Contrary to what some believe, I happen to be of the opinion that the Heisman Trophy winner should be awarded to the best college football player on the nation’s best team.
While we’ll have to wait until January 7, 2010 to determine which team is truly the best, at the moment the Alabama Crimson Tide reside at the top of the polls.
Alabama wouldn’t be playing for the BCS national championship without the exceptional play of running back Mark Ingram. The 5-10 sophomore from Flint, Michigan has rushed for 1542 yards on 249 carries and scored 15 touchdowns this season.
Ingram has also caught 30 passes for 332 yards and three TD’s. He compiled those statistics against rugged SEC defenses, with seven teams in the conference ranking among the top 30 nationally in yards per game allowed.
Ingram is among five Heisman Trophy candidates invited to attend the December 12 ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club. Former Heisman winner Tim Tebow will be seeking his second award in three years and became the first player to be invited to the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony three times.
He has passed for 2,413 yards and rushed for 859 yards this year, but he hasn’t been quite as productive as he was the past two seasons.
Also invited was quarterback Colt McCoy of Texas, Alabama’s opponent in the Citi BCS national championship game in Pasadena. Along with Tebow, McCoy entered this season as a Heisman favorite, but he hasn’t played as well as last year and won’t be among those considered to have a good chance of winning the award.
McCoy has passed for 3512 yards with 27 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also nearly threw away the Longhorns’ national championship hopes on the second-to-last play of the Nebraska game, coming within a second of letting the clock run out before Texas could attempt the winning field goal in a 13-12 victory.
Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh have also been invited to attend Saturday’s ceremony. Gerhart has rushed for 1736 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, leading both categories nationally.
Suh had 4.5 sacks in a dominating performance against Texas in the Big 12 title game. He is the first defensive player to be a finalist since 1997, when Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson became the first full-time defensive player to win the Heisman.
Some draft analysts have Suh listed as the No. 1 college player available for next year’s NFL Draft.
Here’s my ordered list of how the five Heisman Trophy candidates should fare after all of the ballots have been totaled.
1. Mark Ingram
2. Toby Gerhart
3. Ndamukong Suh
4. Colt McCoy
5. Tim Tebow
My friends at the Blue Workhorse are collecting ballots for this year’s Heisman Trophy winner among sports bloggers. Take a moment to visit them and get your ballot entered.
