Heisman Pundit Has the Answers

Austin Murphy calls him "indispensable." ESPN's Bruce Feldman says, "He takes the Heisman more seriously than probably 99% of the Heisman voters themselves." And Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel says he "knows what he's talking about ... which is more than I can say of some pundits."

We're talking, of course, about Heisman Pundit and his website dedicated to "breaking down the politics of the most prestigious award in sports." The zigs and zags of this year's Heisman Trophy race being almost impossible to keep up with, FanHouse turned to the Chris Huston, a former Sports Information Director at USC, for answers. Huston conceived and directed the Heisman campaigns of both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart .

FH: Is this the strangest Heisman race you've ever seen?

HP: Without a doubt. I've never seen another race filled with so many twists and turns. I've never seen so many viable preseason candidates fall by the wayside.

Who do you see as the frontrunner for the Heisman at this point?

Tim Tebow is the front runner. I think he has an 85% chance of winning at this point.

What does he have to do to clinch it?

All Tebow has to do is be Tebow in his last game against Florida State. The Gators have to win and he has to play well.

The only way he can lose it is if he plays poorly in a loss and Chase Daniel has amazing games against Kansas and OU on the way to leading Mizzou to the BCS title game.

Can you envision a scenario in which, say, WVU's Pat White or Arkansas' Darren McFadden rise up in their final games to knock Tim Tebow out of first place?

The only scenario for McFadden is for him to rush for 300 plus yards in a win over LSU. Even then, he may not win and I don't see it happening anyway. White has no shot at this point.

Couldn't Mizzou's Chase Daniel have a big game against Kansas, thereby moving his team into a BCS title game berth, and take the Trophy?

It's not only the Kansas game, but the ensuing Big 12 title game, which is also played before the Heisman, that can help him. Again, he would have to have two awesome, memorable games in a row to have a shot.

Your Heismandments say that there will never be another two-time Heisman Trophy winner. Since Tebow is only a sophomore, it stands to reason he could play even better as a junior. If he wins it this year, and plays at least as well if not better next year, doesn't he stand a chance to break this rule?

No. This is one rule that I stand by. If Tebow wins the Heisman this year, he will do so rather grudgingly from the voters. I think two things will hurt him next year: The thought that he has already won and that someone else deserves a shot; and also the fact that his stats aren't likely to be as good as Florida should have a more legit running game to take away some of his numbers. All that aside, the odds of a guy having a singularly special Heisman-worthy season two years in a row, while no one else steps up, is very remote.

If Matt Ryan's BC squad was undefeated right now, despite his lackluster play down the stretch, would he be the favorite at this point?

I think it would very close between him and Tebow; he would probably be a slight favorite.

Should teams campaign for their Heisman candidate student-athletes?

Absolutely. Every school has a sports information department whose job it is to promote their athletes for honors. That is why they are paid. Unfortunately, some SID offices don't think it is in their job description to do so, for whatever reason. Mostly though, it's because most (with a few exceptions) are not very creative, lack a good PR sense and are not in tune with the college football scene to understand how to approach it. Me, my motto when I was an SID at USC was "My job is to make an All-American out of someone that doesn't deserve it".

There have been some big-time players emerge this year as freshmen; Georgia's Knowshon Moreno and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford come to mind. If a sophomore wins it this year, does that improve their odds to win it next year?

Only marginally. I still think that extraordinary circumstances had to occur for Tebow to win it. If anything, it may be harder because all sophomores who follow will be held to Tebow's standards.