Heisman Watch 2011: 5 Players We Can All Scratch from the List

The list of Heisman front-runners undergoes a serious amount of fluctuation throughout the course of the year.

Once we get this late into the season, every game is integral in determining which candidates are most deserving.

With two weeks of games (one for some) left before the ballots are cast, here are five guys that should be taken out of consideration, with the focus moving to more realistic candidates.

LaMichael James, Oregon Ducks

LaMichael James has put up some gaudy numbers this season considering he's only played in eight full games for the Oregon Ducks. 

He leads the nation with 142 rushing yards per game, he has 13 touchdowns on the year, and his 7.4 yards per carry is almost two yards better than that of Alabama's Trent Richardson.

However, with the Ducks' second loss of the season, James is effectively out of the Heisman race.

This may seem unfair, considering he did rush for over 140 yards and three touchdowns against the Stanford Cardinal.

Still, James did play two of his worst games of the year in the Ducks' losses to the LSU Tigers and USC Trojans.

Kellen Moore, Boise State Broncos

Kellen Moore has been phenomenal this season, completing over 73 percent of his passes for 35 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

His career, in which he's thrown for over 13,000 yards and 134 touchdowns, should be celebrated. 

However, for a guy playing for the Boise State Broncos to have any shot at winning the Heisman, his team had to go undefeated.

Moore may have been flawless against the TCU Horned Frogs, but their defense was not, and any chance he had at the Heisman Trophy went out the window with that missed field goal.

Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State Cowboys

Two weeks ago, Brandon Weeden looked like a lock for one of the five spots in New York.

But then the Oklahoma State Cowboys traveled to face the Iowa State Cyclones, and Weeden's Heisman hopes fluttered away with the Cowboys' dreams of making it to the BCS National Championship Game.

The thing that hurts Weeden is that, unlike Kellen Moore, his play was integral in costing his team the game.

Weeden threw three costly interceptions against Iowa State, helping the Cyclones in their come-from-behind victory.

Montee Ball, Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin Badger Montee Ball has played his way back on to a lot of Heisman lists the last few weeks, rushing for seven touchdowns in the last three games, and over 200 yards in two of those three games.

Color me unimpressed. The three opponents he racked up these numbers against are a combined 6-15 in Big Ten play.

Ball was mediocre when the Wisconsin Badgers lost consecutive games this season, and that will be enough to keep Ball from being a Heisman finalist.

He will be passed over in favor of more deserving candidates like quarterbacks Robert Griffin III or Matt Barkley.

Tajh Boyd, Clemson Tigers

As the rest of this list shows, as the team goes, so goes the candidate. Like Kellen Moore and Brandon Weeden, Tajh Boyd was a solid Heisman candidate a few weeks ago.

But unlike Moore and Weeden, Boyd's team has lost two games in the last few weeks. What's more, those two games happened to be Boyd's worst two games of the season.

In Clemson's losses to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and North Carolina State Wolfpack, Boyd threw four interceptions against just one touchdown.

His Heisman hopes were dashed completely by the throttling last week at the hands of Mike Glennon and the Wolfpack.