NCAA Endzone

Tim Tebow won the Heisman as soon as the voting began, but he may have lost it tonight…

Darren McFadden, the senior running back at Arkansas, came in a close second to Tebow in the voting, losing by approximately 200 ‘points’. That may seem like a large margin, but when you consider that he received 1,700 total, it is just a fraction.

The scary part is that nearly 500 points had no real effect on the winner, because the voting is open to any player, not just the finalists. Meaning all those points went to people who had no real chance at winning.

Maybe even worse is that this year’s voting wasn’t all that close. In 2004, Matt Leinhart (the winner), Adrian Peterson, and Jason White all finished within 350 points of each other. The year before, Jason White beat Larry Fitzgerald by only 150 points, nearly the same amount of points uninvited Darren Sproles finished with. And just two years before that, QB Eric Crouch beat Florida QB Rex Grossman by only 62 points.

But back to this year. Granted, there is no guarantee that McFadden would’ve beat Tebow by more than 200 points even if the voted re-started after they announced the four finalists, but why test it?

While it is hard to argue against Tim Tebow, it’s easy to root for McFadden. He stayed around for his senior after finishing in 2nd last season in the voting as well, only to accomplish little that he hadn’t already. He is still the top RB prospect, and maybe the top overall, but his team did very little in the crowded SEC and he was overtaken in the Heisman by a sophomore; the first ever to win the award.

Colt Brennan finished in a distant 3rd, 1,100 points behind McFadden. Don’t feel too bad for him; he lead a Hawaii team to its biggest game ever, and the 3rd non-BCS team to get into a BCS game. Oh, and he might be the top QB in the next draft. Read more about Colt here.

That is, unless Chase Daniels has anything to say about it. He ended up in fourth place, receiving 425 points. His Missouri Tigers are headed to the Cotton Bowl, after being in the national championship game two weeks ago.

Other players receiving votes: Oregon’s Dennis Dixon (178), West Virginia’s Patrick White (150), Boston College’s Matt Ryan (63), UCF’s Kevin Smith (55, the only non-BCS player), LSU’s Glenn Dorsey (30), and Virginia’s Chris Long (17, the son of Hall-of-Famer Howie).

Criticizing the voting system is one thing. Criticizing the player is another. Tebow had a great season, played hard, and was the most important player on a great team. His 20/20 touchdown season passing and rushing was a first, and his 51 total TDs are simply amazing. Whether or not you believe McFadden, Brennan, or even Daniels is more deserving, it’s hard to say no to such a great ball player.

“And the winner is…�?

Somehow ESPN has managed to turn that simple statement into nearly 2 hours worth of coverage.

As if the hour-long special wasn’t bad enough, they practically dedicate the preceding ‘SportsCenter’ to the Heisman Presentation, with about 100 different analysts giving their opinion on who they would vote for.

It really takes about 2 minutes for the actual presentation. But, about 10 minutes on each candidate, even though it has basically been narrowed to two, along with past Heisman winners hanging out and of course, commercials, the whole program is dragged out way longer than necessary.

Obviously it is all about the money, as anything is with ESPN. The true spirit of college football is that these guys throw it on the line week in, week out, without payment. They play because they love the game and want to win. However, when it comes to television, something gets lost in the translation.

This presentation is not going to change the outcome. It’s not going to change votes. And it certainly is not going to change most people’s opinion on who they think is the best player in college football.

What will it change?

My opinion on ESPN’s true nature… What happened to bringing sports to the world? When did it become about the money?

In other news, is Tennessee’s head coach on the way out? Read about it here.

Is this Tim Tebow’s year?

Regardless of what may come Saturday night, the sophomore from Florida has been unbelievable all season long, scoring 51 total touchdowns. His Gators play in the toughest conference in football and was just outside a BCS game. His video game-like stats with two years of college left will be rewriting record books before long, though one may be broken Saturday.

No sophomore has ever won the Heisman.

But at some point, your grade must be thrown out. Voters should focus on what he has done on the field, and that is lead a team that was worried that he may be more like a fullback then a field general.

So, when people disregard how old he is, and just focus on his play, he wins, right?

Maybe not…

Senior QB Colt Brennan of Hawaii’s monster stats are only half the story. The former walk-on has been without a doubt the most valuable player to his team; the only to go undefeated. Hawaii makes its first appearance in a BCS game.

Florida? It won the national championship last season, but this year is settling for a trip to Orlando and the Capital One Bowl against Michigan. While it certainly isn’t a worse case scenario for the Gators, few would have imagined the Warriors would be where they are today.

Sure, the schedules matter. But maybe people are voting more on a name and a school than a player.

Its likely, almost guaranteed, that Tebow will walk away with the Heisman. However, if this writer had a vote, it’d be for Colt Brennan.

Just how important is teamwork? Read about it here…

Hours away from the end of the college football regular season, and yet we still have no guarantees when it comes to the national championship. A pair of games tonight, Missouri versus Oklahoma (8:00) and West Virginia versus Pittsburgh (7:45) will be the ultimate deciders on who will be attending this year’s game in New Orleans. On the outside looking in are Ohio State, who with a loss by either WVU or Mizzou would sneak into the championship, Georgia, who didn’t even make it to the SEC Championship game, but is certainly not eliminate from the title fight, and Kansas, whose hopes were likely dashed due to a tough loss against Missouri just last week.

But who really deserves to be in BCS Championship? Look at Missouri, for example. Even with a win tonight, they still only split the series with Oklahoma. Is that along with a win against a Kansas team, also extremely suspect, enough to support them into the national championship? This year? Yes…

WVU doesn’t have much more in regards to big wins. The only thing they really have going for them is how well they played last week versus the previous conference-unbeaten Uconn; a 66-21 blowout. Wins at Rutgers and Cincinnati look nice, along with a victory over a surprisingly good Mississippi State team.

But the teams below don’t exactly have great résumés either. Ohio State might be the most qualified, but a loss late in the season might have hurt them more than dropping an early one to someone like Purdue. Georgia couldn’t even win their division of the SEC, but is still in the championship discussion. And Kansas, well, they are Kansas.

But being qualified is only half the battle. You have to be playing good football at the right time. Who is doing that? Well, it is hard to argue against West Virginia. Patrick White is making an extremely late Heisman push, and Steve Slaton ain’t no pushover either. At the same time, the defense is stepping up and role players like Noel Devine, Owen Schmitt, and Darius Reynaud are making big plays.

Pat White leads the WVU charge

Of course, WVU needs to prove nothing at this point. They are a good 3-hour showing away from locking themselves in. The same goes for Missouri. We can all talk and argue till the BCS is over, but in reality it will all be decided tonight. Tonight is when we find out who wants it more, just like coach always said…

Keep track of all the recruiting news in college football here!