Heisman Ceremony 2011: Finalists, TV Schedule, Info on Trophy Presentation

Saturday night at 8:00 P.M. ET, the 77th annual Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony will take place in New York City. The waiting and debating will finally be over as we find out who will be crowned as the best athlete in college football.

Television

ESPN will carry the ceremony. Coverage starts at 8:00 P.M. ET and runs until 9:00 P.M.

Finalists

Stanford's QB Andrew Luck returns to New York, hoping to cap off his junior season with a little extra hardware. Luck has thrown for 3,170 yards and 35 touchdowns. His Stanford team finished the regular season at 11-1, but missed playing in the Pac-12 Championship Game thanks to a loss to Oregon.

Luck was last year's runner-up and entered the season as the front-runner for this year's trophy. However, he has some awfully stiff competition this year.

Baylor's QB Robert Griffin III exploded onto the national stage this year. At one point early in the season, RG3 had more touchdown passes than he did incomplete passes. Griffin has thrown for 3,998 yards and 36 touchdowns.

His most impressive stat, however, might be that he led a traditionally weak Baylor team to a 9-3 record in a Big 12 conference that has gotten a lot of respect from the BCS computer ratings.

RB Trent Richardson of Alabama also heads to New York for a shot at the Heisman. Richardson, a junior, ran for 1,583 yards and scored 20 rushing touchdowns for the Crimson Tide.

The debate rages amongst fans as to how Richardson's stats stack up against those of the quarterbacks in the discussion. Helping his case is that Richardson helped lead his team to the BCS National Championship Game.

Fellow RB Montee Ball of Wisconsin was a late entrance in the Heisman discussion, but he's no less a threat to win the whole thing. Ball leads the nation in rushing yards with 1,759 and has scored 32 rushing touchdowns.

Combine his receiving stats into the mix and Ball has 38 total touchdowns. He's just one shy of matching the legendary Barry Sanders' record for single season scoring for a running back.

Finally, there's LSU's "Honey Badger" CB Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu finished the regular season with two interceptions, five forced fumbles and 71 tackles. He also racked up 420 yards and two touchdowns on punt returns.

Presentation

Along with the revealing of the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, the program will honor past winners celebrating anniversaries, and the presentation of a Humanitarian Award will take place. This year Syracuse's Ernie Davis will be posthumously honored, along with Miami's Vinny Testaverde and Nebraska's Eric Crouch.

Recent Past Winners

The Heisman Trophy dates back to 1935, but was not named the Heisman Trophy until 1936, in honor of its creator John Heisman. Certainly, many great names in college football have won the trophy and gone on to exceptional careers in football. Others saw their playing days very numbered after crowning their college careers with the legendary trophy.

The past five recipients of the Heisman Trophy are: Cam Newton (Auburn) 2010, Mark Ingram (Alabama) 2009, Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) 2008, Tim Tebow (Florida) 2007 and Troy Smith (Ohio State) 2006.