Alabama vs. Florida: Will Trent Richardson Make Heisman Statement at Florida?

No. 3 Alabama heads on the road to take on No. 12 Florida in the swamp. For RB Trent Richardson, this game is a chance to kill two birds with one stone. He could help make a strong statement in the SEC title race, and could make an equally strong statement in the Heisman voting race.

To date, Richardson has averaged a very Heisman-esque 6.58 yards per carry and has scored eight touchdowns on the ground. He's only 59 yards away from crossing the halfway point to 1,000 yards.

However, his name hasn't been as highly touted as you might expect in the Heisman circles. Why is that?

As I've noted repeatedly this season, it's a quarterback class. Andrew Luck, Kellen Moore and Denard Robinson have stolen a ton of the early season headlines.

Robert Griffin III has exploded at Baylor and made some very compelling arguments for his inclusion in the discussion. Then, of course, there's Landry Jones at Oklahoma that has been mentioned repeatedly.

The only running back to consistently grab as much strong love from the pundits is South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore.

It's been an awfully tough class to try and steal away headlines and with Bama's balanced offense, Richardson hasn't been enough of the focus to force viewers away from those other names. After all, if you look at most of those other names, they are their respective teams' offense.

Richardson is a big part of his team's offense, but there's more to Bama than just Trent Richardson.

Florida brings the 5th rated rushing defense in the nation to the table in this match-up. It certainly won't be easy for Richardson to gain mad yards.

However, the Gator pass defense hasn't been much worse, ranking 20th in the nation coming into this game, meaning that the Crimson Tide can't necessarily air it out and let Richardson take a break. It'll take the fullness of their balance to keep the Gator defense on its heels.

There are a couple of ways to look at this for Richardson.

First, what kind of statement would it make if he picks the 5th rated rushing defense to shreds? It's one thing to put up big yards against North Texas (167 on 11 carries). It's something entirely different to put up big yards against a defense with a pulse.

Florida is allowing only 56.5 yards per game of rushing offense. That's a pretty serious statistic. The Gators held Tennessee to negative nine yards rushing. The most they've allowed in a single game was 134 at Kentucky last week.

Right there is the other way to look at this though. Who has Florida faced to grab these gaudy stats?

They started their year against Florida Atlantic (30 yards allowed). They followed that up with home games against UAB (71 yards) and Tennessee (-9 yards). Their last game—as mentioned—was on the road at Kentucky (134 yards).

These teams rank 120th, 115th, 113th and 91st respectively in rushing offense. They aren't exactly rushing factories now, are they?

So, Florida's run defense is untested. They haven't faced anyone like Trent Richardson.

While a lack of quality statistical information doesn't necessarily mean that Florida's run defense isn't good, it doesn't mean they are good either. However, Florida may have a somewhat inflated sense of its defensive prowess based on misleading statistics.

Richardson will find out the truth in a hurry.

With an offensive line that is strong and a pass attack that will help back off the defense a little, expect Richardson make a strong statement. The only question is, will that statement be that he's a Heisman front-runner, or will it be that Florida's run defense isn't really that good?

Or will it be a little of both?