Alabama is the best team in the nation. Even though Texas is a bad matchup for them, I expect the Tide to claim their eighth national championship in a very close game. But if there is justice in this world, Alabama will have to wait another year (or two, when Trent Richardson makes a run) to claim its first Heisman Trophy.
Mark Ingram had a very nice season. But being the best offensive player (arguably) on the best team does not cinch the Heisman for you. Especially if offense is the weakest of your team's three units (inarguably).
I love that people act as if Ingram was special against Florida. He was good, but that's it. To put it in perspective, Ingram rushed for 4.0 yards per carry yesterday. Toby Gerhart's WORST ypc day was 4.4 this season.
Never mind that Gerhart had 196 more rushing yards and 11 more touchdowns in one fewer game. The damning argument against Ingram is that he was rarely the best player on his own team against Bama’s elite opponents. Against the six best teams the Tide played (VT, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Florida), Ingram had a total of five TDs. Three were yesterday.
Did Gerhart have a similar problem? Let’s see. Here are Gerhart’s rushing numbers against the best opponents he played:
200 yards, 1 TD
96 yards, 2 TD
123 yards, 2 TD
223 yards, 3 TD
178 yards, 3 TD
136 yards, 4 TD
205 yards, 3 TD (also a passing TD)
To make it simple, Gerhart had two fewer touchdowns in November alone than Ingram had all season.
A dumb argument is that Ingram played much tougher competition. Um, no. First of all, the Pac-10 is far and away the second best conference in college football. Both are wrong, but a person who says the Pac-10 is better than the SEC is less insane than someone who says the Pac-10 is the 3rd best conference. Secondly, Alabama played Florida International, North Texas and Chattanooga.
Stanford ranked opponents: 6 out of 12
Alabama ranked opponents: 5 out of 13
People are saying this year’s Heisman race is as close as it’s been in a long time. For me, Gerhart this year is the most obvious vote since Ricky Williams in 1998. Unless you are willing to vote for a defensive player — and few players on that side of the ball have ever been as deserving as Suh is this year — the only answer is Toby Gerhart.
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