Well, it looks like Bama is going to get Rich Rodriguez as the Tide’s new football coach.

I think this would have been a great hire for Bama. The Tide would have had an effective, creative offense to go along with its usual stout defense. As a result, Bama would have been back to competing for SEC and national titles again.

So what now for the Tide? Beats me.

On to the apparent hiring of Randy Shannon at Miami.

I don’t like this hire at all. Maybe he will turn out to be a great coach, but this hire smacks of desperation. It smells like a no-on-else-was-available kind of hire. Did the Canes really fire Larry Coker just to replace him with his defensive coordinator, the same guy whose unit gave up 40 points to LSU just 13 games ago?

Bruce Feldman gives his take but, reading between the lines, it doesn’t seem like the idea of Shannon as head coach is eliciting much excitement from the Miami community.

I just think that when your program has its worst season in 30 years, you don’t fix it by hiring as your new head coach one of the coaches responsible for that season. Especially when he’s never been a head coach before.

But, that’s just me.

Read about Troy Smith and his journey to the Heisman here.

Shockingly, Smith will be the first true Big Ten quarterback to win the Heisman. Now THAT is one tidbit I missed…

Who is Heisman? Find out here.

Tomorrow, the 72nd Heisman Trophy will be awarded to the nation’s most outstanding college football player. In the seven decades since Heisman’s death, the small, flush-with-the-ground gravestone at his resting place has rarely been visited. It has never, for example, been visited by a Heisman Trophy winner, cemetery officials said.

Mike Garrett, the 1965 winner, might have best summarized the attitude of the college football community. Handed the trophy 41 years ago, Garrett asked: “The award is wonderful, but who’s Heisman?”

More on Heisman from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Apparently, Colt Brennan is very popular in Indiana.

More from Brennan.

Troy Smith will win the Heisman, but Brady Quinn won the Maxwell.

Dennis Dodd has JaMarcus Russell as his front runner for 2007. I guess stranger things have happened, but I’ll be shocked if he makes it to NYC.

Tom Dienhart of the Sporting News explains his vote for Troy Smith here (and plugs HP in the process–thanks Tom!).

I went to a lot of games this fall, talked to many coaches and players, read myriad stories and consulted with my favorite Heisman website (heismanpundit.com). But, in the end, it still took me about a nanosecond to pick Smith as my top option. My 6-year-old son, Cal, could have filled the top spot on my ballot for me.

Smith sat atop my working ballot for weeks. I can’t say I was blown away by Smith’s numbers or overall performance. But he was consistently great all season. And, without him, there’s no way the Buckeyes would have gone wire-to-wire as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Very true. Team success is a major factor in the Heisman race, which partly explains why Smith will be the sixth Heisman winner in the last seven years to play in the BCS title game.

I’ll be talking Heisman soon with Greg Brinda on WKNR in Cleveland at 11:10 a.m. ET.

Well, I made it to NYC and am now sitting in my buddy’s living room watching ESPN’s presentation of the ‘rest’ of the college football awards.

Troy Smith just won the Davey O’Brien Award, giving him a chance to rehearse for his big moment on Saturday. Check out HP’s interview with him this past July here.

Good stuff by Smith, especially his point about how going to Ohio State means you ‘live and breathe football everyday.’

So far, the Midwest is dominating the awards, with HP All-American LaMaar Woodley capturing the Hendricks and Lombardi Awards yesterday and Brady Quinn taking home the Unitas Award.

The Butkus Award is coming up and I would be shocked if Patrick Willis doesn’t get this one.

And so he did.

I’ll be in New York starting Thursday afternoon and will be blogging from there the rest of the week.

Be sure to check back here for my coverage of the 2006 Heisman Trophy presentation. Like last year, I’ll be doing a live blog during the ceremony.

Also, I’ll have interviews and quotes from the finalists and (hopefully) some pictures as well.

HP

Check out the following links to Heisman stories that mention HP:

Anatomy of a Landslide–Ken Gordon, Columbus Dispatch.

Heisman Runaway–Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer