We knew entering this fall that college football‘s Heisman race would be as wide open as ever. With Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy gone, and no big name senior quarterbacks to replace them, the race for the game’s most prestigious trophy began wide open in the preseason.
Given that there have been so few repeat winners, we knew the odds were stacked against Alabama tailback Mark Ingram. Then he missed the first two games with injury. Still he’s averaging 9.3 yards per carry and has four touchdowns in the two games he has played in. Also injured is Houston QB Case Keenum, who had a solid shot at the award if statistics were the criteria prioritized by voters.
Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett dropped out last week after his two interceptions and narrow loss to #1 Alabama blew his best chance to make a true national name for himself.
Oklahoma’s Ryan Broyles, second in the nation in receiving yards, is a viable candidate but we all know that receivers rarely win the award.
Right now you have to consider Boise State QB Kellen Moore (62-95, 873, 8-1, if you’re a football geek you’ll know what knows those numbers mean without the respective letters) as much of a candidate as anyone, along with Michigan QB Denard Robinson and Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor.
By Paul M. Banks
Robinson (57-80-731-4-1, 79-688-6 on the ground) is the nation’s leading rusher despite missing a huge chunk of his fourth game with an injury. But fear not, he will be back for the Wolverines next week. He’s quite at playing college football- yes, I know that is such a bold statement considering the hype surrounding him. Four weeks into the season, it feels like Robinson has already been awarded the Heisman, Davey O’Brien, Doak Walker, Lady Byng, Hart Trophy, Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, Daytime Emmy, as well as a Latin Grammy.
However, I still like the overall chances of OSU Junior Terrelle Pryor, his conference’s player of the week who scored touchdowns rushing and receiving and also threw four touchdown passes in No. 2 Ohio State’s 73-20 win over Eastern Michigan.
Pryor ignited the highest scoring game in Jim Tressel’s 10 years as Ohio State coach, and the ninth-highest scoring game in school history, by scoring on a career-long 53-yard touchdown run on the third play from scrimmage. Three plays later he found senior wide receiver (and given his off-the-field wardrobe possible member of a ’90s boy band) Dane Sanzenbacher for a 31-yard touchdown pass and a quick 14-0 lead. It was the first of four Pryor-to-Sanzenbacher touchdown passes on the day to tie a school record.
Pryor now owns four of the five games in OSU history where a QB has topped 100 yards rushing and 200 yards passing. His 330 yards of total offense represented his fifth game of 300 or more yards and moved him to within one of the school record of six games held by Joe Germaine between 1996-98.
He’s also now fifth in school history with 40 touchdown passes. His numbers read 71-107-939-10-2 through the air with 43-269-3 on the ground.
And Big Ten QBs own three of the top five passer ratings in the nation right now. None of which belong to Pryor or Robinson. Northwestern’s Dan Persa is tied with Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden for #1, and Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi.
And don’t forget Andrew Luck from the the left coast out at Stanford. He should be the #1 pick in the 2011 Draft, and he’s squarely in the race with a 64-102-912-11-2.
Written by Paul M. Banks, President and CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest focused webzine. He is also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Chicago Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football.com, the Washington Times Communities, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank