Heisman Watch (Final)

The Heisman Presentation is only days away, players have been invited, and now we are going to find out who is going to with the 78th Heisman Trophy.  How will I do this year?  So far I've successfully predicted the top 3 of the Heisman four years running.  Will this be the 5th?  Lets find how where everybody is projected to fall.

1.  Johnny Manziel QB Texas A&M
Season Stats:   3,419 yards passing 24 TDs 8 INTs, 1181 yards rushing 19 TDs
Comments:  The winner of the 2012 Heisman Trophy will go to Johnny Manziel.  Manziel winning the award will make history as he will be the first freshman to win the award.  Manziel caught every body's attention with his dynamic play leading A&M's potent offense against some of the best defenses in the nation.  But it was after he lead A&M in an upset of then #1 Alabama which propelled him from a Heisman contender to leading the way.  Manzeil didn't play like a freshman, showing poise and leadership.  That was what helped the Aggies win 10 games in their first season in the SEC.  Also doesn't hurt that Manziel set the SEC record for most yards in a single season.  He should win going away.

2.  Manti Te'o LB Notre Dame

Season Stats:   101 tackles, 2 sacks, 7 INTs
Comments:  It looks like Te'o is going to finish 2nd in the voting, but I don't get it.  Te'o had a good year and is a great story.  But he still doesn't deserve to finish in the top 5.  There are players that were much more dominant or had better seasons.  What makes matters worse the arguments I see for Te'o focus on that he's the captain of the #1 team in the nation.  That their defense is one of the best, so because he's getting some first place votes.  If I'm not mistaken the Heisman is suppose to be going to the best player in college football.  Let's not go back to giving it to the best player on the best team.  Heck Luke Kuechly had a better year than Te'o, but because Boston College was horrible last year, he didn't sniff any Heisman talk.  Te'o is a stud, but he shouldn't be in this spot.

3.  Collin Klein QB Kansas State
Season Stats:   2,490 yards passing 15 TDs 7 INTs, 890 yards rushing 22 TDs
Comments:  I'm glad to see that Klein got invited to New York, but I still don't understand how Klein went from leading the race for most of the year, to having one bad game and now have him third on the list.  Do we forget that Klein was KState's offense.  He carried this team on his back and leading the Wildcats to an 11-1 record and even a #1 ranking at one point.  But that lost to Baylor was just too much to overcome.  It's too bad because the season that Klein had doesn't happen very often.

4.  Marqise Lee WR USC

Season Stats:   1,680 yards receiving 14 TDs
Comments:  Lee wasn't invited to the ceremony, but he'll still going to finish within the top 5 in voting.  Everybody knew that Lee was talented, but felt that teammate Robert Woods would be the star of this offense.  Instead it was Lee that dominated the competition on route to 1,680 yards which was second most in the nation.  That's quite the feat for a wide receiver in a pro style offense and with defenses schemed to stop him.  Lee also had 14 TDs on the season which was third most in the nation.  This is also the highest a wide receiver has finished in years.

5.  Braxton Miller QB Ohio State
Season Stats:   2,039 yards passing 15 TDs 6 INTs, 1,271 yards rushing 13 TDs
Comments:  Miller may finish in fifth place this year, but he should be a favorite to win the award one of the next two years.  Miller is the perfect quarterback for Urban Meyer's spread option system and it showed this year.  Miller was a dual threat for the Buckeye's offense that didn't have many play makers.  Miller was dangerous running the ball and often was able to change the momentum of a game with his long TD runs.  But him missing time in games due to injury and Ohio State not being able to play in the Big 10 Title Game hurt his chances of making a bigger impression on voters.

Heisman Watch (My vote)

This is different than my previous Heisman Watches because instead of ranking the player's chances at winning the Heisman, I'm listing how I'd vote (if I had a vote.  I will at some point!)  I'll have a prediction on who wins the Heisman later this week and extend my streak of successfully predicting the top 3 for four straight years.  Anyways here would be my ballot if I had one.

1.  Johnny Manziel QB Texas A&M

Before Manziel began this year, A&M was know for being an underachieving program.  Always with a ton of potential to be great, they never were.  Manziel's talent and leadership really turned around this team and now are the hottest team in college football.  Manziel has been dynamic this year.  He has 4,600 total yards which set an SEC single season record.  Pair that up with his 43 TDs and it's hard not see why everybody loves him.  Even as a freshman he is the best player in the country and would end up being the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.  I wonder what his next three years will bring.

2.  Collin Klein QB Kansas State
It's a shame that everybody is forgetting about Collin Klein.  Klein was the favorite for most of the season, but a sort of bad game in a loss against Baylor and he gets dropped in people's minds.  Yeah Manziel deserves it more than he does, but Klein desrves 2nd place.  Just looking at the KState team and you'll see that Klein meant so much to them.  He was their offense.  He had 37 TDs on the year.  3,380 combined yards.  Quite impressive considering that opposing defenses knew exactly what he was going to do, but still couldn't stop it.  But it's too bad he won't finish 2nd, mainly because he plays at KState.

3.  Jarvis Jones OLB Georgia
You aren't seeing Jones in any finalists lists for the Heisman, but that's a shame.  The award is suppose to go to the best player in college football this year and Jones is one of them.  Manti Te'o is getting a lot of hype about possibility of winning the Heisman Trophy and I don't get it.  Te'o is good, but he's getting attention because how good the Irish defense is.  Jones has been the far better player.  Jones has 12.5 sacks, 19 QB hurries, 7 forced fumbles, and 1 INT on the year.  Jones has just dominated games.  Against Missouri he was a one man wrecking crew.  You can't say that about Te'o.  Sure he may have more tackles, but Jones has been one of the most dominate players this year.

4.  Marqise Lee WR USC

Going into the season it was his teammate Robert Woods that was getting all the attention.  But it was Lee who really shined this year despite the struggles of his own team.  Lee was dynamic all season long, hauling in 112 receptions for 1680 yards.  That's astonishing considering the Trojans liked to run the ball.  Heck they even had him working at CB in practice because of the lack of depth and poor play there.  Lee is clearly one of the top 5 players in the country and I'd have no issues with him finishing higher either.  Defenses just had no answer for him.

5.  Braxton Miller QB Ohio State
Even though Ohio State finished 12-0 and Braxton Miller finished one heck of a sophomore year.  Could you imagine how much better they could be with more weapons on offense?  But I guess that goes to show how good of a season Miller truly had.  Miller finished with 3,310 total yards of offense and 28 touchdowns.  He did this with defenses knowing he was going to have the ball in his hands.  Miller could be higher on this list.  But his final couple of games he was just average.  You wonder if the Buckeyes would have been able to play in the Big 10 Title game could have put him higher on the list?  Who knows.