This Saturday, college football will take a small respite from its bowl game preparation and turn a collective eye to New York for the presentation of this seasons’ Heisman Trophy. Expected to be attending the ceremony as finalists for the honor of college football’s best player are two players who have a legitimate shot to win – Florida sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow and Arkansas junior running back Darren McFadden – and three others who have practically no chance – Missouri junior quarterback Chase Daniel, West Virginia junior quarterback Pat White and Hawaii senior quarterback Colt Brennan. Congratulations to Daniel, White and Brennan for making it to New York as finalists. It’s a big accomplishment, and they should be proud to even be considered for such a high honor. In reality though, those three guys will serve as only spectators for the Tebow v. McFadden heavyweight showdown that will likely end with a very close margin of victory. Deservedly so, seeing as both players were utterly unstoppable with the ball in their hands and are almost solely responsible for the success their respective teams have enjoyed this season. Each player has undeniably obscene stats that voters can look at to determine who should take home the trophy. When evaluating Tebow’s season, voters will see a quarterback who accounted for 22 of his team’s 37 rushing touchdowns and all 29 of its touchdown passes. They will see a sophomore who rushed for almost 900 yards and threw for more than 3,000. To give you some perspective, LSU’s leading rusher Jacob Hester gained 1,017 yards this season and LSU’s top passer Matt Flynn threw for 2,233. McFadden’s stats are equally as gaudy. The junior is No. 4 nationally with 1,725 rushing yards on the season, including 321 yards against South Carolina and 206 yards against LSU. He scored 15 touchdowns rushing, four touchdowns passing and one touchdown receiving. And he did all his damage while splitting time in the backfield with fellow 1,000-yard rusher Felix Jones. Alas, a decision must be made. While both candidates are more than worthy of college football’s most prestigious award, only one man can claim the honor. That player has to be Tim Tebow. Although McFadden’s stats are better than they were this past season when he was the Heisman runner-up, they just aren’t impressive enough to beat out Tebow’s statistically historical season. As the quarterback of the defending national champions, Tebow managed to break the Southeastern Conference record for most rushing touchdowns in a season. That may not seem all that impressive until you consider who has manned the running back position in the SEC over the years. Here are a few names you might recognize: Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson and Emmitt Smith. For a quarterback to rank ahead of those all-time great running backs in a rushing category is jaw-dropping. Stepping outside of statistics for a second – because after all, stats don’t tell the whole story – it should be noted that Tebow played on an extraordinarily consistent plane of excellence this season. In other words, he didn’t have a single bad game all year. Not counting the Georgia game where a handful of sacks cut into his rushing yard total, Tebow rushed for at least 30 yards and a touchdown every game. As a passer, the sophomore’s lowest output of yardage came against LSU where he threw for only 158 yards. But he still tallied two passing scores and one rushing touchdown to keep the Gators in the game against the Tigers. Tebow tossed three or more touchdowns in six of the 12 games he played and rushed for two or more touchdowns in seven games. Simply put, the Florida signal-caller was a touchdown machine this season. If you want to enter the debate of who’s more valuable to his team, young Timmy will take that honor as well. Tebow plays nearly every snap of every game for his Gators. With the game on the line, Tebow will have the ball in his hands 100 percent of the time. The same can’t be said for McFadden. After Arkansas scored in triple-overtime against LSU, who lined up in the backfield for the Razorbacks on the two-point conversion? Felix Jones. That’s not to say McFadden wouldn’t have converted that play if he was on the field. The point is he wasn’t needed on the play for Arkansas to score. Ultimately, the Heisman Trophy is given to the most outstanding player in college football. Tebow and McFadden both earned their trip to New York with spectacular play in the toughest conference in the land. But this year’s award goes to Mr. Tebow. Congratulations goes to Timmy, and to LSU fans, I say don’t despair – perhaps this time next year we’ll be talking about the Heisman hopes of a duel threat quarterback wearing purple and gold instead of orange and blue.
—-Contact James Rees at [email protected]