The Heisman race is fairly muddled right now, with no candidate having taken charge. While normally at this point there are three or four very solid leaders, I'm not sure that can be said at this point.
Several of the top candidates have suffered setbacks:
- Sam Bradford suffered an injury that caused him to miss several games, taking him out of the race.
- Tim Tebow's injury still could help his "story" but it likely hurt him in the all-important stats line.
- Jahvid Best of Cal was irreparably harmed by the two blowout losses Cal faced back-to-back
- Case Keenum's chances went down with the Cougars' loss to UTEP
- Dez Bryant's slim chances disappeared when he was declared ineligible
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There isn't much excitement for the other candidates, either. Colt McCoy of Texas, one of the remaining front-runners with Tebow, has been doing well but not as well as last year, and beating Oklahoma won't be a big deal. Losing to them would hurt him a lot, though. Jacory Harris of Miami seems like a longshot even if Miami continues to do well, and Jimmy Clausen would be an unsatisfying winner unless he can guide the Irish to a win over Notre Dame.
So who does that leave? I think it's time to do something that hasn't been done in a long time: throw out stats and win-loss record and look for an exciting player who is really the most valuable to his team. That player is Jake Locker of Washington.
Look at the difference in Washington: 0-12 last year, 3-3 this season already. They're an improved team, sure, but the main improvement as that they have Locker back. Last season wasn't that bad when he was playing: they nearly beat BYU and Stanford in their first four games. Without Locker they were a disaster.
This year he's back and look what they've done: a narrow loss to LSU, followed by a win over Idaho (Idaho's only loss so far, remarkably), an amazing win over USC, a game they should have won against Notre Dame, and a miracle comeback against Arizona.
Throughout the season Locker has been keeping them in games, almost single-handedly at times. His stats aren't incredible: 57% completions, a 10:4 TD to interception ratio. But he's come up with big plays when they've needed them. The huge 3rd down play against USC put them in field goal range to win the game. Last night against Arizona his late TD pass drew the team within 5 points, and while it still looked like a longshot it's Locker's never-quit attitude that kept hope alive with the team. The defense came up with the miraculous interception TD that put them ahead, but Locker's leadership deserves as much credit.
If Washington has any more losses, Locker's already miniscule chances are probably gone. There hasn't been a Heisman winner from a 4-loss team (not counting bowl games, which are player after the award is presented) since 1969. And if they do worse? Only Paul Hornung has won the Heisman Trophy as a member of a losing team, when Notre Dame went 2-8 in 1956.
Locker can't really be compared to Hornung, one of the great players of all time (even if he already has three times as many TD passes). But for my money he's as deserving as any other player on the current "short list."
I'll be rooting for him to pick up traction as the season progresses. But assuming he doesn't factor into this year's race, the Huskies might be good enough for him to start as a front-runner next season as a senior, when the race should be pretty much wide open. It would be nice, though, if the unspoken "Heisman criteria" were flexible enough to consider him this year, when the college game seems to need an injection of excitement.
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