Voters have spoken: Give Tebow the Heisman, again
Tim Tebow has done everything else, why not win back-to-back Heismans? That's the Florida quarterback's next accomplishment according to the results of a comprehensive polling of 32 Heisman voters by CBSSports.com this week. The voters -- all media members -- selected Tebow over Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford by a scant seven points. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was third. The poll represents approximately 3.5 percent of the 925 Heisman voters. In selecting voters, CBSSports.com tried to achieve a balance by getting participants from all regions of the country.
Official Heisman ballots are due Wednesday but there still doesn't seem to be a national consensus. In fact, the narrow margin in this sampling suggests that the Heisman vote might be among the closest votes in history.
| CBSSports.com Heisman poll |
| 1. Tim Tebow, Florida, 69 points (16 first-place votes) |
| 2. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, 62 (9) |
| 3. Colt McCoy, Texas, 55 (7) |
| 4. Graham Harrell, Texas Tech 4 |
| (tie) 5. Percy Harvin, Florida, 1; Shonn Greene, 1 |
In the CBSSports.com poll, Tebow was first with 69 points. He was voted No. 1 on 16 of 31 ballots. (He was not selected on one ballot). Bradford was second with 62 points. The Oklahoma sophomore got nine first-place votes. McCoy finished with 55 points and was picked first on seven ballots.
The only other players to get votes were Texas Tech's Graham Harrell (four points) and Florida's Percy Harvin and Iowa's Shonn Greene (one point each). A player got three points for first, two points for second and one point for third.
Tebow might have made the latest, greatest statement. The defending Heisman winner threw for three touchdowns and led the first fourth-quarterback comeback in his illustrious career Saturday against Alabama.
B.G. Brooks of the Rocky Mountain News was typical of Tebow's supporters.
"Count this voter among the Tebow touters for this reason: He did everything possible to rally the Gators after their lone loss, then capped his regular season with a magnificent championship game against a top flight Alabama defense.
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| Tebow knows the way to New York City. (Getty Images) |
If Tebow is able to take home the hardware on Saturday he would be history's second back-to-back winner. Ohio State's Archie Griffin won the award in 1974-75. Like Griffin, Tebow's statistics declined in the season after winning the Heisman. After throwing and running for a combined 55 touchdowns in 2007, that total for Tebow is down to 40 total touchdowns this season. His current rushing average (3.66 yards) is a career low.
But for the charismatic junior it's more about emotion. On Sept. 27 after a one-point loss to Mississippi, Tebow apologized and vowed that no team would work harder the rest of the season. Florida then won its next nine games and on Sunday clinched a spot in its second BCS title game in three years.
"While most of the Heisman attention has been focused on quarterbacks in the Big 12, and deservedly so ...," wrote Mobile Press-Register columnist Tommy Hicks, "I have been impressed by the way Tebow has almost willed his team back into contention and, with the SEC crown, back into another national title game.
"His biggest competition is himself, based on what he did a year ago and the unfair comparisons between the seasons."
Bradford has thrown 48 touchdowns against only six interceptions for what became the most productive offense in modern college football history. Four times this season, he tied the school record with five touchdown passes in a game. One of those was head-to-head against McCoy in Oklahoma's 45-35 loss to Texas on Oct. 11.
"Colt has done more with less. Frankly, nobody expected the Longhorns to be in the BCS discussion this season," wrote Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle. "I believe it will come down to the Big 12 quarterbacks ... I wish I could do a 1A, 1B and 1C. They are all deserving. I wonder how the Heisman breaks a three-way tie? Hope it's not by using the BCS."
  Who will win the Heisman Trophy? Tim Tebow Colt McCoy Sam Bradford Total Votes: 58,412 |
The three players -- expected to be named finalists on Wednesday -- will go to New York not having a clear idea of who is going to win. That point is supported by two other noted Heisman polls. The Rocky Mountain News on Monday had McCoy on top by one point over Bradford. The latest Heisman Pundit/Orlando Sentinel poll has Bradford No. 1.
The narrowest Heisman-winning margin was 45 points when Auburn's Bo Jackson won the award over Iowa quarterback Chuck Long in 1985. The second-closest margin was 53 points in 1961 when Syracuse's Ernie Davis beat Ohio State's Bob Ferguson.
This decade has featured two of the nine closest votes in Heisman history. Florida State's Chris Weinke won the award by 76 points in 2000. Eric Crouch of Nebraska won by a 62-point margin in 2001.
If Bradford is able to win, two Heisman winners would play in the same BCS title game for the second time in four years. USC's Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush were teammates in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
That year's Heisman winner has played in six previous BCS title games. Leinart, in 2004, was the only player to win.
To see the names of the voters in the CBSSports.com poll, Dennis Dodd's Heisman ballot and the rest of the national notes see his blog Dodds and Ends.
