Trent Richardson vs. Montee Ball: The Pros and Cons of Both Heisman Finalists

Oregon’s LaMichael James may have been the running back who received the most Heisman attention during the preseason, but there’s no questioning who the top two backs in college football were this season.

Alabama’s Trent Richardson and Wisconsin’s Montee Ball both had huge campaigns in 2011, as they each helped guide their respective teams to 11-win seasons and a BCS bowl game.

Richardson and Ball gave opposing defenses headaches all season long, as they continually torched their opponents, and looked damn impressive doing it.

For their efforts this season, the two breakout junior stars each earned an invitation to New York City for the Heisman ceremony, but the question is, which back deserves the award more?

Let’s weigh the pros and cons of both Trent Richardson and Montee Ball to see who deserves to take home college football’s most prestigious award.

Trent Richardson Pros

After rushing for over 700 yards in each of his first two seasons, Trent Richardson stepped into the starting role this season and really made the most of the opportunity, as he flourished as the main man in the Alabama backfield and carried the Alabama offense all year long.

The 5’11’’, 225-pound junior rumbled for 1,583 yards on the ground, added 327 yards receiving and scored 23 total touchdowns this season.

Those numbers are impressive enough, but when you factor in that Richardson put them up against some of the top competition that college football has to offer, they only look even more impressive.

Richardson truly looked like a man amongst boys throughout the 2011 season, and he basically did everything you want a Heisman candidate to do—win games, put up big numbers, step up on the big stage and make a few highlight-reel plays along the way.

Trent Richardson Cons

If you watch Trent Richardson, it’s hard to find many flaws in his game, but if you were going to knock him for anything this year, it would be that he didn’t do enough to beat LSU.

Yes, Richardson certainly had a good game against the tenacious Tigers defense, as he totaled 169 yards of offense, but the fact is, he couldn’t get his team over the hump and lead them to victory in the most crucial game of the season.

If Alabama had beaten LSU and ended the season ranked No. 1, Trent Richardson would probably be the consensus favorite going into Saturday's ceremony.

You can also make the case that Richardson benefited from playing behind one of the strongest offensive lines in college football. Admittedly, that certainly helped his production, but if you watched him run and break tackles at the second level, you’ll know that he wasn’t just a product of his big front five.

Montee Ball Pros

Last year, Wisconsin employed a three-headed rushing attack that included Montee Ball, James White and John Clay, but this year, it was all about one guy, and that was Montee Ball.

Ball became the go-to back for the Badgers this season, as he stepped up and rushed for 1,759 yards and scored 38 total touchdowns.

The junior rusher eventually ended up stealing the spotlight from his star senior quarterback teammate Russell Wilson, who began the season on the short list of Heisman contenders.

Remarkably, Ball scored at least two touchdowns in all but two of the 13 games he played in this year, and without him, there’s simply no way that Wisconsin would have won a Big Ten championship and made it to the Rose Bowl.

You know you're doing something right when you can lead the country with 230 total points scored, and the margin between you and the next-closest player is 74 points.

Montee Ball Cons

If you wanted to downgrade Montee Ball for something, you can bring up the point that he was running through some humongous holes this year, created by one of the biggest and strongest offensive lines we've seen in college football in quite a few years.

There were times when Ball would go 10 yards before a defender would even touch him.

It also helped that he got to go up against just some truly terrible run defenses like Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue.

You can also get on Ball a little bit for not being a bigger factor in Wisconsin's two losses to Michigan State and Ohio State, which turned out to be the only two games in which he was held to just one touchdown.

So Who Deserves the Heisman More?

You can make a pretty convincing case that both of these players truly deserve to hoist the Heisman, but I think if you’re going simply by the “Wow Play” factor, then I would go with Trent Richardson.

Sure, Ball had the better numbers, but he didn’t have as many tackle-breaking, bulldozing runs that just made you go “Wow, that guy’s special” as Richardson did this year.

Personally, my Heisman vote would go to Baylor QB Robert Griffin III, but if either Richardson or Ball ended up taking home the trophy, you wouldn’t hear me complaining too much.