Time To Choose

This newfangled Internet thingy is a boon to the throngs who will choose the next Heisman Trophy winner. How so? The entire balloting finally has gone online. Voters (including four from the Albuquerque Journal) can wait until Monday to type, click and send. And wait we will, many of us until the last minute. That is sooo December anyway, right? Yet in this case it's for the best. It gives us all one last glimpse at the several contenders. It's also given the publicity engines one more time to fire away. In one mailbox at work Tuesday: a postcard hailing Texas' Colt McCoy as the NCAA's all-time winningest quarterback. There also was an express mail package from Austin, Texas. Hmmm. A few shakes made the rustling sound of paper. Cash, maybe? Alas, more paper and a DVD praising McCoy. All that's good, but doing well this weekend will be better. McCoy came on last week, which was the most critical of the season to make a big impression. Voters by then knew who the contenders are. And they were doing precisely what the casual fans were doing: Family, fun and football . Otherwise, if you think all the media see all the good players several times a year, you're naive. Time, travel and that week's game get in the way of seeing much else. Anyway, on Thanksgiving night, McCoy feasted on a weak Texas A&M defense. Then on Black Friday, Alabama running back Mark Ingram found less room to move than shoppers in a Walmart aisle. If votes were due 10 days ago, Ingram would have won. But he's still a guy with 1,429 rushing yards and gets a shot at No. 1 Florida on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game. McCoy faces Nebraska in the Big 12's version of the same. Clemson's C.J. Spiller gets a shot at Georgia Tech in the ACC final. And if he's the most exciting, dangerous player in the country, Stanford's Toby Gerhart is probably the most productive. Gerhart, the nation's second-leading rusher, has gone crazy in the last four games - 742 yards and 13 touchdowns rushing on Oregon, USC, Cal and Notre Dame. For good measure, he also threw an 18-yard TD pass last week against the Irish. Ingram, presented the same opportunity against Auburn and its eight defenders in the box, missed a wide-open Tide receiver in the end zone. One Ca l i for n ia w r iter recently presented an interesting premise: That Gerhart is a victim of racial discrimination, and if he were a black tailback putting up the same numbers, we would be all over him. But if he comes up short, it's more likely because he's a West Coast guy who plays for somebody not named Southern Cal. Speaking of obscurity, you think it's hard for a Mountain West Conference team to squeeze its way into the BCS title game? Not remotely as hard as getting an MWC player in serious Heisman discussion. Until they get better TV exposure than that The mtn. network, so many voters East of Fort Worth are saying, "What? Who?" Sorry, Andy Dalton. More watchers are familiar with Kellen Moore, Boise State's super soph QB who gets a shot at New Mexico State on Saturday. Say what you will about the Western Athletic Conference; being on the ESPN family of networks, even if it's Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, is superior exposure. The heart-warming stories abound, and the schools' sports information directors will make sure we hear them again this weekend. Everybody knows McCoy once swam 300 yards across a lake with his daddy to help save the life of a man suffering a seizure. That Florida's Tim Tebow ( Heisman w inner, 2 0 07) wants to knock you over, then pick you up and lead you to Christ. Or that Ingram has a daddy in prison, a former Super Bowl receiver of the same name who stayed on the lam last year so he could watch his son's games on TV. Good thing his son isn't at TCU. My Heisman vote If it were today. It can change by Monday. 1. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas: He has work to do still against a tough Nebraska defense led by tackle Ndamukong Suh. If Suh shines, he could get third on this ballot. 2. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama: He was ineffective against Auburn. But if he is the big reason the Tide beats No. 1 Florida and its No. 1-ranked defense, it won't matter. 3. Toby Gerhart, Stanford: If he had started the way he has finished, there would be more buzz. Others in contention: 4. Tim Tebow, Florida: Yeah, his numbers aren't that great, and even then he's padded them in blowouts. But he is the transcendent college football player of this generation. He is a leader unmatched. 5. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska: He won't win, but a great performance against UT locks up other hardware. 6. C.J. Spiller, Clemson: If Georgia Tech wants to win Saturday, better not kick to him. 7. Kellen Moore, Boise State: The national leader in pass efficiency. - Randy Harrison