Ohio State Football: Why Braxton Miller Should Win Heisman Trophy

Braxton Miller has been a superstar for the Ohio State Buckeyes this season, and he deserves some serious Heisman consideration for his efforts.

The sophomore signal-caller has compiled ridiculous stats—124-of-218 passing for 1,753 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions, plus 184 rush attempts for 1,116 yards and 13 TDs—and has the Buckeyes sitting at 10-0 with two games left in the season.

While the NCAA has banned OSU from postseason play, it’s a sanction against the school and shouldn’t impact voters whatsoever from honoring the elite QB as the best player in college football in 2012.

His main competition is from Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, who has been stuffing the stat sheets and has the undefeated Wildcats ranked No. 2 in the nation and on the cusp of a BCS National Championship Game appearance.

There’s also Oregon’s Kenjon Barner, Alabama’s A.J. McCarron and Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o to be considered—all currently on undefeated teams that are vying for a place in the championship game as well.

While those players are excellent and deserve to be in the discussion, none—with the exception of Klein—have the direct impact on the success of their program as Miller does. When the Buckeyes needed wins over tough, ranked, Big 10 opponents, it was Miller that led them there.

He helped edged Michigan State 17-16—on the road—by completing 16-of-23 passes for 179 yards and a TD, with just one INT. He also ran for a whopping 136 yards on 23 attempts. That was followed up by a shellacking of Nebraska in Ohio Stadium, in which the QB hit on 7-of-14 passes for 127 yards and a TD, plus ran 16 times for 186 yards and another score.

If Miller can string together two more elite performances against the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines to close out the season—plus Klein’s injury is more serious than we think—he’s going to put an exclamation mark on his excellent 2012 Heisman campaign.

Keep it tuned here on B/R for the latest on Braxton Miller, Ohio State Football and the 2012 Heisman race.