LIKE IT IS : This Heisman vote goes to best college player
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/209197/
It has been sitting on the desk since a week ago Monday.
Open the envelope and there is a letter that explains the two ways to vote in the Heisman, one electronically, the other by mail, so there is also a ballot for first, second and third choice, and places to sign, etc.
Normally, by now this ballot would have been cast. As everyone knows, it’s been a little hectic.
The rule of thumb has always been to have my vote in by the completion of the regular season.
The reason could become obvious this weekend.
Of the top three candidates to win the Heisman Trophy, only one will be playing Saturday.
Chase Daniel will lead the Missouri Tigers against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Meanwhile, Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Florida’s Tim Tebow will be limited to watching the SEC Championship Game.
If Daniel repeats what he did against Kansas last Saturday — 361 yards passing and three touchdowns — the Tigers likely will beat the Sooners.
That would put Daniel and Missourah in the Bowl Championship Series national championship game, and that might catapult the junior, who is expected to return for his senior season, to the Heisman Trophy.
Since the advent of conference championship games this has been a concern. Ballots are not due until Dec. 5.
Daniel’s stats are impressive. He has passed for 3, 951 yards and 33 touchdowns, and he’s had only nine interceptions.
Missouri runs the Spread offense, which is a system that makes quarterbacks look very good or very bad.
As of right now, before Saturday’s game, it seems Tebow has a slight edge over McFadden in terms of public sentiment.
Tebow got national headlines when he became the first quarterback in NCAA history to pass for more than 20 touchdowns and run for 20 touchdowns in a season.
He has passed for 3, 132 yards and rushed for 838 yards.
There are a couple of other things about Tebow that will be considered.
First, he is a sophomore and will be back at Florida for his junior year. No sophomore ever has won the Heisman.
Second, the Gators returned eight starters on offense from their national championship team last season, including four of five offensive linemen and wide receiver Andre Caldwell.
On the other hand, McFadden was the runner-up in the Heisman voting last year, and he had a better season this year than he did last season, rushing for 1, 725 yards, compared to 1, 647 as a sophomore.
He scored 15 touchdowns to 14 last season, and this was behind a line that returned only two starters.
He also caught 21 passes and completed 6 passes, 4 of which went for touchdowns.
Of those three finalists I only saw McFadden in person, so in an effort to be objective — and it is an honor to be a voter — I wanted to consider everything but Saturday’s games.
One thing I do know, if Mc-Fadden does not win the Heisman it will not be because of coaching.
It doesn’t help him the Razorbacks lost four games (Florida lost three and Missouri only one ), but he had only one bad game in those four losses and that was against Auburn, which stacked the box and held him to 43 yards.
McFadden nursed bruised ribs for much of the season, including that Auburn game when he had only 17 carries, his fewest of the season.
When he got healthy he went for 321 against South Carolina, 117 vs. Tennessee, 88 against a stacked Mississippi State defense and 206 yards and three touchdowns on LSU in his last regular-season game, against the No. 1 rush defense in the country.
All three candidates are worthy.
All three have great statistics.
Only one was absolutely the best player in college football this season, and that’s whom the Heisman Trophy was designed for.
Not the best NFL prospect, or even the best guy on the best team.
It is for the best football player this year, and that is Darren McFadden.