Heisman Watch 2011: 3 Reasons Stanford's Andrew Luck Won't Win the Heisman

As soon as Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck announced that he would be returning to school for his junior season, he instantly became the poster boy of college football.

All throughout the summer we had to hear about how awesome Andrew Luck is, and you know what, he’s come out and backed up the hype in his first four games.

Sure, the competition hasn’t been anywhere close to stellar, but Luck has already thrown for over 1,000 yards and 11 TDs as he’s guided the Cardinal to a 4-0 record and a Top 10 national ranking.

Luck will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft if he decides to come out, but his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy just aren’t as strong.

Here are three reasons that you won’t hear Andrew Luck’s name called at the Heisman ceremony in December.

Weak Schedule

Andrew Luck is facing the same dilemma as Boise State QB Kellen Moore.

Like Moore, Luck just isn’t playing in enough showcase games out there on the West Coast to really captivate the country’s attention.

Stanford only has one matchup with a ranked opponent, No. 9 Oregon, left on its schedule.

Luck is really going to have to make the most of that game against the Ducks.

There will also be a road game at USC and an end-of-the-year tilt with Notre Dame, a team that should get a lot better as the season wears on.

As a whole, though, the Pac-12 is just too weak compared to the likes of the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12.

Luck will put up similar numbers to his big 2010 season, but the lack of marquee games is going to be a lot to overcome.

The highly touted junior will have to guide Stanford to an undefeated season and really light up Oregon, USC and Notre Dame if he wants to win the Heisman this year.

Too Much Competition

It seems like this is going to be one of those years when the Heisman race runs deep, and that’s only going to serve to hurt Andrew Luck’s chances.

There’s a lot of competition out there right now, and even though players will fall out of the race as different teams start getting knocked off, right now, you have to look at the list of contenders and say “Whoa!”

Russell Wilson, Trent Richardson, Robert Griffin III, LaMichael James, Tyrann Mathieu, Landry Jones, Tajh Boyd, Kellen Moore, Brandon Weeden and Denard Robinson.

That’s 10 serious heavyweights right there.

There are going to be a lot of strong candidates who deserve an invitation to New York City in December.

Stanford’s Not as Good as Advertised

Stanford is still one of the highly ranked mystery teams that we just don’t know enough about yet.

So far, the Cardinal have asserted their dominance over weak competition, but is this team really going to be able to survive without Jim Harbaugh all season long?

The defense has been stout, but they also haven't been tested yet.

Andrew Luck is going to need this team to run the table and win the Pac-12 championship if he wants to take home the Heisman, however, it remains to be seen whether Stanford has the horses to win the conference race.