This is the strangest season in Heisman Trophy history. That's a big statement, but I feel good about it. I feel so good about it, I'll take it one step farther and say this:
This is the strangest year the Heisman Trophy will ever have.
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| C.J. Spiller does it all, but he doesn't get the chance to do it often enough. (US Presswire) |
Bradford has been injured, obviously, while Tebow has not-so-obviously been far below Heisman-worthy. I say "not so obviously" because voters will still give him enough votes to go to New York City, and possibly they'll give him enough votes to win it. Voters are cute like that.
Meanwhile, in the land of actual thinking, it's apparent that Tebow is having a decent season, and that's all he's having. His team is having a great season, but the Heisman isn't a team award. His career has been outstanding, but the Heisman isn't a career achievement, either, except for when Wisconsin senior Ron Dayne won it in 1999 over Virginia Tech freshman Michael Vick. The Heisman is about one-year greatness, and in 2009 Tebow hasn't had it. He is throwing for 177 yards per game. He is rushing for 65 yards per game. He has thrown for 14 touchdowns and run for 11. He's having, as I said, a decent individual season. And decent individual seasons don't deserve the Heisman Trophy.
Neither does a spectacular month, which is too bad for Ole Miss' Dexter McCluster. His last month has been the best month of any player in the country, but it wasn't until Oct. 24 that Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt figured out he had the most dynamic player in the country on his own roster. In the six games before Oct. 24, McCluster averaged a little more than six carries and less than three catches per game.
But then someone else started calling the plays for the Rebels, because on Oct. 24 McCluster nearly matched his season totals with 123 yards rushing and 137 yards receiving. He has been on fire ever since, running for 186 yards against Auburn, 282 against Tennessee and 148 against LSU. In those three games he also has caught 11 passes, scored five touchdowns and even thrown for a TD against LSU.
| Gregg Doyel's Heisman ballot ... |
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... if he had one: 1. Toby Gerhart 2. C.J. Spiller 3. (tie) Colt McCoy, Dexter McCluster |
| Heisman links |
The late-season onslaught means McCluster will finish with roughly 1,000 yards rushing and 40 catches for another 500 or so receiving yards, which are Heisman numbers in totality -- but not like this. McCluster can't win the Heisman based on four great games. Not after six invisible ones. Well done, Houston Nutt.
In lieu of McCluster's all-around greatness, Heisman voters would do well to go for the next-best thing, which has been Clemson's C.J. Spiller. He has scored a touchdown in almost every way conceivable -- running (seven TDs), receiving (four), returning a punt (one), returning a kickoff (three) and even throwing it himself (one). The most astonishing numbers in his favor are these: He will top 1,000 yards rushing but might not get 200 carries, and he has returned four of 28 total kicks -- 12 punts, 16 kickoffs -- for touchdowns. That's PlayStation production.
But will it be Heisman production? Voters won't know what to make of Spiller. He's a running back who ranks 51st nationally in rushing at 81.3 yards per game. He's a return specialist who is third in the country on kickoff runbacks but not among the top 60 on punts. He's a receiving threat who doesn't register in the national rankings in yards or catches. So what is he? He's the No. 3 all-purpose back in the country at 187.8 yards per game. Is that enough to get him to New York? Doubt it.
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But Texas quarterback Colt McCoy will get there, and he probably even should get there -- even if he is having one of the worst seasons of his career. Hey, look it up. McCoy has started four years at Texas, and his junior season (34 touchdown passes, eight interceptions) was by far his best. He had a better passer rating as a freshman, and more yardage as a sophomore. His current 73-percent completion rate is second only to 2008, but he is having his least productive season as a runner. All told, he's having a Heisman-kind of season, yet he has been much better. Strange, I'm telling you. This season is strange.
And if the winner is Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, that'll be strange in a whole new direction. He would be the first white running back to win since Penn State's John Cappelletti in 1973, and if that's an uncomfortable fact to be confronted with, take it up with all those people who have written in recent years -- and written correctly, I may add -- about the dearth of white running backs. Southern California wanted Gerhart to play linebacker, by the way. Just like USC did to Brian Cushing and Miami did to Dan Morgan. We'll never know what kind of college runners Cushing or Morgan would have made, but Gerhart has been the most consistent back in the country, and with 1,531 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns in 11 games, he has been consistently great.
Great enough for the Heisman? Sure, but this vote will be close and could be bizarre. Imagine Spiller winning the South and not garnering enough votes to get to New York City. Or Gerhart doing the same out West. The Heisman race mirrors the race to determine the national champion: If this many candidates have a shot at it, maybe nobody deserves it.
Which means it'll go to the voter default setting: best player on the best team. McCoy, Tebow or Alabama running back Mark Ingram will win the thing. So never mind all those fun facts and figures about this being the strangest Heisman season ever.
It'll be predictable like always. God I hate voters.
