Ohio State Football: How Does Terrelle Pryor Feel About Cam Newton Mania?

To start the 2010 season, many prognosticators had Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor pegged as a favorite for the Heisman Trophy.

But as we head to the end of October, Pryor is no longer mentioned as a candidate for college football's greatest award.

Part of that has to deal with OSU's loss at Wisconsin on October 16, but also because of another No. 2 in Auburn: Cameron Newton.

Newton, a former 5-star recruit like Pryor, is in his first year as Auburn's starting QB, and has the Tigers rolling through the SEC to the No. 2 ranking in the BCS.

In his first season under Gus Malzahn, Newton is third in the country in QB rating at 172.6 and fourth in rushing yards with 1,122 yards, less than 100 yards behind other Heisman candidate LaMichael James.

Thanks to Malzahn's offense and Newton's hard running, the Tigers have the No. 4 rushing offense at over 300 yards per game.

Through this season, Newton has accounted for 30 TDs: 15 passing, 14 rushing and one receiving.

By comparison, Pryor has thrown for 20 TDs, but has only run for four touchdowns with  just 84 carries for 463 yards.

Most of his lack of running is due to his continued injury troubles, but also his work to improve himself as a pocket passer, which has been a significant improvement from years past.

But is the reason Pryor is no longer mentioned in Heisman talks just because of the loss to Wisconsin? Or is it because of how dominant Newton has been?

For the most part, the reason that Newton is having so much more success this season than Pryor is because the Auburn offense is more structured to allow Newton to run more.

It doesn't help that the injury Pryor suffered against Illinois has limited his running in addition to knee injuries he has suffered in his past two seasons.

The health problems Pryor has had has forced him to develop more into a pure passer, where he has become much better, though he still has some mental hiccups from time to time.

A healthy Pryor would probably have run much more than he has this season, and he would still be right up there in the Heisman race.

But for the moment, Cam Newton has stolen the spotlight. Pryor has recognized how strong Newton has been playing in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

But as is customary with most Heisman races, the success of the team plays a huge role in who wins the Heisman. This year, the top two teams in the nation are Auburn and Oregon, and each have star players that are Heisman candidates.

Pryor will need to be very strong in the final three games against five-win teams Penn State and Michigan, and at No. 16 Iowa.

Auburn, on the other hand, has only one tough game left at rival Alabama for a shot at the SEC Championship Game.

But for now, the way Newton has played in big games against Arkansas and LSU has him ahead of Pryor.

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