The Heisman race has gotten muddier, not clearer, the last couple weeks. However, there are now only six players left who can actually still win the Heisman. Remember that the following list is NOT the predicted order of the vote, but a ranking of the players with the best chance at actually winning. Here they are:

1. Darren McFadden, Arkansas–McFadden had another strong game this past Saturday, rushing for 173 yards against Alabama. However, the Razorbacks lost for the second week in a row and THE CENTRAL QUESTION of the McFadden candidacy is now: How many losses will Heisman voters tolerate? The Hogs still must play Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU. If it turns out that the Hogs win at least three of those four, then there shouldn’t be a problem. But if Arkansas drops two of the four, then we are talking about a Heisman candidate from a four-loss team.

The last team with at least four losses at the time of the Heisman vote to still produce a winner was Notre Dame in 1956 (Paul Hornung).

McFadden and Hornung might have a bit in common soon

On a positive note, McFadden leads the nation in rushing at 173 yards per game. He has 519 yards and 4 rushing touchdowns this season and is on pace to have 2,076 yards by the time of the Heisman vote. If McFadden hits the 2,000-yard mark, it may not matter if Arkanasas loses four times.

2. John David Booty, USC–Booty had a big game against Washington State, throwing for 279 yards and four touchdowns. On the season, he has 629 passing yards, 9 TD passes and 2 interceptions. He is on pace to throw for 36 touchdowns by the time of the Heisman vote, but he needs to pick up the pace in the yardage department if he is to have Heisman-worthy stats across the board.

If Booty can put together three or four games in row of this caliber–and USC stays undefeated–then he might jump back into the front runner position.

3. Patrick White, West Virginia–White was a fantastic 18 of 20 for 181 yards (and two scores) against East Carolina and he also added 42 yards and two scores on the ground. On the season, he has 617 passing yards and 286 rushing yards and a combined 12 TDs running and throwing.

At this point, it appears White is the main threat to Booty as the top quarterback Heisman candidate.

4. Jamaal Charles, Texas–Charles had just 72 yards on 14 carries in a blowout of Rice, but he did score three times. On the year, he has 471 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

Charles will make or break his Heisman campaign against Oklahoma. A big game will vault him into contention, but a bad game will cause him to drop out altogether.

5. Steve Slaton, West Virginia–Slaton ran for 110 yards and a score against East Carolina. On the year, he has 502 yards and nine touchdowns.

Slaton probably needs to pick up the pace a little to separate himself from the pack. It helps that Noel Devine cooled off last week.

6. Colt Brennan, Hawaii–Brennan is barely hanging on in the rankings right now. He did not play last week and that is a big blow to his Heisman hopes as he needs to surpass what he did last season statistically to really have a shot. Missing out on a turkey shoot against Charleston Southern doesn’t help.

Hanging by a thread

Dropped Out: Briahn Brohm; DeSean Jackson

Brohm is putting up monster numbers, but you can’t win a Heisman playing for Louisville when you lose to a 35-point underdog. Jackson is an exciting player, but he will not accumulate enough stats to merit serious consideration.

IF THE VOTE WERE HELD TODAY

1. Darren McFadden
2. Tim Tebow
3. John David Booty
4. Pat White
5. Andre Woodson
6. Michael Hart
7. Sam Bradford
8. Steve Slaton
9. Colt Brennan
10. Ray Rice

The following is a power ranking that lists how well teams are playing right now. Theoretically, each ranked team should be able to beat each of the teams listed below it right now. This is not a prediction on how the records will shake out.

1. LSU (4-0)–The Tigers looked impressive in their win over South Carolina. Gary Crowton’s spread offense is really starting to take hold and it seems to be doing a good job taking advantage of some of the unique talents on the roster like Ryan Perriloux and Trindon Holiday.

2. Oklahoma (4-0)–The Sooners are a machine right now, firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball. This is a team that doesn’t seem to have any glaring weaknesses.

3. USC (3-0)–The Trojans had their first truly dominating win in over a year with their beatdown of Washington State. Once all the young weapons get some experience, this should be quite a team.

4. Florida (4-0)–The Gators had control of this game until the fourth quarter, but gave up a couple late scores to make it a little too close for comfort. As usual, Tebow was awesome, but the young Florida defense needs to grow up fast.

5. West Virginia (4-0)–The offense was clicking as usual, but for once the defense stepped up and played lights out.

6. Cal (4-0)–The Bears exploded again behind Justin Forsett and fended off the Texas Tech-like passing attack of Arizona.

7. Texas (4-0)–The Longhorns had a nice tuneup against Rice and must take care not to overlook Kansas State this weekend.

8. Boston College (4-0)–BC continues to look impressive and at this point is clearly the class of the ACC.

9. Kentucky (4-0)–The rise of Kentucky is symbolic of the overall improvement of the SEC in the last year or two.

10. Arizona State (4-0)–You just knew Dennis Erickson–the master of the quick turnaround–would have ASU playing well, didn’t you?

Just Missed The Cut: Oregon, South Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Rutgers.

For today:

–The top 10 teams list

–The HP Heisman Watch

–The HP Fantasy Challenge Update

Stay tuned…

This post comes via blackberry. Here are my picks for today.

The first team in each line is my pick.

Illinois -1.5 at indiana

Hp jr’s pick–indiana

Nebraska -21.5 vs. Ball state

Hp jr’s pick–nebraska

Washington +6.5 at ucla

Hp jr’s pick–washington

Florida -20 at ole miss

Hp jr’s pick–florida

Kentucky +7 at arkansas

Hp jr’s pick–arkansas

Wsu +27 at usc

Hp jr’s pick–usc

Louisville -37 at syracuse

Hp jr’s pick–louisville

South carolina +17.5 at lsu

Hp jr’s pick–lsu

Me and HP Jr. will square off for the second week.

SI.com asked an oddsmaker which conference was better, the SEC or the Pac-10.

These matchups were created by the following: The teams in the SEC and Pac-10 were ranked 1-12 and 1-10 based on SI.com’s current 119. In an effort to be as balanced as possible, the SEC’s sixth and seventh teams (Arkansas, Kentucky) were thrown out. So the top five teams in the SEC were matched up against the top five teams in the Pac-10, and the bottom five teams in the SEC were matched up against the bottom five teams in the Pac-10. Seems fair, right?

The results were as follows:

USC over LSU by 3.
Florida over Cal by 3½.
Oregon over Alabama by 3.
South Carolina over Washington by 8½.
Arizona State over Georgia by 1.
Tennessee over Washington State by 7.
UCLA over Vanderbilt by 7.
Oregon State over Mississippi State by 7.
Auburn over Arizona by 4.
Ole Miss, Stanford is a pick-’em.

So there you have it. The Pac-10 squeaks out a 5-4-1 record in these 10 matchups.

So, a neutral observer has weighed in. What say you?

Thanks to the people at Veoh, I’ll now be able to feature highlight videos here at HP.

Be sure to check them out as it’s a very cool site where you can build your own highlight reels.

For starters, how about a little Darren McFadden and DeSean Jackson action?

Click above to view it.