No clear front-runner for this year’s Heisman

Nebraska lineman Ndamukong Suh may not win the award but his performance against Texas and Colt McCoy broke the race open.

McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A trend figures to be disrupted tonight no matter who wins the Heisman Trophy.

If it’s running back Mark Ingram, he’ll become the first Alabama player to capture college football’s top individual award.

If it’s Nebraska tackle Ndamukong Suh, he’ll become only the second winner from the defensive side in the award’s 75 years.

If Stanford running back Toby Gerhart wins, he’ll have come out of nowhere, and if he joins Ingram and Suh in the top three, it will mark the first time since 1980 that a quarterback hasn’t finished in the money.

If it’s Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, he’ll become the second to win it twice.

If it’s Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, well, he’d be the first winner whose middle name is Colt. Daniel is his first name.

OK, the last one is a stretch, but the idea that this is something of an unusual Heisman competition — and perhaps one of the closest — isn’t.

“To me, it’s really up in the air,” said two-time Heisman winner and voter Archie Griffin, a former Ohio State running back.

The race was scrambled from the beginning when last season’s winner, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, was injured on opening weekend and appeared in only three games this season.

That pushed the second- and third-place finishers in last year’s voting, McCoy and Tebow, into the role of favorites. They led their teams to perfect regular seasons, but uneven play in the conference championship games last weekend might have cost them, because opponents in those games made greater statements.

Ingram rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns, and took a screen pass 69 yards in the Crimson Tide’s victory over Florida for the Southeastern Conference championship. That performance pushed his season total to a school-record 1,542 rushing yards.