NCAA Football Heisman

In 1985 Bo Jackson won the Heisman Trophy by rushing for 1,657 yards and 15 touchdowns. Twenty-four years later, no SEC running back has won the award again. Not Emmitt Smith, not Darren McFadden, not Knowshon Moreno, not Jamal Lewis, not Fred Taylor, not Garrison Hearst not Terrell Davis -- okay, he wasn't that good in college. None of them. And it's not like there hasn't been an awful lot of talented player, by my review of first-round draft picks, the SEC has had 15 running backs taken in the first round since Bo Jackson won the Heisman.

For over a generation, Jackson has stood alone. But now, in the absence of any overwhelming favorite, Alabama running back Mark Ingram seems to be atop many Heisman lists. Is it justified? How do his numbers stack up compared to past winners? And what do those past winners at running back -- there have only been seven since Bo Jackson in 1985 -- tell us about the current state of college football. Proceed, fearless reader.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Good Knight, Case.

Case Keenum's late-game dramatics -- not to mention his Heisman Trophy consideration -- wilted under a brilliant Florida sun and an inspired Central Florida defense Saturday afternoon. Despite throwing two touchdowns in the closing minutes, Keenum and 13th-ranked Houston ran out of time in their 37-32 defeat to a band of merry Knights who clinched the program's first win over a nationally-ranked team.

"Whether it was making mistakes or them playing really hard ... they did a good job of covering down field and putting pressure on me," said Keenum, who had led Houston to consecutive victories over Southern Miss and Tulsa last week on last-minute scoring drives.

I've heard your Tebow talk and your McCoy blather, I've even read your outlandish suggestions that Alabama running back Mark Ingram should win the award. Please, Ingram isn't even as good as Temple's Bernard Pierce and Stanford's Toby Gerhart statistically, and I haven't heard a single one of you mention him. Already, we've made Case's case, and I don't agree with that either.

There is still one player is lurking out there without much national recognition despite the fact that he has the best profile of any Heisman contender.

Why is he being ignored? Because he plays for Boise State and because, you might have noticed, Boise State is off the national radar despite being undefeated. That means most of us have missed what Kellen Moore has managed so far this fall. Thus far,Moore has completed over 67 percent of his passes with many more touchdowns than interceptions. Along the way he's led his team to a 9-0 record, kicked a huge dent in the BCS superiority, and burnished his Heisman credentials. Don't believe me, please step inside for a discussion.

Depending on who is debating, the Heisman Trophy is awarded to either the best college football player in the country or the one who simply means the most to his team.

Whichever side of the coin you fall on, you have to come back to Nebraska senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Certainly playing in the trenches of the defensive line isn't the sexiest place to find the nation's most preeminent player.

Watching Suh defy double- and triple-teams the last two seasons has been every bit as exciting as a running back spinning out of the arms of several tacklers or a receiver blazing past the secondary or a quarterback dodging tacklers until he spots a receiver downfield for a critical touchdown.

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Toby Gerhart spent so much time submerged in the cold tub Sunday that a Stanford athletic trainer joked Gerhart needed a snorkel. Thirty-eight carries and a school-record 223 rushing yards a day earlier against Oregon left Gerhart beaten and bruised.

He couldn't have been happier.

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The official line on college football's most famous trophy is that the Heisman Trophy is given out to the most "outstanding college football player."

Even Bernie Madoff is wondering why their noses aren't growing.

If it ever was dedicated to the best player in football, that practice has long since ceased, instead going to college football's best publicized player. Year after year, the award is bestowed upon a quarterback or running back for one the nation's 10 best teams, the most visible positions on the most visible teams. Partially it's due to the insular nature of college football. How exactly the Heisman committee expects beat writers who spend all Saturday in a cocoon around the team they cover, to vote confidently on players they see only in highlights, is a mystery.

Partly it's due to the self-selecting nature of the positions. The best athletes tend to wind up at quarterback and running back.

But surely not every year.

So, to be sure we miss no one, here are four other candidates our writers think should be stiff-arm suggestions.

If Central Florida's maligned pass defense is looking for motivation, well, here it is: The last time Case Keenum did not throw a touchdown pass was on Nov. 10, 2007, in a 56-7 defeat at Tulsa.

So it can be done.

Keenum's aerial show visits the Sunshine State on Saturday, when No. 12 Houston meets UCF in a key Conference USA showdown in Orlando. Better yet, it's also another great opportunity for Keenum, who has thrown for more than 1,000 yards in his past two games alone, to impress Heisman Trophy voters. That's if Keenum cares.

"I don't know what the Heisman voters are thinking," Keenum said.

"My goal right now is to beat UCF. My goal is not to win the Heisman or break records. Any individual award is a team award. If you're not being successful and winning games, those team accolades are not going to come your way."

Gentlemen, start your hype engines.

We're just past the halfway mark of the college football season and, forget the battle for who will play for the BCS title, the most intriguing campaign is for the Heisman Trophy.

The latest flavor of the month is Alabama running back Mark Ingram, who has been touted by several TV talking heads and is the top candidate at HeismanPundit.com.

That's understandable, but why has there been hardly no Heisman mention for West Virginia's Noel Devine and Pittsburgh's Dion Lewis, who are the nation's third and fourth leading rushers?

"Dion's been very consistent," Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said. "You expect a freshman running back like him to perform that way maybe like three or four games a year, not eight games in a row."

Ingram obviously deserves consideration for the award, but is it not so much for what he's done, but who he plays for? After all, he has the No. 1 requirement to win the Heisman – he plays on a team that's ranked in the top five

It's the great mystery in Norman, Okla., right now.

Is quarterback Sam Bradford's career over at Oklahoma? Will the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner opt for surgery to repair the sprained AC joint in his right shoulder? Could he play again this season or next?

Those are all burning questions that Sam Bradford was supposed to address following Wednesday's Oklahoma Sooners practice, but he called off a scheduled press conference. Oklahoma associate athletic director for media relations Kenny Mossman told FanHouse that Bradford wants to gather more information. There is no rescheduled date set and that Bob Stoops will not be taking any questions on Bradford after practice.

Whether or not Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford returns to the Sooners this season, or if he has indeed played his last college game, seems to be anybody's guess.