Tale Of Two Comebacks: Tebow Overtakes Jimmy Clausen In The Heisman Race

Ahead of statistical output or anything intangible, the deciding factor for the 2009 Heisman race will be, where is the player's team in the BCS standings?

It shouldn't have to be this way. But after surviving an upset test in the Swamp, spurred on by another gutsy performance from Tim Tebow, the Tebow Child is, once again, 2009's front-runner.

For the first time this year, we can say Tim Tebow was the only reason the Gators won. Maybe, just maybe, we can include kicker Caleb Sturgis, who sealed the game with a decisive 27-yarder.

But it's fair to say the UF defense and special teams units fell far short of the dominant effort expected of them, an effort we saw last week in the 13-3 win over LSU. They allowed five plays to break for over forty yards, including a 75-yard pass from Ryan Mallett to Greg Childs.

They committed costly penalties, allowed Arkansas to get field position on returns, and missed a field goal wide left early in the game. Brandon Spikes absence was profound, and devastating, as Arkansas's backup RB Dennis Johnson racked up 107 yards on 14 carries (prior to this game, he had 13 yards total all year).

In spite of that, Tebow's game clicked when it needed to. Despite his two fumbles, Tebow threw for 255 yards and lead the team in rushing with 69 yards. He was able to overcome Arkansas's six sacks, and was elusive when it counted—on the game's final, 14-play drive that featured an 11-yard strike to Riley Cooper on 3rd-and-10.

With the win, he is now, without question, the leader in the Heisman race.

On the losing end are Jimmy Clausen's Irish, who were unable to pull off the comeback over the sixth-ranked Trojans. Clausen's numbers were solid; he was 24/43 for two touchdowns and, more importantly, no turnovers. But his upset bid fell short when the Irish were unable to score on four attempts inside the USC ten-yard line. His Heisman chances will suffer accordingly.

Granted, Clausen came a lot closer to beating the Trojans than Brady Quinn, who finished third in Heisman balloting in 2006. Quinn's stats against USC were respectable; he threw for three touchdowns in Notre Dame's loss. But Irish went down a quick 21-3 early in the second quarter, lost by 20, and never seriously threatened in the game.

Clausen's team, on the other hand, showed no quit, scoring off Matt Barkley's one interception despite losing 34-13. Despite his dismal first half, Clausen took the Irish on two late long drives to give the Trojans a run, and was in a position to tie in the fourth. His pass to Robby Parris on 4th-and-10, while the pocket closed around him, was stellar, and the Irish had two chances to even the score as time expired.

If he'd connected on either of those throws, and gone on win it in overtime, Clausen is, unquestionably, your Heisman forerunner today.

As it stands, though, don't buy any arguments on how Jimmah's performance was good enough to overcome the loss to the voters. Stats do not mitigate the fact that the Heisman, in its current form, rewards players on teams ranked higher than the Irish.

When you think about it, we've actually seen this Heisman race before. In 2006, Quinn, another Irish quarterback with outstanding talent, statistics to burn, and a couple great comebacks under his belt , but without a win against the premier competition, was chasing Troy Smith—a dynamic, physically gifted, record-breaking quarterback leading the nation's number one team.

But recall that the voting in 2006 wasn't even close. Troy Smith, having led the undefeated Buckeyes into the national championship, won in a landslide. Quinn came in a distant third.

Clausen will be third also, if he even cracks the top three. And the main reason he'll have tumbled will be because the last time the Heisman was awarded to a player on a team not in the BCS, it was, you guessed it, to Tim Tebow in 2007.

The Gators were 9-3, with losses to LSU, Georgia, and Auburn, and were still ranked ninth in the country heading into the Capital One Bowl. Tebow won on the strength of his record-breaking season, becoming the first quarterback to run and throw for twenty touchdowns in one year in the SEC. But he still benefited from a truly wonky 2007 Heisman race that listed unranked, 8-4 Arkansas RB Darren McFadden second and Hawaii QB Colt Brennan third.

Do I think this system is fair? Absolutely not.

Tebow needed to overcome odds he himself contributed to. His fumbles deep in Arkansas territory are inexcusable. Notably, he did not throw a pick, though keep in mind Arkansas's was the worst defense in the conference and bottom drawer in the nation.

And why would I root for the best player on the No. 1 team in the nation? College football is fueled by the chaotic drive. That's why we love upsets.

But as much as the hype irritates me, and as little as I'd like to see it happen, there's so little in the way of winning competition that Tebow will likely coast. This last game saw him break another SEC record: most touchdowns by a Florida and SEC player, 143, set by former Gator Danny Wuerffel. Wuerffel, remember, won the stiff-armed man in 1996, his senior year.

You can count out Bradford, who re-aggravated his shoulder injury against Texas, and is in no  physical or statistical position to challenge.

Colt McCoy's case is a little harder to dismiss, just because, according to this framework, he should still be a contender. Texas is 7-0, right?

But if you saw McCoy's weak performance in the Red River Shootout, you would agree, McCoy is far from being the most dynamic player in the nation. The Texas win over Oklahoma was bizarre—winning on defensive and special teams plays, and in spite of its quarterback, not because of him.

Aside from the well-placed slant for the touchdown, McCoy threw an ugly pick that could have gone the other way for six, and was generally rattled and uninspiring. He had 127 passing yards, and 33 rushing yards on 14 attempts.

He has failed to stake a claim as anything but a lucky scrambler who has plateaued as a passer since his sophomore year. The absence of hype around McCoy's efforts is indicative of the lack of legitimacy.

But there is still some good news. The Heisman vote isn't tomorrow. Anyone actively rooting against Tebow might get their wish if the Gators start messing up one of these close games and aren't able to come back. They've regressed on offense to the point where that's possible. Considering South Carolina's stout defensive effort against Alabama, the Gators away game on Nov. 14th is now the upset to watch.

And new players still have time to make their presence felt in the race, most notably Alabama's Mark Ingram.

Ingram has now iced two close games with powerful, explosive runs in the fourth quarter. His late touchdowns against Virginia Tech and South Carolina should get people talking. And the good news is, in the framework of this new understanding of the voting, Alabama is winning is well. And they should continue to win if they keep feeding Ingram the ball.

If the Gators lose between now and the SEC championship game, Tebow's Heisman hopes will  suffer accordingly. But this week marked the crossing of a critical point; don't count on the Gators keeping another game this close.

On the other hand, watch for big games from Ingram against Tennessee next week and LSU on Nov. 7th. A lot of ground needs to be made up between now and then, but Ingram has time and talent to do it.

That means the SEC championship featuring Florida and Alabama is, as of this moment, your Heisman/national championship playoff. And if the Tide can pull off the revenge win, the 2009 Heisman acceptance speech might still be mercilessly Tebow-free.