Why Andrew Luck Still Wouldn't Win the Heisman If Voting Came After Bowl Games

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The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college football. Win it, and your life will change forever as you enter a group of elite players.

Before entering every season, everybody throws out several players who have a chance at winning the award. Some are favorites, and others are dark horses who have an outside shot if they are able to play to their potential. 

The reality is, there are many talented college football players, but only a handful have a chance to win the Heisman.

When the season first started, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was the favorite.

After the regular season came to end, he dropped a couple of spots. Many try to make an argument that the Heisman voting should come after the bowl games, instead of before.

The problem is that Luck wouldn't have won the award even if that were the case.

Here's why.

Numbers Simply Aren't Good Enough

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Andrew Luck had a better season statistically this year, but even with his stats from his bowl game, his numbers aren't good enough.

Luck finished this year with 3,517 passing yards, which is more than 400 yards less than Robert Griffin and about 300 less than Kellen Moore.

He does have the same amount of passing touchdowns that Griffin has on the year, but when you add the Baylor quarterback's 10 rushing touchdowns, it's no contest.

Luck just simply wasn't that impressive this season, as he only passed for more than 300 yards five times this season. Griffin, on the other hand, did it a total of eight times.

Stats never tell the whole story, but they play a big part in the voting, and Luck's numbers aren't as impressive as some of the other candidates'.

Lost to Oklahoma State

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Let's assume that the Heisman voting was after the bowl games. The last image the voters would have of Luck would be him losing the game.

Sure, his numbers were great with 347 passing yards, but in the end, he lost the game.

Meanwhile, Robert Griffin also put up impressive numbers in his bowl game, but he won the game on top of that.

And he provided us with another Heisman moment with his ridiculous 24-yard touchdown run. I wouldn't have been surprised if Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden also jumped him in the voting.

The last game will sometimes either make or break you and for Luck, I believe it would have been the latter.

Lack of Competition

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Let's be honest—the Pac-12 wasn't exactly the strongest conference in college football this season.

In fact, the Cardinal only played four ranked teams this season and lost two of those games.

Not saying Luck isn't a great player, but it's easy to put up impressive numbers when you're playing subpar teams for the most part.

Griffin and company played five ranked teams this year and a few other competitive teams in the Big 12 this season.

It seemed like every game Baylor played, they were in a dogfight and were up against some pretty stiff competition. 

Not taking anything away from Luck, but when you're in the Pac-12 and playing teams that play little to no defense, those numbers are expected.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]