My Heisman Top 5:

1. Trent Richardson, Alabama-Richardson has a combined 1,910 rush/rec yds with 23 TD’s while being the best player on one of the two best teams in the country this year! When breaking down Richardson’s numbers even further, it is remarkable considering the fact that he has faced EIGHT total defenses that rank in the top 51 with FIVE of them in the top 20! If you want to compare Richardson’s numbers to former Alabama RB Mark Ingram who won the Heisman in 2009 they are better! Thru 12 games, Richardson has 1,583 rush yds (6.0) with 20 TD’s with 27 receptions for 327 yds (12.1) and 3 TD’s. Ingram (thru 12 gms) meanwhile had 1,429 yds (6.5) and 12 TD’s to go along with 28 receptions for 246 yards (8.8) and 3 TD’s. To top it off Richardson has put together his best performances this year in the biggest games. He had 111 rush yds (4.3) and 2 TD’s vs Penn St’s #11 D, 211 combined rush/rec yds vs Arkansas, 208 combined rush/rec yds vs Florida’s #11 D, 169 of Alabama’s 295 total yards vs LSU’s #2 D and in the Iron Bowl needing a big performance to top it off he ran for a career-high 203 yards (7.5) with another Heisman-caliber run similar to his outstanding run vs Ole Miss earlier this year. Simply put, Richardson is the best player in college football this season playing a top notch schedule and putting forth clutch performances to help his team win games.

2. Case Keenum, Houston-The Houston QB’s get knocked for being system QB’s, but if we are talking about what player is the most valuable to his team than any other in the country then Keenum could get the nod. Without Keenum last year (10 gms if you count UCLA where he got inj’d), the Cougars were 3-7 and avg’d 33 ppg and 461 ypg (down from 42 ppg and 563 ypg in ’09), now this year with basically the same team Houston is 12-0 ranked in the top 10 with a shot at a BCS game avg 53 ppg and 613 ypg! Keenum is #1 passing for 393 ypg, completing 73.2% of his passes (#2) and has an incredible 43-3 ratio which is on pace to set the NCAA record. I have not even mentioned that Keenum owns nearly every major career passing stat in NCAA history! Not only does Keenum deserve to be invited to New York, but I feel he deserves consideration to win it! 

3. Andrew Luck, Stanford-The Heisman Trophy is about being the best college football player in the country for that particular season. If we are talking about the best college football player for the upcoming NFL Draft in April, then Luck clearly is that player and will get his reward by being selected 1st next year. However, this season with arguably one of the best OL’s in the country, with a stable group of RB’s and a talented bunch of TE’s, Luck has not put the numbers worthy of getting the Heisman. He has faced only two defenses that rank in the Top 50 including 8 teams that finished 80th or lower! The 4 best defenses he faced (USC, Oregon, Cal, ND) he avg 269 ypg (68%) with a 12-5 ratio and keep in mind 2 of those interceptions were returned for TD’s while a third vs ND would have been ret’d for a TD if not for a horse collar tackle. Simply put, if you’re an NFL GM Luck is your guy, but if you’re voting on who the best player was in college football this year then Luck would not be in my top 2.

4. Robert Griffin III, Baylor-I was all set to put Griffin among my top 2 until last week. All year I thought that the most valuable player for any team was RGIII but Baylor proved that wrong this past weekend. Griffin was knocked out of the game at the end of the 1H with a concussion and did not return. In the 1H, BU had 31 points and 294 yards. You would expect with a backup QB that BU would have been fighting a possible upset and of course, have much less production. But, in Art Briles QB-friendly offense, Nick Florence actually outdid Griffin (7-11-106) in his half. Florence hit 9-12-151 yds. BU scored 35 pts with Florence to 31 with Griffin vs Texas Tech’s feeble D and BU also gained 323 yards under Florence and just 294 under Griffin. There is no doubt that Griffin is among the best players in the country and deserves to get invited to New York, but no longer do I think he is the most valuable player in America which has him dropping on my ballot.

5. Matt Barkley, USC-Anytime you are setting school records on almost a weekly basis at a program like USC you deserve mention. Barkley had a fantastic junior campaign while leading the probation-stricken Trojans to a 10-2 record with not much to play for other than pride. Barkley has thrown for an avg of 294 ypg (69%) with a great 39-7 ratio (school-record TD passes). What’s more impressive is that he averaged an outstanding 314 pass ypg (72%) with a 16-2 ratio in USC’s four biggest games this season (ND, Stanford, Oregon and UCLA). Barkley has played himself into being a surefire Top 10 NFL pick and deserves to be among the top 5 in the Heisman.

Week 14 Selections for Every Game

5. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST		PHIL STEELE	Wkly Poll	Comp PTS	Comp Yds	+ / -	Gm Grade	Vegas
   8:00 PM	West Virginia at South Florida	USF	WVU	USF	WVU	USF	WVU	WVU
   		By 3	84%	30-28	428-417	By 2	By 0.2	By 1
   FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2ND		PHIL STEELE	Wkly Poll	Comp PTS	Comp Yds	+ / -	Gm Grade	Vegas
   7:00 PM	Ohio vs. Northern Illinois	OHIO	NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU
   		By 3	67%	34-33	495-275	By 6	By 2.6	By 3.5
   8:00 PM	UCLA at Oregon	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE	ORE
   		By 30	100%	By 47-14	543-344	By 27	By 22.5	By 31.5
   SATURDAY,  DECEMBER 3RD		PHIL STEELE	Wkly Poll	Comp PTS	Comp Yds	+ / -	Gm Grade	Vegas
   12:00 PM	Southern Miss at Houston	UH	UH	UH	UH	UH	UH	UH
   		By 24	97%	50-25	592-393	By 24.25	By 16.5	By 12.5
   12:00 PM	Syracuse at Pittsburgh	PITT	PITT	PITT	PITT	PITT	PITT	PITT
   		By 24	94%	31-13	417-273	By 17	By 10.1	By 10.5
   12:00 PM	Connecticut at Cincinnati	Cincy	Cincy	Cincy	Cincy	Cincy	Cincy	Cincy
   		By 14	94%	29-18	467-278	By 8.25	By 12.6	By 9.5
   12:30 PM	Iowa St at Kansas St	K State	K State	K State	K State	K State	K State	K State
   		By 17	94%	27-14	367-303	By 17.25	By 8.2	By 10.5
   2:00 PM	Wyoming at Colorado St	WYO	WYO	WYO	CSU	WYO	WYO	WYO
   		By 3	75%	32-19	429-421	By 10.75	By 2.2	By 5.5
   2:30 PM	UNLV at  TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU	TCU
   		By 45	99%	50-7	520-200	By 41.25	By 36	By 39
   3:30 PM	Texas at Baylor	Texas	BU	TIE	BU	Texas	BU	BU
   		By 7	77%	30-30	434-396	By 3	By 2.1	By 2.5
   3:30 PM	Utah St at New Mexico St	USU	USU	USU	USU	USU	USU	USU
   		By 10	87%	40-25	454-416	By 12	By 11.6	By 13
   4:00 PM	Georgia vs. LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU	LSU
   		By 7	95%	30-16	315-270	By 14	By 5.6	By 13.5
   4:00 PM	ULM at FAU	FAU	ULM	ULM	ULM	ULM	ULM	ULM
   		By 1	66%	35-19	363-274	By 12.50	By 12.6	By 7.5
   4:00 PM	Middle Tennessee at North Texas	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT
   		By 7	73%	34-24	434-416	By 13	By 4.1	By 5.5
   4:05 PM	Idaho at Nevada	NEV	NEV	NEV	NEV	NEV	NEV	NEV
   		By 25	94%	33-16	552-265	By 17.50	By 24.3	By 20
   4:30 PM	Troy at Arkansas St	Ark St	Ark St	Ark St	Ark St	Ark St	Ark St	Ark St
   		By 17	88%	40-17	534-293	By 20.50	By 22.1	By 17.5
   6:00 PM	New Mexico at Boise St	Boise	Boise	Boise	Boise	Boise	Boise	Boise
   		By 45	99%	57-4	573-147	By 51	By 50.4	By 49
   7:30 PM	Brigham Young at Hawaii	BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU	BYU
   		By 17	84%	35-19	420-365	By 15.75	By 3.8	By 7.5
   8:00 PM	Oklahoma at Oklahoma St	OU	OKST	OKST	OKST	OKST	OKST	OKST
   		By 1	59%	40-32	532-523	By 4.25	By 2.5	By 3.5
   8:00 PM	Virginia Tech vs. Clemson	VT	VT	VT	VT	VT	VT	VT
   		By 10	70%	37-21	420-360	By 14	By 5.6	By 7
   8:00 PM	Fresno St at San Diego St	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU	SDSU
   		By 6	86%	32-24	451-411	By 8.75	By 9.8	By 8
   8:17 PM	Wisconsin vs. Michigan St	MSU	WISC	WISC	WISC	WISC	WISC	WISC
   		By 1	80%	34-26	395-305	By 9	By 7.1	By 9.5
   	LW	15-8 (65%)
   	YTD	584-193 (75%)