The North Carolina Tar Heels lead the nation in scoring and rebounding. They showed Miami they can be good on defense, too. Sputtering on offense and evenly matched on the boards, No.The Journal Gazette’s LaMond Pope, Tony Krausz and Stacy Clardie submitted their votes for this year’s Heisman Trophy winner this season. Here is how Pope, who covers Indiana, Krausz, who covers Notre Dame, and Clardie, who covers Purdue, came to their decisions on who they think was the best player in college football:
SEC title seals vote for Tide’s Ingram
Alabama has never had a Heisman Trophy winner.
That could change Saturday.
Mark Ingram jumped to the top of my Heisman ballot with his three-touchdown performance against Florida in the SEC Championship game.
Ingram ripped through the then-No. 1 team and defense in the country, rushing for 113 yards. He also turned a short pass into a 69-yard play, setting up one of his three scores. Ingram bounced back from his worst game (30 yards against Auburn) and shook off any effects from a hip injury to come through in the biggest game of the season.
For the season, he has 1,542 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, leading the Crimson Tide to an undefeated regular season and a spot in the BCS national championship game. He is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
Stanford running back Toby Gerhart and Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh finished second and third on my ballot. Gerhart has great numbers (1,736 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns). Suh is a difference-maker on defense (82 tackles, 12 sacks, including 4 1/2 against Texas in the Big 12 Championship).
Alabama back runs away with vote
In the running – pun intended – for most of the season, Alabama sophomore running back Mark Ingram sealed my first place vote with his performance in Saturday’s SEC championship game.
The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Flint, Mich., native cut through what was the top team and defense in the country as the Crimson Tide (13-0) rolled to a 32-13 victory over Florida and a spot in the BCS title game.
Ingram all but erased the memory of his 30-yard performance against Auburn by running for 113 yards and three touchdowns against Florida. He also caught two passes for 76 yards, including turning a screen pass into a 69-yard gain.
But one game, no matter how big the stage or stakes, does not bring home the Heisman Trophy alone. Ingram ran for a school record 1,542 yards this season, and while Alabama’s offense struggled at times, he was there with his 15 touchdowns.
Stanford’s Toby Gerhart, who ran for an NCAA best 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns, was second on my list. Texas’ Colt McCoy, who led his team to a perfect season and a spot opposite Alabama in the Jan. 7 championship game, was third.
Consistency marks Stanford’s workhorse
Alabama’s Mark Ingram, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow all had a chance to impress and secure Heisman Trophy votes in their final regular-season games Saturday.
But to me, none of them did enough to jump Stanford running back Toby Gerhart.
Ultimately, there may not have been another player in the country who was more consistent and valuable than Gerhart. He didn’t only rush for a nation-leading 1,736 yards and 26 touchdowns – he did it in a dominating, bruising week-to-week fashion.
Gerhart had fewer than 100 rushing yards in a game only twice – and one was a 96-yard, two-touchdown effort. He had three 200-yard games, including 223 yards against Oregon. He ended the season with eight rushing touchdowns in his last two games.
Typically, my Heisman votes go to players from the nation’s top-ranked programs. But this season, Gerhart’s numbers and contributions to Stanford’s special season were too much to ignore.
