Heisman Trophy Watch: 3 Players Who Screwed Up Their Heisman Campaigns

Through the first four or five weeks, the Heisman race has largely been an open one. Several familiar names appeared on the list, and a few new ones tossed their names in the hat.

Now, however, the competition starts to get stiffer. Teams have all entered conference play (unless they're Independents, of course) and the days of padding stats against patsies are over.

As unfortunate as it may be, the Heisman Trophy isn't really about the best player in America. Not really. It's about the best player who plays on a good team. That's just the way it is.

For those who have the benefit of playing on good teams, the race is really heating up. Stats continue to pile up and records threaten to fall, while key match-ups promise to test the leaders.

This week, a few popular names may well have blown their shot at the biggest individual award in all of college football. They're still great players, but they're now a week behind, thanks to less-than-stellar performances or key losses at unfortunate times.

Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan

Denard Robinson is undeniably one of the most talented athletes in all of college football. Week after week, he's made incredible plays and led his Michigan Wolverine team to victory.

Not so much this week.

Robinson had been averaging over seven yards per carry and over 120 yards per game on the ground. Against Michigan State, Shoelace couldn't seem to find daylight anywhere he looked.

Held to just 42 yards and a 2.3 average, Denard couldn't provide that spark that had been so electrifying in the early portion of the season. He still made some cuts and moves, but usually he just ended up right back in the face of a Spartan.

Through the air, things were arguably even worse.

Robinson completed just 9 of 24 passes for 123 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The numbers aren't pretty, but some of those incompletions were even less so. Ugly floaters wobbled in the air and threatened to get picked off.

In truth, it's a minor miracle that Robinson was only intercepted once. At least two more bounced off Spartan hands or dropped right in front of them. This easily could have been a one touchdown, three interception performance with nothing going on the ground to help offset those ugly numbers.

Finally, Robinson couldn't lead his team to victory this time. Michigan State manhandled the Wolverines and came away with a 28-14 win.

Robinson may have looked flashy at times, but against the best defense the Wolverines have faced so far, he couldn't get anything done and that will weigh heavily with the voters.

Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina

Lattimore is one of the best running backs in the nation. There's no question about that. He ranks right up there with LaMichael James and Trent Richardson in my book.

However, Saturday he didn't look very Heisman worthy.

On 17 carries, Lattimore averaged just 2.3 yards per carry in picking up 39 yards and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 29 more yards.

Those aren't very impressive numbers.

More importantly however, Lattimore was injured late in the game against Mississippi State. The early assessment was that he had sprained his left knee, but the possibility was left open that it could be even worse.

It's not likely that Lattimore will be back on the field next week, or possibly for a number of weeks. While he may have been able to eventually rebound and perform convincingly enough to keep himself in the race, that's not likely now.

The good news is that Lattimore is just a sophomore and will have more opportunities in the future. The bad news is, his race for this year is probably done.

Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor

This is where we come back to what I was saying at the very beginning. Sometimes a player can look exceptionally good, but fail to lead their team to victory and ultimately lose the Heisman as a result.

I hate that it's the way it is. Personally, I think that—if a player is obviously great—it shouldn't really matter what the win/loss record of their team is. Did that player know his team was going to fail him when he signed up to play for them? Did they even know they'd be in the running for the Heisman Trophy at all?

Probably not.

Against Texas A&M, Griffin put up very Heisman-esque numbers. He completed 70 percent of his passes, threw for 430 yards and scored three touchdowns. He also threw an interception, but it was only his second of the season.

However, look what happened around him.

The Baylor run game went nowhere and the defense rolled over on the Aggies and gave up 681 yards and 55 points. The Bears were rolled 55-28.

Should Griffin see his Heisman hopes disintegrate because the rest of his team couldn't do enough to stay in this game? No. Will they disintegrate though? Very possibly, yes.

Losing one game will not destroy a Heisman dream. Losing three may not even do it, but Baylor won't likely end their season with just the three losses. They still have trips to Oklahoma and Kansas State in front of them—as well as home dates against Texas and Missouri.

If Baylor ends the season with even four losses, Griffin can forget about a Heisman Trophy. For whatever reason, true Heisman candidates are supposed to lead their team to victory no matter what. I'm not sure what more he could be doing, unless they want him to suit up and play defense too.

That's the way it goes though and this embarrassing loss likely took him out of legitimate running.

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