by
Todd Helmick
Site Owner Todd Helmick maintains an Official Heisman
Vote.
2009
Heisman Trophy Candidates
BIG GAME COMPARISON
--- Comparing statistics versus their toughest opponents
---
NationalChamps.net
will create and utilize another approach to selecting
our Heisman winner, which no other publication attempts.
Each candidate will have his statistics from the three
toughest opponents played in 2009 added and totaled.
We'll put them side-by-side.
December
7, 2009 - What a difference the last week (Championship
Week) will have on this voting. The week prior (Thanksgiving
Weekend), Texas QB Colt McCoy almost won the award based
on his huge performance in a win over archrival Texas
A&M. At the same time, longtime front-runner Mark
Ingram seemingly lost the award based on his horrible
performance against archrival Auburn. Again...what a
difference a week makes. McCoy had a horrible performance
in the Big 12 Championship Game against a stingy Nebraska
defense. Three interceptions, zero touchdowns, negative
yards rushing…all which almost culminated in a
shocking loss that would have sent the BCS system into
total chaos. On the other side, Ingram looked like a
man delivering blow after blow against the nation's
top ranked Gator defense in the SEC Championship Game.
Down the stretch, the Heisman has primarily been a race
between Ingram and McCoy with Stanford's Toby Gerhart
surging fast with big rushing numbers in his last four
outings. Tim Tebow was always on the outside looking
in with very average statistics. His continued “ho-hum”
performance against Alabama sealed his fate as an outsider
looking in.
In
the 75th season of the Heisman Presentation, do not
be surprised if Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong
Suh makes a serious push at winning the Heisman Trophy
outright and becomes the first interior down lineman
to ever win the prestigious award. His dominating efforts
on the line of scrimmage for the Cornhuskers almost
single-handed won a Big 12 Championship. Linemen never
win this lofty award unless they are doing something
special like playing multiple positions or racking up
obscene statistics. Despite his huge presence in the
middle, Suh has done neither. So he won't make this
list.
If
special teams counted the most, Clemson's C.J. Spiller
would take this race. And if our Big
Game Comparison had anything to do with
the race, Spiller would likely come close here too.
No better all-purpose player exists at any collegiate
level than Spiller. If the usual case holds true where
four or five loss teams don't send their best player
to New York City for this honor, then both Spiller and
Gerhart will have a difficult time walking away with
this hardware.
The
call between McCoy and Ingram was not that far off.
The bottom line, Ingram played the toughest schedule
out of anyone on this list and his high performance
consistency against that grindstone with the exception
of the game with Auburn, earns him this vote. Toby Gerhart
got more carries and thus had more yards in comparison,
but Ingram had a better average per carry and also had
a much more solid presence in the passing game as a
receiver. Colt McCoy struggled early and then again
in his last performance, threw too many interceptions
on the season and wound up with a sub par efficiency
rating. If the award was based on a career, McCoy wins
this easy. But under the microscope of 2009, Ingram
gets my vote.
THE
FINAL BALLOT - December 7, 2009 |
