Heisman belongs to Tebow

This season's Heisman Trophy race should not be as close as all the analysts are suddenly making it out to be. The only real debate should be about who will be joining Tim Tebow in New York to watch him accept the award for the nation's best player. Despite an incredible effort by Arkansas running back Darren McFadden against LSU, he shouldn't even be included in the final three, let alone win the award. While he posted Heisman-worthy numbers in 2007, McFadden likely will be done in by the three games where he failed to rush for over 90 yards. He rushed for 43 yards in a loss to Auburn, 61 against Florida Int., and 88 against Miss. St. In a game where championship aspirations are shattered by one loss, it's hard to believe that the voters won't look at those performances and give D-Mac's invitation to New York to somebody else.

The three players who deserve the spotlight on that December night are Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, West Virginia quarterback Pat White, and Tebow. Both Daniel and White have had incredible seasons and their individual efforts have put their teams in position to reach the National Championship, and if recent history is any indicator, that should count for something. The last time the Heisman Trophy was given to a player whose team did not reach the National Championship was 2002, when USC's Carson Palmer won the award. That trend should be broken this year as Tebow has delivered one outstanding performance after another this season.

Tebow finished the regular season with 3,135 passing yards and 29 touchdowns, and he rushed for 838 yards and 22 touchdowns. The kid accounted for 51 touchdowns in 12 games this season! A number of teams across the country didn't produce that much offense this fall. Want an idea for how much Florida relies on this super-sophmore? In nine wins, the Florida offense scored 45+ points eight times. In their three losses, the team averaged 23.6 points, and coincidentally, those three games were Tebow's worst performances of the season. He scored at least four touchdowns in every win, and totaled eight scores in the three losses, which isn't all bad. The most impressive part about his overwhelming production is that he is doing it against SEC competition, which is the class of college football.

While Tebow registered a number of heroic performances throughout 2007, there were three games where his numbers were eye-popping.

Mammoth performance #1: 9/15 vs. Tennessee (59-20 W)- 299 yds passing, 2 TD/ 61 yds rushing, 2 TD

Mammoth performance #2: 11/10 @ South Carolina (51-31 W)- 304 yds passing, 2 TD/ 120 yds rushing, 5 TD

Mammoth performance #3: 11/24 vs Florida St. (45-12 W)- 262 yds passing, 3 TD/ 89 yds rushing, 2 TD

How many times has one player accounted for seven touchdowns in one game the way Tebow did against the Gamecocks? I don't have the official number, but I would say it's an extremely rare occurance. A sophmore dominating the college football world the way Tebow has in 2007 is also an extremely rare occurance and that is why he should win college football's most prestigous award running away.

DTM