Heisman Trophy Presentation 2009: Mark Ingram Runs, As He’s Done All Year, Away With The Heisman
Posted: Saturday, December 12, 2009
by Edward Rhymes
As my title suggests, I believe that Alabama's sophomore running back Mark Ingram will be the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner. Nevertheless, let's take a look at the finalists for the award --- all worthy candidates in their own right
Toby Gerhart: Has been the Energizer bunny... he just keeps going, and going. You can't find a game in which Gerhart was shut down; he hasn't had a game where he was sidelined by injury and he hasn't had a game this year, where he was ineffective --- he never ran for fewer than 82 yards and never had a game in which he averaged less than 4.4 yards per carry. He had his best games against the best competition. Stanford played seven bowl-eligible opponents this season, and Gerhart pounded them for an average of 156 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Week in and week out, he performed at an All-American level.
Gerhart clearly leads the nation in rushing touchdowns (26) and ranks second in rushing yards per game (145). He helped the Cardinals to an 8-4 record; their first winning record since going 9-3 in 2001. Gerhart is also an All-Academic Pac-10 selection as well. He's carrying a 3.25 grade-point average as a management, science and engineering major, and he's on schedule to graduate a quarter early --- Stanford being one of the top academic schools in the nation.
Mark Ingram: Ingram was consistently productive in arguably the toughest league for a running back to run in, the Southeastern Conference, and he did so despite a rebuilt offensive line. His 119 yards-per-game rushing average is 12th nationally, but he could have run for more yards had he not been benched early in games where Alabama routed their opponent --- Ingram got only a total of 29 carries and 249 yards in blowouts of Florida International, North Texas and Chattanooga. The only game in which Ingram didn't produce was against Auburn, when he was held to 30 yards and suffered a hip pointer. In the biggest game of his college career thus far; against the nation's No. 1 defense (at the time); in the SEC championship game, Ingram scorched Florida for 189 total yards and three touchdowns --- his short screen pass from quarterback Greg McElroy in the second quarter of that game, that he turned into 69-yard pass play, could be considered the turning point of the game.
He is the No. 1 offensive option, on the No. 1-ranked team in America. There is no way that Alabama would be playing in the NCAA championship without him.
Colt McCoy: His ability to find the open receiver on the run or to find the open run has been the reason Texas has averaged nearly 41 points per game. McCoy has thrown for 3,512 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 70.5 percent of his passes. He has run for 348 yards. More important, he is the leader and the best player on a 13-0, second-ranked team that's playing for the national championship.
On Thanksgiving night, McCoy put on a show. He threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for a career-high 175 yards and a fifth score. Texas beat their interstate nemesis Texas A & M 49-39, and after an inconsistent first half of the season, McCoy emerged among the leaders for the Heisman.
He is more, Alabama's Ingram included, responsible for his team's success than anyone in college football.
Ndamukong Suh: Nebraska's defense is designed for Suh to take on blocks and free up the team's linebackers to make tackles. But few opponents could handle Suh with double-team blocks, and perhaps no offensive lineman handled him one-on-one. Suh finished the regular season with 83 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and 12 sacks.
He is the most athletic nose guard in college football --- he even batted 10 passes and blocked three kicks. This son of a Cameroon native, already has won the Rotary Lombardi Award as college football's top lineman, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the country's best defensive player, the Outland Trophy for the nation's most outstanding interior lineman and the Chuck Bednarik Award for the defensive player of the year.
In a losing effort in the Big 12 championship game at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Suh nearly led the Cornhuskers to an upset of then-No. 3 Texas. In Nebraska's 13-12 loss, Suh had a career-high 12 tackles, 4 sacks and a school-record seven tackles for loss. Amazingly, he made nine tackles for zero or negative yards.
Admittedly, Suh is fighting an uphill battle as a defensive lineman --- the Heisman has never been given to a defensive lineman and only once to a player that strictly played on the defensive side of the ball, Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997. Simply put, Ndamukong Suh (in my opinion) was the most dominant player in college football this year.
Tim Tebow: As good as his passing stats are this season -- eighth in efficiency (155.59), 18 touchdowns and five picks, they weren't as good in comparison to his previous two seasons as a starter. Tebow, however, is still the quarterback of an elite team with a 12-1 record --- he is still a winner and probably the greatest competitor we have seen at the college quarterback position in recent memory.
Tebow has been at the helm of near-Florida dynasty for four years and if anyone deserves to be right alongside two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin, it is him. I can't think of one player who has been the heartbeat of a team and a college community like he has.
Conclusion: All of these young men are deserving in some form or another of the Heisman --- but only one can win. I believe that Mark Ingram wins it based on the difficulty of Alabama's schedule (the SEC is the toughest conference in college football); he ran against four teams, in the SEC, who was ranked in the top 5 in defense and he was the central player in the win against the team that was No. 1 at the time and had been the national champions two years in row --- and that in the end, is what wins Heisman votes.
The Heisman Trophy presentation begins at 8pm Eastern Time on ESPN and I'm looking forward to it. How about you?
Toby Gerhart: Has been the Energizer bunny... he just keeps going, and going. You can't find a game in which Gerhart was shut down; he hasn't had a game where he was sidelined by injury and he hasn't had a game this year, where he was ineffective --- he never ran for fewer than 82 yards and never had a game in which he averaged less than 4.4 yards per carry. He had his best games against the best competition. Stanford played seven bowl-eligible opponents this season, and Gerhart pounded them for an average of 156 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Week in and week out, he performed at an All-American level.
Mark Ingram: Ingram was consistently productive in arguably the toughest league for a running back to run in, the Southeastern Conference, and he did so despite a rebuilt offensive line. His 119 yards-per-game rushing average is 12th nationally, but he could have run for more yards had he not been benched early in games where Alabama routed their opponent --- Ingram got only a total of 29 carries and 249 yards in blowouts of Florida International, North Texas and Chattanooga. The only game in which Ingram didn't produce was against Auburn, when he was held to 30 yards and suffered a hip pointer. In the biggest game of his college career thus far; against the nation's No. 1 defense (at the time); in the SEC championship game, Ingram scorched Florida for 189 total yards and three touchdowns --- his short screen pass from quarterback Greg McElroy in the second quarter of that game, that he turned into 69-yard pass play, could be considered the turning point of the game.
He is the No. 1 offensive option, on the No. 1-ranked team in America. There is no way that Alabama would be playing in the NCAA championship without him.
Colt McCoy: His ability to find the open receiver on the run or to find the open run has been the reason Texas has averaged nearly 41 points per game. McCoy has thrown for 3,512 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 70.5 percent of his passes. He has run for 348 yards. More important, he is the leader and the best player on a 13-0, second-ranked team that's playing for the national championship.
On Thanksgiving night, McCoy put on a show. He threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for a career-high 175 yards and a fifth score. Texas beat their interstate nemesis Texas A & M 49-39, and after an inconsistent first half of the season, McCoy emerged among the leaders for the Heisman.
He is more, Alabama's Ingram included, responsible for his team's success than anyone in college football.
Ndamukong Suh: Nebraska's defense is designed for Suh to take on blocks and free up the team's linebackers to make tackles. But few opponents could handle Suh with double-team blocks, and perhaps no offensive lineman handled him one-on-one. Suh finished the regular season with 83 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and 12 sacks.
He is the most athletic nose guard in college football --- he even batted 10 passes and blocked three kicks. This son of a Cameroon native, already has won the Rotary Lombardi Award as college football's top lineman, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the country's best defensive player, the Outland Trophy for the nation's most outstanding interior lineman and the Chuck Bednarik Award for the defensive player of the year.
In a losing effort in the Big 12 championship game at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Suh nearly led the Cornhuskers to an upset of then-No. 3 Texas. In Nebraska's 13-12 loss, Suh had a career-high 12 tackles, 4 sacks and a school-record seven tackles for loss. Amazingly, he made nine tackles for zero or negative yards.
Admittedly, Suh is fighting an uphill battle as a defensive lineman --- the Heisman has never been given to a defensive lineman and only once to a player that strictly played on the defensive side of the ball, Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997. Simply put, Ndamukong Suh (in my opinion) was the most dominant player in college football this year.
Tim Tebow: As good as his passing stats are this season -- eighth in efficiency (155.59), 18 touchdowns and five picks, they weren't as good in comparison to his previous two seasons as a starter. Tebow, however, is still the quarterback of an elite team with a 12-1 record --- he is still a winner and probably the greatest competitor we have seen at the college quarterback position in recent memory.
Tebow has been at the helm of near-Florida dynasty for four years and if anyone deserves to be right alongside two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin, it is him. I can't think of one player who has been the heartbeat of a team and a college community like he has.
Conclusion: All of these young men are deserving in some form or another of the Heisman --- but only one can win. I believe that Mark Ingram wins it based on the difficulty of Alabama's schedule (the SEC is the toughest conference in college football); he ran against four teams, in the SEC, who was ranked in the top 5 in defense and he was the central player in the win against the team that was No. 1 at the time and had been the national champions two years in row --- and that in the end, is what wins Heisman votes.
The Heisman Trophy presentation begins at 8pm Eastern Time on ESPN and I'm looking forward to it. How about you?
This Article has been viewed 967 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.