December 4, 2006 - FINAL BALLOT

The regular season games are now history. Nothing has really changed since early September in terms of who the frontrunner is for this prestigious award. Troy Smith unofficially won the Heisman on November 18 after beating rival Michigan. While Smith does not necessarily stand out to this voter as being the best of the millennium (six years and counting), he is not far off the front of the list. Smith has had better years in terms of running with the football, but his decision-making in ‘06 is by far the best of his four-year career.

It may be a foregone conclusion that Smith has won the Heisman Trophy, so the difficult issue at hand is the pecking order of the remaining candidates. A Heisman voter has to cast a vote for three players. As in the past, we look at some of the top candidates and how they performed versus their three toughest opponents.

After examining the statistics under this scenario, Hawaii’s QB Colt Brennan still continued to rank at the top in terms of sheer numbers across the board. Brady Quinn dropped this week through the same analysis - games versus Georgia Tech, Michigan and USC saw his numbers drop way below his season averages. Quinn is still possibly the best QB when a miracle last minute TD is needed. Given this clutch performance evaluation, Brady Quinn deserves some noticeable credit. West Virginia’s Steve Slaton continues to impress with huge numbers against his toughest opponents. When the game has been on the line, Slaton continues to get called upon again and again. While Arkansas RB Darren McFadden is certainly more of a thoroughbred from a physical standpoint (with speed to match), his numbers and clutch performances just don’t match those of Slaton.

Seven of the final ten candidates here are underclassmen. We look forward to watching them play again nine months from now. Let the new countdown begin and congratulations to Ohio State and Troy Smith.