Bloguin Heisman Poll Week Eight

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Just when you thought college football was becoming predictable a wild Saturday night changed everything. Michigan State stunned unbeaten Wisconsin with a last second prayer and Texas Tech shocked the Sooners in Norman. How would that affect the Heisman race? Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson was second place in last weeks poll and trailed leader Andrew Luck by a very slim margin. Would his loss take him out of the race and if so how would it affect the rest of the candidates?

Here is what you’ll see each week in the Bloguin Heisman Poll:

-The Top total vote getters and quotes from bloggers in support of their candidates.
-A list of all players that receive votes in the Bloguin Heisman Poll
-Poll Notes that look at some of the interesting facts, figures, and trends of the poll.
-The BHP Roll Call of voters, the links to their respective blogs and their twitter accounts.

Without any further adieu, the Bloguin Heisman Poll…

1) Andrew Luck (QB-Stanford) – 28 Points, 33.33%, 9 1st Place Votes

Last Week BHP Ranking: #1

Last Week: 16/21, 169 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT

Season: 145/202 (71.8%), 1888 yards, 20 TDs, 3 INT, 1 rushing TD, 1 reception

This Week: at USC (6-1)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0zuBoOarPMQ

* Luck’s numbers were pretty pedestrian, but he still threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns in a big win over Washington. Look past the numbers and you realize he’s easily the best player this season.

– Tom Perry, Eye and Eer

* The case for Luck is that he is the best field general out their bar none. His stats are extremely solid and even though he doesn’t pass for 4 touchdowns a week, he doesn’t need to. He facilitates an offense better than everyone else this year, which is why when it comes to the voters, outstanding QBs get the nod more often than not recently. Case in point, he had 2 touchdown passes in the 65-21 rout of Washington, both when the Cardinal needed them, when the score was 10-7 and then again when it was 24-14. From there, he was able to hand the ball off and run the offense. There is a reason the mantra in the NFL has the moniker “Suck For Luck”, because they see him as a game changer, a la a Peyton Manning.

– Hamilton Riley, Lambeth Field

* In the realm of college football, one player’s or team’s stock rises because another’s falls. Andrew Luck couldn’t get any higher than number one, but some of his competitors took a hit this week with losses: Russell Wilson and Landry Jones. Luck suddenly has a real chance of playing for the national championship. If he continues to win, he’s a shoe-in for this award and the top pick for Sunday football.

– Pete Sonski, College Football Zealots

2) Trent Richardson (RB-Alabama) – 22 Points, 26.19%, 2 1st Place Votes

Last Week BHP Ranking: #3

Last Week: 17 carries for 77 yds, 2 TD, 3 receptions for 33 yards

Season: 149 carries for 989 yds, 6.64 ypc, 17 TD, 18 receptions, 1 rec TD

This Week: Idle

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rLQOKjH_S3I

* Richardson’s such a bum. He “only” rushed for 77 yards yesterday, which makes the fact that he’s still second nationally in rushing all the more impressive. Give me him over anyone else.

– Aaron Torres, Aaron Torres Sports

* By his standards this season, Trent Richardson had a bad week. But, 110 total yards and 2 TDs by anyone else’s standards would be a great day. He’s clearly the top non-QB candidate at this point in the season. But, his chances will certainly be decided largely on how he and his team perform Nov. 5th against LSU.

– Ryan Yoder, Awful Announcing

* Richardson is the best running back in America as seen in season stats like this – 989 yards and 17 TDs rushing, 212 yards and 1 TD receiving.

– Ritch, Leftover Hot Dog

3) Kellen Moore (QB-Boise St) – 11 Points, 13.10%, 2 1st Place Votes

Last Week BHP Ranking: #4

Last week: 23/29, 281 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT

Season: 174/228 (76.3%), 2010 yards, 24 TD, 5 INT

This Week: at UNLV 1-5

* I doubt anyone reading this saw it, but Moore played like a stone-cold killer Saturday afternoon against upset-minded Air Force. With the cadets playing keep away, Moore made the most of hist limited opportunities with the ball in his hands, throwing for three touchdowns and 265 yards. Whenever Air Force threatened late in the second half, Moore calmly led the Broncos down the field to answer. He’s unflappable.

– Allen Kenney, Blatant Homerism

* I have had Kellen Moore all over my Heisman ballot this season but based on last weekend’s performances I find it difficult to have Moore sitting behind the usual names. Moore has passed for over 2,000 yards and thrown 24 touchdowns while completing 76.3% of his passes this season. Those are clearly better numbers than guys like Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson and even a guy like Robert Griffin III for the most part (RGIII has a higher completion percentage, 78%).

– Kevin McGuire, Nittany Lions Den

4) Robert Griffin III (QB-Baylor)- 6 Points, 7.14%, 1 1st Place Vote

Last Week BHP Ranking: #6

Last Week: Idle

Season: 143/183 for 1950 yds (78.1%), 22 TD, 2 INT, 295 yds rushing, 2 rush TD, 1 rec

This Week: at Oklahoma State (7-0)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mhyqhn1LJps?hd=1

* The kid is a wizard and even saddled with two losses on the strength of his defense not being able to stop Kansas State or Texas A&M the kid is playing good football. He is completing passes at a near record clip, 78%, and there is not a better athlete in the nation than RG3. He’s a phenomenal football player and deserves to be recognized.

Also Receiving Votes: Robert Woods (WR- USC) 3 pts, Ryan Broyles (WR- Oklahoma) 3 pts, David Wilson (RB- Virginia Tech) 2 pts, Russell Wilson (QB- Wisconsin) 2 pts, Sammy Watkins (WR- Clemson) 2 pts, Brandon Weedon (QB- Oklahoma State) 2 pts, Tahj Boyd (QB- Clemson) 2 pts, Case Keenum (QB- Houston) 1 pt.

Dropped Out: Tyrann Mathieu (CB- LSU), LaMichael James (RB- Oregon)

New to the Poll: David Wilson, Tahj Boyd

Returning to the Poll: Brandon Weedon, Case Keenum

Poll Notes

– Football is truly a game of inches. Michigan State beat Wisconsin with a last second Haily Mary. With that loss Russell Wilson fell from 2nd to 8th in our poll. But what if they Hail Mary fell short and Wisconsin came back to win? Wilson’s Heisman moment surely could have been in the 4th quarter on his 20+ yard run where he faked a Spartan defender out of his cleats and headed for the end zone.

– Who benefited the most from Russell Wilson’s fall down the poll? It doesn’t look like it was one guy but many. Trent Richardson gained 4 points, Andrew Luck gained 3 points, Kellen Moore gained 3 points and Robert Griffin III gained 3. Wilson’s voters spread out their votes among the field.

– Mr Consistency Andrew Luck stayed at the top of our poll for the fourth consecutive poll. He’s been in the Top 3 in every poll we’ve done and he’s now been #1 in five out of our eight polls.

– Despite not having a big game against Tennessee, Trent Richardson’s campaign picked up some steam. Call it addition by subtraction. Richardson is off this week so it will be interesting to see if any of the voters give his votes to someone who catches their eye on the field next week.

– Another big faller this week was Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu had placed on the last three polls and four out of seven before falling completely off the map this week after being suspended for a failed drug test. With an off-week this week it looks like Mathieu’s unlikely Heisman bid is over unless he goes bananas against Alabama.

– Andrew Luck and Stanford have started to reach the tough part of their schedule. Last week they destroyed a Top 25 team in the Washington. This week they take on Lane Kiffin and 6-1 USC. USC is 10 in the Pac-12 (104th in the Nation) in Passing Defense giving up 265 yards per game.

– Kellen Moore and Boise State take the opposite approach of Stanford as they start getting into some of the weaker teams on their schedule. The Broncos face a 1-5 UNLV team that is fresh off of a beat-down at the hands of Wyoming after getting shut-out 37-0 by a team that Boise beat 30-10 (Nevada). UNLV ranks 115th in the Nation in Pass Defense giving up 295.7 yards per game (two teams have put up over 400 yards passing on them).

– RG3 is back in action this week after being idle last weekend. This is a make it or break it weekend for him. RG3 has new life in the Heisman Race thanks to Russell Wilson and Wisconsin falling to Sparty. Baylor has their work cut-out for them as they face undefeated Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

– Keep an eye on two new entrants in the Bloguin Heisman Poll this week. The first is David Wilson of Virginia Tech. He’s the leading rusher in the FBS and the only game he hasn’t hit the century mark was a 26-7 win for the Hokies over Arkansas State. The other is Tajh Boyd of Clemson. Clemson is undefeated and Boyd is having a fantastic year. Boyd leads the ACC in passing yards by 500 yards over the next competitor (2379 yards) and has an eye-popping TD:INT ratio of 24:3.

– Don’t forget about Case Keenum. He’s just kind of out there. Lurking. A couple of losses could propel him up the poll. Houston is undefeated and that’s in Keenum’s schedule but the schedule they play is not. Regardless you can’t ignore the stats. Right now he leads the Nation in Passing Yardage, is 4th in completion percentage, 2nd in yards/attempt, 2nd in TDs, 3rd in QB rating and he’s only thrown 2 INTs all year.

Bloguin Heisman Poll Roll Call

Aaron Torres Sports– Aaron Torres (@aaron_torres)

Awful Announcing– Matt Yoder (@myoder84)

Awful Announcing– Ryan Yoder (@RYbbc34)

Bearcats Blog– Scott (@bearcatsblog)

Blatant Homerism– Allen Kenney (@blatanthomerism)

College Football Zealots– Kevin (@CFBZ)

College Football Zealots– Pete Sonski (@PSPRGuy)

Eye and Eer– Tom Perry (@eyeandeer)

In The Bleachers– Michael Felder (@InTheBleachers)

Lambeth Field– Hamilton Riley (@lambethfield)

Leftover Hot Dog– Ritch (@LOHDgamecocks)