2010 Heisman Trophy Watch: Cam Newton Shines, but Is Top 5 Drawing Closer?
The 2010 Heisman Trophy Watch is heating up and the picture for college football's biggest award is becoming a lot clearer these days.
As fans have grown accustomed to in recent weeks, most of the top contenders for the ultimate prize in college football continue to shine every Saturday.
But some former front-runners are fading quickly from the Heisman conversation while other forgotten names are making a last-second sprint to try to steal the award.
So what players have quickly faded out of the top 10 and what players are rising to make it there?
Better yet, who are the top remaining contenders for the coveted trophy?
Let's take a look.
The Faders: Robinson, Stanzi and Griffin
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Remember when Denard Robinson was the clearcut Heisman Trophy favorite?
Well, those days are long gone.
Robinson still has very good numbers (3,300 total yards and 26 total touchdowns), but Michigan has lost three of its last five games and Robinson has just as many interceptions (four) as he does touchdowns in the Wolverines' last two games.
He's joined on the list of Heisman faders by Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who has put up solid numbers but lost any chance at a late push with his team's loss at Northwestern this week.
Like Stanzi, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin has been all but eliminated from any Heisman chatter after scoring just one touchdown in the team's last two games, both losses.
The Risers: Peterson, Weeden and Kaepernick
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The forgotten name in that high-scoring Oklahoma State offense is Brandon Weeden.
The quarterback goes largely unnoticed despite passing for 3,300 yards and 27 touchdowns with a 67.2 completion percentage.
Weeden is certainly rising up some Heisman watch lists along with Nevada quarterback Colin Kapernick.
I'm not naive enough to think Kaepernick has an actual shot at the award, but he's good enough—more than 3,000 total yards and 32 total touchdowns—to get some recognition for being the reason you've even heard of Nevada football.
But Kaepernick doesn't get near the publicity of someone like LSU's Patrick Peterson, whose stock has risen as LSU has climbed the polls all the way up to No. 5.
Peterson is an athletic freak of nature, but his numbers aren't all that great because teams don't throw his way.
Still, he'll get consideration, especially if the Tigers finish the season strong.
10. Taylor Martinez, Nebraska
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Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez doesn't have near the numbers that some of the other guys on this list have, but he's excelled as a freshman in the Cornhuskers offense.
He's thrown for more than 1,300 yards, rushed for more than 900 yards and he has 21 total touchdowns to just four interceptions.
Martinez's numbers (touchdowns and total yards) are only slight behind those of Eric Crouch's Heisman-winning season in 2001, and Martinez has Nebraska sitting atop the Big 12 with a 9-1 record.
He has a good chance to improve his statistics when the Cornhuskers travel to Texas A&M on Saturday.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
9. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
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Ryan Mallett was a preseason Heisman favorite, but he's been largely forgotten since Arkansas lost two of three games during a rough stretch in the middle of the season.
Now that Arkansas has won four games in a row, Mallett has reasserted himself as a Hesiman Trophy darkhorse.
He's completed 67.3 percent of his passes on his way to topping 2,900 yards and scoring 28 total touchdowns.
Mallett has more than 900 yards passing, 11 total touchdowns and just one interception in his last three games, all wins by at least 21 points.
8. Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State
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Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor didn't have the greatest statistical performance against Penn State this week, but the Buckeyes won the game and sit at 9-1 on the season.
Pryor has proven to be a solid dual-threat guy, with 2,100 passing yards, 500 rushing yards and 26 total touchdowns, including a rare touchdown reception from the quarterback position.
He's got two big games left--at Iowa and against Michigan—to make a last-second push at the award, but he's probably a bit too far behind at this point.
The good thing for Pryor is that he has stated that he will return for his senior season when he'll be a top Heisman contender again, so he'll certainly have another chance to claim college football's biggest prize.
7. Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma State
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Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter is one of three Cowboys who've been in the Heisman talk this season.
Hunter has averaged more than 135 rushing yards per game on the way to amassing 1,356 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns.
Though Hunter has proven to be one of the nation's biggest rushing threats out of the backfield, he hasn't done much in the passing game, with just 90 receiving yards on the entire season.
Since Hunter isn't even the MVP of his own team, he'll suffer when it comes to the Heisman voting.
6. Andy Dalton, TCU
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TCU quarterback Andy Dalton was a solid sleeper pick until the Horned Frogs played San Diego State too close for comfort last week.
Though Dalton had a very good performance (240 yards and four touchdowns), he needed a monster showing to climb up the Heisman watch list.
Still, Dalton has topped 2,400 passing yards, gained a surprising 400 rushing yards and he has 28 touchdowns on the season.
Given his entire body of work and the fact that TCU is still undefeated, Dalton will get a decent amount of consideration from the voters.
5. Andrew Luck, Stanford
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Andrew Luck's statistics are pretty similar to Dalton's, but Luck has done that in the much tougher Pac-10 conference.
Luck has thrown for more than 2,500 yards, rushed for nearly 400 and scored 25 total touchdowns.
Stanford sits at 9-1 with the Cardinal's lone loss coming on the road against Oregon. And the Cardinal might very well be playing in a BCS bowl come January.
Without Luck, I'm not sure that Stanford is nearly as good as they are right now.
But we'll see just what type of quarterback Luck is when he faces a tough California defense that gave the Ducks all they could handle last week.
4. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State
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That Dez Bryant guy was a great player at Oklahoma State and he's shown flashes of brilliance in the NFL, but Justin Blackmon might be even better.
Just a sophomore, Blackmon has 84 receptions for 1,430 yards and 17 total touchdowns on the season.
In an offense that features Brandon Weeden and Kendall Hunter, Blackmon has been the team's best player week in and week out.
His season low for receiving yards in a game this season is 125, he has five games with at least 10 receptions, he's scored at least once every game and he has five games with multiple touchdown receptions.
Blackmon will likely finish higher in the Heisman voting than any sophomore wide receiver since Larry Fitzgerald.
3. Kellen Moore, Boise State
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I know the knock on Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore is that he plays in the WAC, but the guy has been incredibly accurate his entire career.
During the 2010 season, he's completed 71.9 percent of his passes and thrown for more than 2,800 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Moore's numbers probably won't be as good as they were last year, but that has a lot to do with Moore getting pulled when the Broncos have the game in hand.
There's a very real chance that Boise State finishes the regular season undefeated. But I'm not sure Moore will get the love from the voters considering he didn't get much last year when he threw 39 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
If the voters can overlook the conference he plays in, he's a real threat.
I'm just not sure they can do that.
2. LaMichael James, Oregon
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LaMichael James may be tiny in stature, but his game has been huge all season long.
James has racked up 1,422 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns on just 225 carries.
Like Hunter, he doesn't catch a whole lot of passes, but his impact on Oregon's offense can't be denied.
Despite not playing in Oregon's season-opening 72-0 win, James has racked up three games with at least 225 rushing yards and three games with three rushing touchdowns.
He's scored in all but one game and has seven 100-yard rushing performances.
In all likelihood, a majority of the Heisman votes that Cam Newton loses because of the scandal will go to James.
1. Cam Newton, Auburn
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Auburn quarterback Cam Newton has been a beast of a football player all season.
He's thrown for more than 2,000 yards, rushed for more than 1,200 yards and racked up 38 total touchdowns to just six interceptions.
It's almost a certainty that Newton will become just the second quarterback in NCAA history to rush for 20 touchdowns and throw for 20 more in a single season.
He had the Heisman Trophy on lock until the scandal broke concerning his recruitment, but I'm not so sure that he doesn't still have a firm grasp on the award.
Newton has definitely been the best player in college football all season and several voters have revealed that they still plan to cast their vote for him.
After all, isn't the old expression, "Innocent until proven guilty?"
As of now, you can't keep the award away from Newton when he's clearly the guy who deserves it.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
