Heisman Thoughts and Prediction:

First, I will say that I voted for Trent Richardson on my Heisman ballot and believe this year will be similar to 2005 when Reggie Bush won the Heisman but after the national title game, Vince Young with his dominating performance vs USC would have been the winner on 95% of the ballots. Richardson had a great game in the first meeting with 169 yds vs an outstanding LSU defense and this time I expect him to have even a bigger game.  What’s more impressive about Richardson’s season was the fact that he faced 8 Top 50 D’s incl 5 in the top 20 and D’s keyed in on him as they were unafraid of QB McCarron.

I am projecting that Baylor’s Robert Griffin III will win the Heisman and there is no doubt that he has had a great season for the Bears. I do think that some of the Heisman voters wait until the last minute to vote and valued Griffin’s big game vs Texas more than any other game. The reason I did not vote for Griffin was the fact that he did not face many Top 40 D’s and Baylor lost 3 games including trailing Oklahoma St 35-0 at HT and lost to 6-6 A&M by 27. He is surrounded by some great talent including RB Ganaway who had 1,300+ yds and an incredible WR in Wright who catches anything within 20 yards of him.

Andrew Luck will no doubt be the top player taken in the upcoming NFL draft and if I were an NFL GM he would be my guy but I don’t think Luck played great in the big games this year despite being surrounded by a powerful rush attack that features 2 All-American OL. While granted he does not have explosive WR’s the fact that the team avg’d 208 rush ypg (5.3) but were unable to take advantage thru the air in the big games really hurt Luck’s chances with me.

Montee Ball has been impressive with his TD’s this year but I have never really been a TD guy because a lot of times you get a lot of 1-yd TD runs after a different guy has led you down the field or after TO’s a team may get a short field. Back in 1975 when Archie Griffin won his 2nd Heisman, big back Pete Johnson had like 25 TD’s while Archie only had 6 TD’s because Woody Hayes wanted to punch it in with the bigger back despite Archie running for several hundred more yards than Johnson. Granted Ball has been a big part of driving Wisconsin down the field but he clearly has benefited from having QB Wilson in the backfield with him.

Tyrann Mathieu of LSU was on my ballot as I believe in voting for the biggest playmakers on the top teams in the country. Mathieu was the reason (PR TD) why LSU only tailed Georgia 10-7 at HT despite having 0 FD’s. He also electrified the Tigers after trailing Arkansas 14-0 with a 92 yd PR TD. He leads the country in forced fumbles and leads an outstanding LSU team in tackles.

Heisman Projection

1. Robert Griffin III, Baylor

2. Andrew Luck, Stanford

3. Trent Richardson, Alabama

4. Montee Ball, Wisconsin

5. Tyrann Mathieu, LSU

Army/Navy Forecast

FCS Playoff Forecasts