Strike a pose

Someone's going to tonight...or atleast be awarded the trophy that carries the famous Heisman pose with it.


There will be five players in New York all hoping it's their name that's called to join the brotherhood.

A list of the candidates in alphabetical order:
Montee Ball, Wisconsin RB
Robert Griffin III, Baylor QB
Andrew Luck, Stanford QB
Tyrann Mathieu, LSU CB
Trent Richardson, Alabama RB


The Heisman is designed to recognize "the most outstanding player in college football." According to who? Based on what standards? Win/loss records? Big plays? Who's to say?


Obviously, there are voters to determine who receives the award so that first question might be unnecessary, but I'll still pose it. How are you supposed to compare a player like Mathieu to someone like Luck? Or Richardson and Ball?

Breaking it down one by one doesn't seem to clear up the picture much either, but it's worth a shot.


Mathieu. In my book, he's out. I understand that it would be odd not to have the best player on the best team as a candidate for the Heisman, but I feel he does not meet all the qualifications necessary to be a member of the Heisman fraternity (& I don't believe I'm alone in thinking this). Heisman winners are expected to exhibit "excellence with integrity." To me, a suspension for a postive test for synthetic marijuana doesn't quite fit into those standards. It's not often a defensive player wins this award, but the last one to do so was a cornerback, Charles Woodson, in 1997. Mathieu is the only sophomore player in the top five this year, so despite the reasons i feel he should not win it, if he has another outstanding season next year, voters may forget about the past (Cam Newton won last year didn't he?) & give him a shot in 2012.


Ball. Well, there are two running backs in this years Heisman watch, and it seems like one of them is overshadowing the other and it's surprising considering the stats. What other criteria do you put in? Strength of schedule? I don't feel like going that far into it, so we'll just look at the numbers. 1759 rushing yards. 38 total TD's.  He's just a single touchdown shy of Barry Sanders' mark of 39 TD's in a single season. It's true that he did it in only 11 games whereas Ball gets 14 to set the mark. Still, despite the numbers, I'm afraid it'll be hard for him to jump Richardson.
Sidenote: Prior to Mark Ingram in 2009, it had been ten years since a running back had won the trophy (and kept it! Thanks to Jonathan Sellers for pointing out Reggie Bush won the trophy in 2005).


Luck. He knows what its like being a Heisman candidate. However, it's too bad it doesn't have to do with how you handle the anxiety. His numbers? 3170 passing yards. 35 TD's. 9 INT's. Impressive, but not the best in the nation. Not even the best quarterback numbers in the Heisman top five. Stanford has had the runner-up for the Heisman the past two years in Toby Gerhart & Andrew Luck, respectively. Could Luck make it to runner-up for the second year in a row? I don't see him finishing higher than third.


Richardson. The guy who looked to be the favorite at one point, and while he is favored over Ball in most predictions, he stats aren't even as good as Ball's. 1583 rushing yards. 23 total TD's. It is double his numbers from last season, but by the numbers, he looks to be the second best running back in the Heisman top five. Now, not relying solely on stats, he is crazy good. His ability to get yards after contact might be what's most impressive. That might be why he is so highly favored over Ball. Something Richardson might have working against him though is the SEC's dominance the past few years. With two SEC teams heading to the BCS National Championship, the past two Heisman trophy winners from the SEC, & holding the last 5 BCS titles, voters and fans outside of the southeast may have had their fill of the SEC winning everything (or so it seems). I've got him at number two overall.


Griffin III. By now you can see, I saved my Heisman winner for last. RG3. While he is not on the best team in the country, or even a BCS bowl team, I believe he had the best individual performance this season, and should therefore win the Heisman. He has nearly 4000 passing yards on the season (he's only 2 shy with 3998), 36 passing TD's, 9 rushing TD's, the best quarterback rating in the country at 192.3 and 2 games where he rushed for over 100 yards. Luck, the only other QB that seems to be in the discussion, only had 153 rushing yards on the season. The fact that Baylor is not undefeated or only a one loss team may have hurt RG3 to begin with, but it seems like as the Heisman race continued, that fact might not have mattered as much. But thinking about the team, who else can you name on Baylor's team? Really? Would Baylor be anywhere near the spot they are without Griffin? I don't think there's a question about that.


So, there you have it. I believe it should be based on the individual performance, not the record of the team. & I would give the award to Robert Griffin III. Who knows how it will really go, but it's worth tuning in to find out.