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.