Heismania - 11.25.07

Pat White is the best player in the nation - Pat White led his West Virginia Mountaineers directly into the talk for National Championship candidacy with a dominating performance against the Connecticut Huskies on Saturday. The quarterback threw for 1 TD and ran for 186 yards and two more TDs en-route to a 66-21 steamrolling of a surprise Huskies team. In the meantime, White bolstered his Heisman candidacy; prompting Connecticut coach Randy Edsall to endorse White for the award. Its kind of like nominating the person who just assaulted and battered you for a good Samaritan award. Either way, White's disgusting, team leading, 1,144 rushing yards to go along with his 1,498 passing yards from the QB position as well as his team's position in the rankings, gives white a legitimate chance of winning the coveted Heisman hardware.

Wait, Darren McFadden is the best player in the nation - In the best game of the week, if Darren McFadden didn't prove why he is Heisman worthy, he most definitely proved why he should be the hands down number one pick in the 2008 NFL draft. The three overtime thriller ended with LSU's QB Matt Flynn throeing a crippling interception in the end-zone while trying to convert a mandatory 2pt conversion. McFadden ran for 206 yards and 3 TDS and took the snap directly several times even throwing a TD. This performance not only upended the number one team in the nation, but also put Ricky Williams on notice that hes going to have a new running mate in the backfield next year.

But, what about that guy in Hawaii? - Colt Brennan kept his name squarely within the Heisman discussion with his performance in toppling last year's WAC champions, Boise State in Hawaii's 39 -27 win. Brennan threw for six yards short of 500 and 5 TDS in breaking BYU's Ty Detmer's mark for career passing touchdowns. Brennan cruised past the record when he threw his 122nd TD pass in the first quarter and now sits at 126. While Brennan is a longshot to win the Heisman, the Warriors are one win away from securing a second BCS game bid for the WAC. Hawaii faces Washington in their final regular season game.

All that is irrelevant because Tim Tebow is winning the Heisman - Tim Tebow is making it awfully hard for voters to not make him the Heisman winner as he now has accounted for 51 of Florida's TDs throwing for 3 and running for another 2 against in-state rival Florida State. Personally I have a personal gripe with Tebow, as he ruined Chris Leak's chance of being recognized as "the guy" who led Florida to their National Championship last year, but it's kind of hard to argue with his numbers and his leadership of this team. While they will most likely fall short of receiving a BCS invitation, Tebow is probably the most deserving candidate and if his success continues in future seasons, voters won't be able to hide behind the fact that he is an underclassman.

Missouri must be stopped - I was going to comment on the travesty that the winner of the Kansas Missouri game this past weekend will have a very good chance of being in the National Title game, but I like probably most of our readers was in a turkey comma for most of the weekend. Regardless, the winner turned out to be Missouri and while I like the Cinderella story as much as the next guy who really wants to sit down and watch either of these teams in the National Championship? There would be no Vince Young vs. USC, there wont be a Heisman lock vying for team hardware, it would basically be Missouri or Kansas getting trounced by another team that happens not to be in the very disappointing Big 12. Now we have to hope that another Big 12 team, Oklahoma, steps up and cuts Missouri off at the pass in the Big 12 championship game, so hopefully we see West Virginia vs. Ohio State or some other bearable, star-filled BCS championship.