The Winner Is ...

How college football writers from around the country feel about the five candidates for the Heisman Trophy, which will be awarded Saturday:

BRAD BANKS, IOWA

At His Best in Big Games

If Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz had a Heisman Trophy vote, it would go to Hawkeye quarterback Brad Banks.

No surprise there. But Ferentz knows there are a slew of other qualified candidates. So he urged voters to weigh the impact Banks made in his first year as a Division I-A starter. A year ago, Iowa won seven games. With Banks under center, the third-ranked Hawkeyes went 11-1, won a share of their first Big Ten title since 1990 and landed in the Orange Bowl.

“As far as selling Brad, I can’t tell anyone how they should vote,” Ferentz said. “But all I would ask is if anybody is voting, I would say look at his story.”

Banks left his home in South Florida to play in the cornfields because Iowa was the only major college that promised him a shot at quarterback. Others pegged him as a wide receiver.

His first Division I-A start came in August. Every Saturday Banks seemed to improve, with the exception of an erratic second half in a 36-31 loss to intrastate rival Iowa State.

“To me, the best thing I can say is that he played his best in our biggest games,” said Ferentz, noting Banks’ clutch performances in breakthrough road wins at Penn State and Michigan, which both wound up in New Year’s Day bowls.

Statistics also help Banks’ cause: He is the top-rated passer in Division I-A, and he threw only four interceptions, which makes his coaches adore him.

Banks’ main obstacle may be the schedule. The Hawkeyes’ last game was Nov. 16, and since then several of his rivals have had big performances on national television.

“I would sure hope that, to me, the date of our last game wouldn’t factor into it,” Ferentz said. “That’s totally irrelevant. What matters is the way the guys played in their games.”

-- Andrew Baganto

Chicago Tribune

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KEN DORSEY, MIAMI

It’s Tough to Ignore 38-1

The Heisman Trophy isn’t supposed to be about which player will make the best pro, or about who has put up the gaudiest statistics.

The award is supposed to go to “The Outstanding College Football Player of the United States,” and because it doesn’t have a timetable of how long that player needs to have been outstanding, it has become sports’ foggiest-defined award.

If there was a career award for college football this is it, and has been for years, which is why many across the country believe that Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey should win the honor, at least keeping the pedigree of the award’s winners consistent.

Dorsey, who has thrown for a career-high 3,073 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, is perceived as the caretaker of the country’s most talented team. But he’s more than a caretaker. He’s Miami’s driving force, the irreplaceable part that has been the one constant in an offense that has seen 12 NFL players come and go over his career as a starter, which just so happens to include a 38-1 record.

“I know that there are guys who can be successful here, but I’d like to think it’s hard to win the number of games we’ve won here without having the right guy,” Dorsey said.

None of this year’s other Heisman candidates have had careers that come even close to what Dorsey has accomplished throughout his three-plus seasons as Miami’s starter. He holds just about all of the passing records at Miami and in the Big East, he plays his best in big games (6-0 against teams ranked in the top 10), and has led Miami to unparalleled success.

If he wins his second national title in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3 it’s going to be hard to argue that he’s not one of college football’s all-time greats at quarterback, alongside the 21 other quarterbacks who happened to have won the award.

-- Omar Kelly

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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LARRY JOHNSON, PENN ST.

He’s at the Head of Class

He has the size, skill, speed and stats. But that isn’t why Larry Johnson should win the Heisman Trophy.

The Penn State running back should win it for his attitude.

“If they’re going to hold [something] against me, then I’d rather not win it,” Johnson said. “I can only try so hard. I can only give 100%. If they don’t look at that, then don’t give me the award.”

He’s so antithetical to college football, this ornery son of Penn State’s defensive line coach. He waited dutifully -- if impatiently -- for his chance in Coach Joe Paterno’s upperclassmen hierarchy. Then, as a fifth-year senior, he chased his demons with the nation’s finest rushing season and the best in Penn State history.

Johnson possesses the numbers: 2,015 rushing yards and 2,575 all-purpose yards, both Division I-A highs. His 8.03 yards-per-carry average is an NCAA record. Among the nine backs with 2,000-yard rushing seasons, he has the fewest carries (251).

And yet he fights the most negative perception among Heisman candidates: three “lousy” games against Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State. Never mind that he averaged 151 all-purpose yards in those three games. Or that he played against Michigan with a hamstring injury (but scored the first time he touched the ball).

Dismiss all that and know this: Johnson has scored 29 career touchdowns without ever doing a dance or Heisman pose. He runs with anger, passion and class. He represents what the award used to honor.

-- Mark Wogenrich

Allentown Morning Call

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CARSON PALMER, USC

The Unbiased Choice

Eleven score and six years ago, our founding parents brought forth upon this Earth a new nation, and after such a chore they felt really tired, so they stayed put near the Atlantic.

Years later, they realized the land stretched some 3,000 miles to the west, but most of them had kids, thus no energy left for crossing two mountain ranges.

And so years after that, Western college football teams lacked for regard amid an Eastern bias of non-sinister origins. More people lived in Eastern-Central time zones than in Mountain-Pacific; people are strange beings who tout nearby athletes; and the East, still tired from founding the country, often nodded off just as the West kicked off.

As of 2002, no West Coast player had won the Heisman Trophy since USC’s Marcus Allen in 1981. The West complained of the Eastern bias, the East complained of the West’s complaints about the Eastern bias, and an exhausting 2002 Heisman race became a prime Eastern-bias test case.

The most outstanding player of the year lives in Southern California, where USC had the intestines to schedule Colorado, Kansas State and Notre Dame atop its conference schedule. So when Carson Palmer mastered the nation’s No. 1 schedule with gaudy numbers such as 32 touchdown passes and gave Notre Dame’s pass defense the worst passing beating in its history, he molted from mediocrity, redefined USC as something other than an annual sigh to its lunatic fans, and bobbed up as the most outstanding player.

But the Carson candidacy lent the prospect of Eastern-bias grumbles and the fear of hearing again how there’s only one voter region in the West, three in the East.

“I go with the experts because if everyone says it, there must be something to it,” USC Coach Pete Carroll said while recalling no Eastern bias as coach of the NFL’s Patriots and Jets. “I don’t have enough comparison and background to tell you, ‘This is the case,’ whether it’s because of when our games start or they’re not viewed as much on the East Coast. I think we have the best player in America here and we’ll see what happens.”

-- Chuck Culpepper

Newsday

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WILLIS McGAHEE, MIAMI

Making the Most of It

Considering the Heisman Trophy debate generally devolves into a debate over which player has the better statistics, here’s one game’s total that explains why Willis McGahee is the most deserving candidate:

Ten carries, 60 yards.

That’s what he did in the season opener. One carry went 19 yards for a game-opening touchdown. But the point is the Miami running back’s game was against Florida A&M;, when his legs weren’t needed to win. And that should say all you need to know about McGahee’s numbers.

There’s no fat on them. None. Against Connecticut, he carried just 11 times for 107 yards (including runs of 15, 15 and 11 for Miami’s first three touchdowns). Against Syracuse, he ran only 14 times for 134 yards (including a 61-yard run for Miami’s first touchdown).

McGahee ran for 1,686 quality yards on 262 quality carries for a 6.4-yard quality average and 27 quality touchdowns. He had six touchdowns in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Virginia Tech. Impressive? Sure. What’s more impressive is all were needed for the win.

While Miami coaches were running a showboat “Heisman Play” for quarterback Ken Dorsey -- a pass back to Dorsey in the end zone that backfired when Virginia Tech intercepted -- McGahee was called on whenever Miami needed simply to win games. And he always delivered, which is crucial in this year’s debate.

He’s not only the best player on the best team. He’s the fastest player on the nation’s best team -- as well as its strongest player. No wonder Miami’s potent offense revolves around him.

McGahee was the best player in Miami’s biggest games too.

Against Florida, his 204 yards were the force Miami won behind. Against Tennessee, he controlled the clock and the enemy crowd, gaining 154 yards in 30 carries. Down in the fourth quarter against Florida State, he turned a simple pass in the flat into a 71-yard reception that swung the momentum and set up the crucial score.

Listen, the Heisman is a hair-splitting campaign among the creme de la college this year. Carson Palmer had a bad game at Kansas State -- completing 18 of 46 passes. USC lost.

If McGahee has a similarly bad game against a quality opponent, Miami would have lost too. But McGahee didn’t.

There’s no padding in McGahee. Just a body of work -- on the best team’s fastest and strongest body -- that shows why he’s the country’s outstanding player.

-- Dave Hyde

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Heisman Candidates

BRAD BANKS, IOWA

*--* Opponent Cmp Pass Yds TD Int Akron 21 29 125 2 0 at Miami, Ohio 18 27 256 1 0 Iowa State 12 21 178 2 0 Utah State 15 29 185 1 0 at Penn State 18 30 261 4 2 Purdue 14 22 226 2 0 Michigan State 8 19 154 2 1 at Indiana 11 16 190 1 1 at Michigan 18 29 222 3 0 Wisconsin 17 30 275 2 0 Northwestern 10 10 197 3 0 at Minnesota 9 17 100 2 0 Totals 155 258 2369 25 4 Opponent Rush Yds TD Akron 2 4 0 at Miami, Ohio 2 2 0 Iowa State 9 11 0 Utah State 7 65 1 at Penn State 8 41 0 Purdue 5 30 0 Michigan State 9 36 0 at Indiana 3 16 0 at Michigan 7 53 0 Wisconsin 9 36 0 Northwestern 5 54 2 at Minnesota 7 39 2 Totals 73 387 5

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KEN DORSEY, MIAMI

*--* Opponent Cmp Pass Yds TD Int Florida AM 8 13 110 3 1 at Florida 16 32 202 4 3 at Temple 20 35 314 2 0 Boston College 13 26 202 2 0 Connecticut 19 26 216 3 1 Florida St 20 45 362 2 2 at West Virginia 22 36 422 2 0 at Rutgers 16 31 192 2 1 at Tennessee 18 35 245 1 0 Pittsburgh 14 26 163 1 1 at Syracuse 16 25 345 2 0 Virginia Tech 12 20 300 2 1 Totals 194 350 3073 26 10

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LARRY JOHNSON, PENN STATE

*--* Opponent Rush Yds Rec Yds TD Cent. Florida 18 92 4 30 1 Nebraska 19 123 4 35 2 Louisiana Tech 17 147 3 25 3 Iowa 18 68 6 93 2 at Wisconsin 14 111 5 41 1 at Michigan 17 78 5 46 1 Northwestern 23 257 2 6 2 at Ohio State 16 66 6 32 1 Illinois 31 279 0 0 1 Virginia 31 188 3 23 1 at Indiana 28 327 0 0 4 Michigan State 19 279 1 10 4 Totals 251 2015 39 341 23

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WILLIS McGAHEE, MIAMI

*--* Opponent Rush Yds Rec Yds TD Florida AM 6 60 0 0 1 at Florida 24 204 1 10 0 at Temple 21 134 3 33 4 Boston College 17 135 3 86 2 Connecticut 11 107 2 10 3 Florida St 26 95 3 78 1 at West Virginia 32 112 2 71 3 at Rutgers 23 187 2 13 2 at Tennessee 30 154 2 17 1 Pittsburgh 19 159 4 11 2 at Syracuse 14 134 0 0 2 Virginia Tech 39 205 2 21 6 Totals 262 1686 24 350 27

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CARSON PALMER, USC

*--* Opponent Att Com Yds TD Int Auburn 32 23 302 1 2 at Colorado 30 22 244 1 0 at Kansas St 46 18 186 1 0 Oregon St 41 23 231 2 1 at Washington St 50 32 381 2 1 California 39 25 289 2 2 Washington 34 21 348 4 1 at Oregon 42 32 448 5 1 at Stanford 32 22 317 4 0 Arizona St 34 20 214 2 0 at UCLA 32 19 254 4 0 Notre Dame 46 32 425 4 2 Totals 458 288 3639 32 10

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