrell and his system-inflated numbers against REAL competition to be undeserving. I'm not going to argue that Harrell should be in New York tonight but it seems inconsistent to me to discredit the numbers of a Tech QB because "it's a system" while heaping praise on a guy putting up similar numbers against drastically lesser competition.

Regardless, the announcement of the Heisman is one of the bigger moments of the sports year and I am extremely interested to see who gets the trophy.