Tim Tebow, Florida – Tebow leads the race, but not in an emphatic way. His stats are solid, but not good enough to be leading the race if he weren’t Tim Tebow. His award chances could be boiled down to this coming weekend, though. Florida plays LSU in a game likely to establish at least regular season SEC dominance. Tebow has yet to be medically cleared to play in this game, so if he were to miss it his award hopes would take a serious blow. A loss in the game, regardless of how Tebow plays, would also be very damaging. Florida’s schedule isn’t particularly impressive this year – the non-conference portion is a joke, and the SEC isn’t as dominant as it has been. That means that Tebow can’t afford to falter against the team’s biggest opponent. That being said, this is likely Tebow’s game to win. If he stays healthy and plays well, and the team keeps wining, then he’ll be extremely hard to beat.
Colt McCoy, Texas – McCoy is probably still second in the race, but only because he was up there to start the season. He has had a decent season – the team hasn’t lost – but he has been far from what he was last year. His TD/Int. ratio is at less than 2/1, and he has been a total non-factor on the ground. He’ll have to improve significantly in both areas if he wants to win the award. He has a big chance to shine in the national eye when he plays Oklahoma. In that game or soon after he really needs to have a defining performance that makes it hard for voters to consider letting other players climb past him.
Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame – Clausen is climbing up Heisman boards, and even sits at second on some. I am not buying it at all. He is playing well, and has impressive numbers. The problem, though, is his team. They have already lost once – to Michigan – and have struggled to win against what should be clearly inferior opponents in Michigan State, Purdue, and Washington. That makes it hard to believe that they will beat USC, and means that games against Boston College and at Pitt and Stanford could be challenging. It’s not impossible for a player from a team with a few losses to win the Heisman, but to do so he has to be clearly better than every other player in the country. I don’t believe that Clausen will make enough of a statement personally to overcome the burden of having to play for Charlie Weis.
DocSports.com
10/8/9
Magnolia Tribune
