Oregon Ducks Win Big, but LaMichael James Does Not Deserve Heisman Trophy Talk

Cameron Newton has been on fire this year, and is at the top of most people's Heisman list—at least the reasonable people. The real question is trying to decide who is No. 2.

A lot of people are saying that LaMichael James is the only other player in college that has a chance to win the Heisman this year and that makes me sad.

LaMichael James is a great player, and I don't want to knock him personally, but if anybody uses logic, then James should be hovering around the bottom of the lists, if he even deserves to be mentioned at all. James plays for the top scoring offense in football and still doesn't put up extraordinary numbers.

In Thursday's game against UCLA, James wasn't even the best running back on his team. In fact, if you look at yards per carry, then he finished fourth on his team, as three other running backs averaged nine yards per carry. James didn't reach seven yards per carry. If you look at touchdowns, he came in second, scoring twice on 20 carries, while Alston Jr. carried eight times and scored three TDs. My point here is that everyone on Oregon is great, and James is the beneficiary of getting the most carries, but no matter who is in, everyone on Oregon's offense is performing at a very high level. 

My question is this, if LaMichael James isn't the most important person on his offense (Darron Thomas obviously is), then how can he be in the discussion for the best player in the country? This is eerily similar to the highway robbery that happened last year when Mark Ingram won the award. Ingram wasn't the best player in the country (N. Suh), he wasn't the best player at his position (Toby Gerhart), and he wasn't even the best player on his own team (R. McClain), so how did he win the award? It doesn't make sense to me, just like it doesn't make sense that James is so high on Heisman lists this year.

Oregon is scoring tons, and putting up huge numbers, and James is responsible for only 25 percent or less of Oregon's yards and scoring, while all the other players on the list are responsible for over 50 percent of their teams yards and scoring. If you want to argue that the others are quarterbacks, then look a little deeper into the statistics. Cameron Newton has rushed for nearly half of his teams total rushing yards, and scored over half of their rushing TDs. Robinson has rushed for more than half of his teams total rushing yards. James hasn't rushed for half of his teams rushing yards, or scored half of his teams rushing TDs. 

But the most important point is this, James is one of many talented players on Oregon, while all others in the discussion are hands down the best player on their team and the most important cog in the offensive wheel. Without them, the offense would sputter. Not the case with James and the Ducks.

Denard Robinson leads all of college football in rushing and basically carried Michigan through the first five games of the season. Most people are down on him because Michigan has lost the last two games, and Robinson is dealing with injury issues.

I agree, if Michigan continues to lose, and Robinson continues to play sparingly due to injuries, then yes, he should drop from the top of the list. However, if he is able to continue to play at a high level, and help lead Michigan to several big wins down the stretch, then I think he at least deserves to be recognized as one of the best players in college football. 

Kellen Moore is the opposite of D. Robinson, as Moore has quietly played as close to perfect as possible. Moore leads all quarterback with a passer rating of 190.35. He has 16 touchdowns and one interception, and plays nearly flawless football every time out. He is the best player on one of the best teams, and without him, Boise State would struggle offensively. 

Here's hoping that the voters look at James as a great running back, but also recognize that up to this point, he doesn't even deserve to be in the discussion as the best player in football.