The Heisman Debate

The Heisman Trophy will be awarded to the most outstanding player in College Football on Saturday Night. The finalists for the trophy are Montee Ball, Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Tyrann Mathieu, and Trent Richardson. I'd like to go through each candidate's case (alphabetical order).

Montee Ball had a historic year as Wisconsin fought its way back to win the first Big Ten Championship Game. Over 13 games, he has 38 touchdowns, one shy of Barry Sanders's NCAA season record. He should pass Sanders in the Rose Bowl against Oregon. Furthermore, he led the nation in rushing with 1,759 yards. Ball had 2,015 all-purpose yards. His overall numbers are fantastic.

Besides the historic touchdown numbers, the main case for Ball is his performance down the stretch. After Wisconsin's two losses, Wisconsin needed to win out to get into the Big Ten Championship Game. In those last four games, he scored 13 touchdowns averaging 192.25 yards in those games. He scored 4 touchdowns and rushed for 156 yards against Penn State in the de facto Leaders Division title game. Ball followed that up by scoring 4 more touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship Game against Michigan State.

When Wisconsin needed someone to turn to, they turned to Montee Ball.

Robert Griffin III simply had a fantastic year and is probably the front runner to win this trophy. He threw for 3,998 yards at a 72.4% completion percentage for 10.84 yards per attempt. He had a rating for 192.3 QB Rating and a stellar 36-6 TD-INT ratio. He also rushed for 644 yards and 9 TDs. Griffin was one of the most electrifying players all season long.

RG3 was Baylor's team. Baylor had one of the worst defenses in the NCAA and needed the offense to win them games. Griffin did that for them. He threw for 3 or more touchdowns in 8 of Baylor's games and threw for over 300 yards in 9 games.

Although they were not selected, RG3 put Baylor in a position to be selected for a BCS bowl.

Andrew Luck was the Heisman favorite from the first week of the season, and for many, it was his to lose. Luck did have a fantastic year and Stanford probably wouldn't have been the same without him. The Heisman is for the most outstanding player though,  not the MVP.

Luck led Stanford to an 11-1 record throwing for 3,170 yards at a 70% completion percentage. He had a 35-9 TD-INT ratio and a QB Rating of 167.5.

Luck had a great season and is very likely the top pick in the draft. I know a lot of people in the media want to send him to the NFL with a Heisman on his resume too.

Tyrann Mathieu, also known as the Honey Badger, had a very interesting Sophomore season. He was the best player on the best team in the country. He was the player that energized them. He led LSU with 74 tackles, 54 of them solo. He forced 5 fumbles, recovering four of them. He had 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions. He had 4 TDs on the season.

Perhaps his inclusion as a Heisman finalist has a lot to do with his performance in the SEC Championship game. The Honey Badger had a punt return for TD, a fumble recovery, and another long punt return that set up a TD. LSU looked somewhat lackluster early and needed a spark, and as he has done almost all season, Mathieu delivered that spark.

Mathieu was the best player on the best team and could be the second primary defensive player to win the Heisman.

Trent Richardson is one of my favorite players in college football. He runs hard, he works hard, and he seems to have a great head on his shoulders. Richardson had a very good season for the country's second best team. He rushed for 1,583 yards with 20 TD. He added 327 yards and 3 TD receiving. He had some great highlight runs and should be a high pick in the NFL draft, should he decide to enter.

Richardson seems to be the media's favorite running back.

Conclusion:
For me, this is between Montee Ball and Robert Griffin III.

While Richardson is a fantastic back, you cannot ignore the disparity between his and Ball's numbers. Ball was a TD machine all season and he performed well in big games. Richardson struggled against LSU in the biggest game of the season. While I understand that LSU's defense is fantastic against the run, Heisman candidates perform big in big games. Richardson did not do that to the extent of Ball.

Luck had a great season, but his numbers pale in comparison to RG3. RG3 had better passing stats, he has rushing stats, and he took better care of the ball. Furthermore, Luck failed in the biggest game of the season, one which might have landed them in the National Championship game, against Oregon. He threw two interceptions and Stanford was blown out. Furthermore, Stanford barely beat USC, in part due to an interception thrown by Luck. In two of the biggest games of the season, Luck didn't perform to Heisman standards.

Mathieu was the best player on the best team in the country. The benchmark for a defensive player getting voted the Heisman is Charles Woodson, who also was the best player on the best team back in 1997. Looking at their numbers, they're pretty comparable. The two things that I think hold Mathieu back are the suspension and his performance against Alabama. Voters aren't going to ignore the suspension. That's going to hurt him. Furthermore, he didn't do much against Alabama in the biggest game of the season. Woodson dominated the big rivalry games for Michigan, which is what got him the Heisman over Peyton Manning. Mathieu did not and I think that will keep him from winning the trophy.

Between Ball and Griffin, I believe it's what you make of their losses. Both were outstanding players all season long. The way I look at things, a QB has the ball in his hands every single play, so he has much more influence on whether a team wins or loses. A RB can only do so much with the carries and receptions that he gets. This is the criteria I would use to evaluate their worthiness.

Baylor lost three times. In those three games, RG3 threw for 9 TDs and 4 interceptions. Furthermore, Baylor's points per game fell from 43.5 for the season to 32.33 points per game in those three losses. That's a significant drop off. I really do think that this hurts RG3's case. While you can argue that the losses can be attributed to the defense, there was a clear drop off in his performances.

On the other hand, I don't think you can really fault Ball for the two Wisconsin losses. In the two losses, he had only 35 carries and 5 receptions. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry against Michigan State and 5 yards per carry against Ohio State. Furthermore, he had two touchdowns in both of those games. He was effective in those games. If anything, you could say that they lost because they didn't give it to Ball enough.

That's why I have to give Montee Ball the edge in the Heisman. However, I don't think that other will view it the same way. I think RG3 will win and Richardson and Luck will get more votes than they should. The Heisman was no slam dunk this year.