Here’s a funny piece from ESPN Page 2 that has each of the five Heisman candidate’s ‘acceptance speeches’ for Saturday.

Too, too funny.

We’re not ‘Thorpepundit’ or ‘Bednarikpundit’, but here’s our thoughts on some of the awards that were handed out today:

Bednarik Award
(Presented to the nation’s best defensive player by the Maxwell Football Club).

Erasmus James, Wisconsin
Derrick Johnson, Texas
David Pollack, Georgia

The winner: David Pollack

Comment–We agree with this pick. This guy is the epitome of a tough, hard-nosed player like Bednarik.

Biletnikoff Award
(Presented to the nation’s best receiver by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc.)

Braylon Edwards, Michigan
Taylor Stubblefield, Purdue
Dante Ridgeway, Ball State

The winner: Braylon Edwards

Comment–No surprise here, but it’s a very weak field.

Butkus Award
(Presented to the nation’s outstanding LB by the DAC of Orlando.)

Ahmad Brooks, Virginia
Matt Gootegoed, USC
Derrick Johnson, Texas

The winner: Announcement on Friday

Comment–We like Ahmad Brooks, but it will probably go to Johnson and you can’t go wrong with him either.

Lou Groza Award
(Presented to the nation’s top placekicker by the Greater Augusta Sports Council.)

Tyler Jones, Boise State
Mike Nugent, Ohio State
Andrew Wellock, Eastern Michigan

The winner: Mike Nugent

Comment–This was a no-brainer.

Ray Guy Award
(Presented to the nation’s top punter by the Greater Augusta Sports Council.)

Brandon Fields, Michigan State
Chris Kluwe, UCLA
Daniel Sepulveda, Baylor

The winner: Daniel Sepulveda

Comment–Nice to see a bad team get thrown a bone.

Lombardi Award
(Presented to the nation’s lineman of the year by the Rotary Club of Houston.)

Shaun Cody, USC
Erasmus James, Wisconsin
Derrick Johnson, Texas
David Pollack, Georgia

The winner: David Pollack

Comment–This should have gone to Cody, who played both end and tackle this season.

John Mackey Award
(Presented to the nation’s top tight end by the Nassau Country Sports Comm.)

Marcedes Lewis, UCLA
Heath Miller, Virginia
Alex Smith, Stanford

The winner: Heath Miller

Comment–A no-brainer.

Maxwell Award
(Presented to the outstanding player of the year by the Maxwell Football Club.)

Matt Leinart, USC
Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma
Jason White, Oklahoma

The winner: Jason White

Comment–A good pick and a nice sendoff to a great player.

Bronco Nagurski Award
(Presented to the outstanding defensive player by the FWAA/Charlotte TD Club.)

Jonathan Goddard, Marshall
Erasmus James, Wisconsin
Derrick Johnson, Texas
David Pollack, Georgia
Carlos Rogers, Auburn

The winner: Derrick Johnson

Comment–Good pick.

Davey O’Brien Award
(Presented to the nation’s outstanding QB by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.)

Matt Leinart, USC
Alex Smith, Utah
Jason White, Oklahoma

The winner: Jason White

Comment–We liked Smith for this one.

Outland Trophy
(Presented to the best interior offensive or defensive lineman by the FWAA.)

Jammal Brown, Oklahoma
David Baas, Michigan
Alex Barron, Florida State

The winner: Jammal Brown

Comment–Didn’t like this pick. Should have gone to Barron, in our opinion.

Jim Thorpe Award
(Presented to the nation’s outstanding defensive back by Jim Thorpe Assoc.)

Carlos Rogers, Auburn
Antrel Rolle, Miami
Ernest Shazor, Michigan

The winner: Carlos Rogers

Comment–This was shocking. No way is Rogers the best of that group, but Auburn no doubt had some sympathy going for it.

Doak Walker Award
(Presented to the nation’s best collegiate running back by SMU Athletic Forum.)

J.J. Arrington, Cal
Cedric Benson, Texas
Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma

The winner: Cedric Benson

Comment–Great pick. Good to see him win something.

The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award
Urban Meyer, Utah

Comment–We would have picked Pete Carroll for this one.

NCFAA Contribution to College Football Award
Vince Dooley, Georgia, coach

Comment–This should have gone to Heismanpundit.

Last thought: The awards people really like the Big 12. The conference won the Maxwell, the O’Brien, the Ray Guy, the Outland, the Doak Walker and the Nagurski, and is the likely winner of the Butkus and maybe the Heisman.

In the new sections on the right, we catalogued our Top Candidate posts on a week-by-week basis.

The posts are divided up by month. You can read our Preseason list in the ‘September’ section and our latest list in the ‘December’ section.

The earliest posts are at the bottom of each section, the most recent at the top, so scroll down if you want to start at the posts at the beginning of each month.

This allows readers to see the progression of our Heisman analysis as the season wore on.

One of the great things about college football is the emotion that comes with it. There are no better fans of any sport than fans of college football. In our opinion, that’s because it is the purest of all the major sports. People wouldn’t get so fired up if it wasn’t.

Perhaps the hardest thing about trying to comment about college football is the passion that gets stirred up by taking a stand on an issue. For every person who agrees with you on a subject, there are 100 who think you are out to get their favorite team or their favorite player.

No doubt, that is part of why so many have called our analysis naming Matt Leinart as the Heisman leader to be ‘favoritism.’

We hope those of you out there who think that understand that the purpose of this site was to analyze the Heisman race as it is, not how we think it should be.

That was the whole purpose of creating the 10 Heismandments, which are the rules that (we believe) govern the current Heisman race.

This has admittedly been a particularly difficult season to embark upon this experiment. We not only have a possible repeat winner, but we also have two underclassmen in the mix, not to mention a contender from a non-traditional power. Without a doubt, the foundations of our theories are being tested well and hard.

Through it all, our bias has been toward proving the validity of the Heismandments, not toward pumping a particular player. As you can see from our Preseason Top 13, Leinart is the only candidate on that list who still has a chance to win. So, yes, we do want him to win–for selfish reasons. It would mean that we were accurate in our analysis. Indeed, a win for Leinart means we were right on the money from the very beginning.

Had we started this blog last season, we would have anointed Jason White the winner well before the actual ceremony. In fact, we would have pointed out that Larry Fitzgerald had no chance of winning since he was a receiver who didn’t also return kicks and punts, and that Eli Manning had just a slim shot since he played for Ole Miss.

So go the rules of the Heisman. But that wouldn’t have stopped Pitt people and Ole Miss people from taking their shots.

Our other features on this site–the Top 10 teams, commentary on football issues–are ancillary to our central point, but still fun topics to hit upon. Despite the heat, we’ll keep calling ‘em like we see ‘em.

Michael Ventre, also of MSNBC, here previews what should be a monster 2005 Heisman race: Adrian Peterson vs. Reggie Bush.

There’s no doubt that these two are–by far–the two front runners for the 2005 trophy. They’ve both got some unique attributes that they bring to the race–and very few weaknesses.

Some of the issues that will come to the forefront next year:

–Will Bush being a junior trump Peterson’s sophomore status? Or will that advantage get cancelled out by the fact that Peterson is a true running back while Bush is an all-purpose guy?

–How will the record and ranking of the two teams affect the Heisman race?

–At least one, and most likely both, won’t be paired with their current quarterback. How will that affect their numbers?

–Which one will get the most preseason hype?

–Can they stay injury free?

Should be an amazing race.

So argues Matt Riddle in this BG News column.

Sadly, Omar Jacobs has about as much chance of winning the Heisman as we do of getting a ticker tape parade in downtown Norman.

It is a funny column, though. Riddle says that Jacobs is a front runner for 2005 along with Adrian Peterson (yes), Reggie Bush (yes) and Marcus Vick (uh, no).

He also says that Peterson is “the most explosive running back since Maurice Clarett.” Did this kid start watching football in 2002?

The trend of quarterbacks winning the Heisman lately (four in a row) reflects the dominance of the position in the last 20 years, writes MSNBC’s Mike Celizic.

Money quote: Those days (the days of the runnning back) are gone, and it’s unlikely we’ll see them again. The game’s changed, just as the pro game has changed. The most important person on the field, pro or college, is the quarterback. It’s not even a trend. It’s a fact.