Now that the 2006 football season has reached the mid-way point, it’s a good time to take a look at who has a chance to win this years (2006) Heisman Trophy. What is the Heisman Trophy? The Heisman Trophy is an award named after former college football player and coach John Heisman, is considered the most prestigious award in college football. The New York Athletic Club awards it annually before the postseason bowl games.
The prestige in the award stems from a number of factors. Though balloting is open for all football players in all divisions of college football, the winners usually represent Division 1A schools. In addition to incredible personal statistics, team achievements play a heavy role in the voting. A typical Heisman winner represents a team that had an outstanding season and is most likely in contention for a Division 1A national championship. The Heisman is usually awarded to a running back or a quarterback. Very few players have won the trophy playing at a different position.
I sat down with Point-Spreads Senior College Football Editor John Hoben on Thursday to look at who the real standouts are this college football season. We wanted to come up with a short list of who might have a chance to walk off with the trophy in December.
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1. Troy Smith, Ohio State, Senior, Quarterback
Smith is the quarterback of the number one team in the land in all polls and is in our opinion…the man to beat. On the year, Smith has completed 101-of-148 passing attempts for 1,261 yards and 15 touchdowns against only two interceptions. Smith has an incredible quarterback rating of 170.5. In his previous game against Bowling Green, Smith completed 85 percent of his passes, the third-best single –game performance in school history, for 191 yards and three touchdowns while adding 54 yards on seven carries in a non-conference victory over Bowling Green. The senior quarterback connected on 17-of-20 passes for a passing efficiency rating of 214.7 to boost his career rating to 158.1, making him the most efficient passer in Big Ten annals. His completion percentage of 85 percent was the best for a Buckeyes quarterback since Stanley Jackson connected on 13-of-15 (.867) attempts against Indiana in 1997. Smith has thrown at least one scoring pass in 12 of his last 13 games and now has 10 career games with multiple touchdown strikes.
2. Brady Quinn, Notre Dame, Senior, Quarterback
Quinn, a 2006 first-team preseason All-American selection by The Sporting News, Lindy’s, Athlon, Street & Smiths and CBSSportsLine, a preseason Maxwell Award candidate is the most prolific passer in the history of Notre Dame football. Quinn holds thirty Notre Dame records. In 2005 Quinn finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in a record-breaking season in which he became Notre Dame's single season and career leader in virtually every passing category. In 2006 Quinn has completed 148-of-233 passes for 1634 yards and 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. For Quinn to have a chance this year he needs for Troy Smith to stumble. It wouldn’t hurt if Ohio State were to get upset either. The Southern Cal game looks to be a potential stumbling block. The Trojans are winning with defense this season and could possible cut down the Notre Dame quarterbacks numbers.
3.Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois, Senior, Tailback
Wolfe is No. 1 in the nation in rushing yards per game (223.8), all purpose yards per game (250.8) and points per game (14.3). Wolfe captured headlines Sept 30th with his 353 rushing yards in a 40-38 triumph at Ball State. Wolfe’s yardage was the fifth highest single game total in MAC history. For his performance against Ball State, Wolfe was honored by the Walter Camp Football Foundation as the National 1A offensive Player of the Week. After six games in 2006 Wolfe has gained 1343 net yards on 156 rushes and scored 13 touchdowns. With six games left Wolfe can overtake Barry Sanders (Heisman 1988) single season rushing record of 2,628 yards. For Wolfe to win the Heisman he needs to break Sanders single season rushing record and is on track to do so. Wolfe needs other leading candidates (Troy Smith) to have one or two bad games.
4. Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma, junior, Tailback
Adrian Peterson is the best college football player in America and anybody who follows college football knows it. Peterson came into the season as the leading candidate to win the coveted trophy but has slipped due to losses to Oregon and Texas. Though the team lost at Oregon, Peterson put up tremendous numbers running for over 200 yards. Against Texas Peterson looked more human but still topped the 100-yard mark with 109 yards rushing. Chances of Peterson winning the Heisman Trophy are not looking good but not bad enough for him to fall from the Point-Spreads top-five.
5. Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech, junior, Wide Receiver
Johnson is the best receiver in Division 1A but because he is a wide receiver his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy are slim but he is getting some attention. If the Yellow Jackets can continue to dominate in conference and ascend to the championship game Johnson could climb up the list of hopefuls. Johnson leads the ACC in receptions (35) and receiving yards (559, 93.3 pg), while his eight touchdowns catches are second nationally. In the last three games, the All-America wide receiver Johnson has 22 catches for 413 yards and five touchdowns.
The Rest
Any of the following list of players are waiting in the wings to join our top-five.
Steve Slayton, West Virginia, sophomore, running back
Ted Ginn Jr, Ohio State, junior, Wide Receiver
Chris Leak, Florida, senior, quarterback
Chad Henne, Michigan, senior, quarterback
Ray Rice, Rutgers, sophomore, tailback
