The inaugural Heismanpundit.com/Orlando Sentinel Heisman Poll of the 2008 college football season has been tallied and the panel–-consisting of 10 Heisman-voting members of the college football media–-has selected junior Florida quarterback Tim Tebow as the favorite to win this year’s Heisman Trophy.
Tebow–who is trying to become the second two-time winner of the award–collected five first-place votes and totaled 40 points to edge out junior Ohio State running back Chris ‘Beanie’ Wells (4 first-place votes, 36 points). Still, some voters appear skeptical of Tebow’s shot at repeating.
"In the end, I think Wells will win," said one panelist. "The Buckeyes will have the requisite gaudy win-loss record, Big Ten title and lofty poll ranking to augment Wells’ cause."
Missouri senior quarterback Chase Daniel also collected a first-place vote on his way to finishing third with 22 points, followed by West Virginia senior quarterback Pat White (20 points) and Georgia sophomore running back Knowshon Moreno (12 points).
This Week’s Poll with total points and first place votes (in parentheses):
1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida, 40 (5)
2. Chris Wells, RB, Ohio State, 36 (4)
3. Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri, 22 (1)
4. Pat White, QB, West Virginia, 20
5. Knowshon Moreno, RB, Georgia$ 12
6. Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech, 5
7. Graham Harrell, QB, Texas Tech, 4
8. Percy Harvin, WR/RB, Florida, 4
9. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma, 3
10. James Laurinaitis, LB, Ohio State, 3
11. Armanti Edwards, QB, Appalachian State, 1
The Heismanpundit.com/Orlando Sentinel Heisman Poll is made up of 10 Heisman voters from across the country and will be conducted each week during the college football season. The idea is to get a good sense of voter sentiment as the season progresses. The panel votes for five players each week. Tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote, three points for a third-place vote, two points for a fourth-place vote and one point for a fifth-place vote.
Members of the panel include: Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, Olin Buchanan of Rivals.com, Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com, Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com, Ted Lewis of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman, Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated, B.J. Schecter of Sports Illustrated, Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated and Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News.
Chris Huston, owner of Heismanpundit.com coordinates the weekly poll. Huston is a former assistant sports information director at USC who directed the successful Heisman campaigns of quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.
Kindly get it right…should Tebow win another, he’ll be the SECOND player to have done so. Right behind a Buckeye.
I don’t know. Doing a poll with a Central Florida newspaper is a great way to ensure Tebow bias. It’s hard to tell if his influence in that area will result is more votes than are warranted.
Especially since Orlando is a two-hour drive from Gainesville.
That was an unfortunate typo. Now fixed.
It looks to me like the voters are by and large the same as last year, and that the newspaper sponsoring the poll has very little to do with the fact that Tebow is on top. Most of the voters work for other news outlets.
That is correct, David.
The Sentinel has zero influence on this poll. Most of the voters are national in scope and, in fact, do not live in the South.