Enough with Tebow's Tears, It's This Heisman Thing I Don't Understand

Today we learned the five finalists for the Heisman Trophy include Florida's quarterback Tim Tebow.  The question I have to ask is why?

Why is a quarterback who ranks 49th in passing yards, 39th in passing touchdowns, and has a completion percentage that is worse than quarterbacks like Greg Paulus, Riley Dodge, Riley Skinner, and Ryan Aplin, a Heisman finalist.

If there was any question to whether Tebow is put on a bit of a pedestal by the media and fans, the question has been answered.  The media obsession with Tim Tebow has put him in a position he didn't earn this season, the Heisman presentation in New York City.

I understand that Tebow has won games, but that just isn't enough when you're talking about the best player in the nation.  If that was, then you'd have to invite Greg McElroy to the ceremony (he does have more passing yards than Tebow with only one less touchdown and one less interception), and everyone knows that McElroy is not deserving of the Heisman Trophy.

This being said, Case Keenum, the quarterback who deserves to be where Tebow is, wasn't even voted into the top five players.

Keenum leads all of college football with an outrageous 5,449 passing yards and 43 touchdowns.  This is 1,581 yards and 4 touchdowns more than any other other quarterback in all of college football.  He has done all of this while completing 71 percent of his passes and only throwing nine interceptions.

Adding Tebow's rushing and passing stats together, he still falls 2,177 yards and 15 touchdowns short of Keenum's total while only turning the ball over four more times. 

I once again understand that Tebow plays in the SEC and only lost one game while Keenum plays in Conference USA, and that there is a distinct differences between those two conferences.  So to be fair let's compare the stats from the only team that each quarterback played, Mississippi State.

Tebow did not throw for a touchdown but did rush for one.  He completed 12 of his 22 passes for 127 yards but threw two interceptions.  He did run for 88 yards in this game as well.

Keenum also threw two interceptions, but threw for 434 yards and four touchdowns.  He ran only three times for 13 yards (this was however a greater yard per carry average that Tebow averaged in the game). 

Keenum led his team to a 10-3 record, recording back to back wins against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State (piling up 801 yards and four touchdowns passing along with two rushing touchdowns in those two games) early in the season. 

The media obsession with Tim Tebow has gone too far.  Tebow's numbers are down from last season and not close to the season he actually won the award.  The fact that he would earn an invitation over the quarterback who has been by far the most impressive in college football all season long in Keenum just makes the Heisman presentation laughable.

Whether you are a fan of Tim Tebow or not, you cannot believe that he has been the best player in college football this season, even if it's what we've been fed by every media outlet all season long.