Here’s a ‘what if’ scenario that could turn the Heisman race on its head:
What if Toby Gerhart rushes for 200 yards and scores three or four touchdowns in a Stanford win over USC this Saturday?
It would be the third 200-yard effort of the season for Gerhart and his second-straight 200-yard game against a top 10 foe. It’d give him upwards of 1,420 rushing yards and 19 or 20 touchdowns with two games remaining before Heisman votes are due. His two remaining matchups would be against Cal and Notre Dame, both games of respectable national interest where he could potentially run wild. And once his statistical prowess was established, his status as an atypical-for-this-era back from an academic powerhouse would be appealing to many Heisman voters.
This all wouldn’t make Gerhart a lock to win, but he’d at least be a major factor in the race. It’s the only possible (and plausible) scenario I can think of that could catapult a player other than Ingram, McCoy and Tebow into Heisman contention at this point in the season.
Ted Miller of ESPN.com concurs.
This is about as likely as the BCS deciding to get rid of its current format and just do Pac 10 Matchups in all five of the big bowls, since it is obviously the number 1 conference. This is probably a lock in your mind too
If Stanford wins out, he could get in the race. But, they’ve already got three losses, including their only significant non-conference oponent to date, Wake Forest. Either way, he’s going to have impressive numbers, and the Stanford Academic angle is really impressive.
It seems a bit late in the season for an “insurgent candidacy”. Also, running up huge numbers on USC is no longer as attention-grabbing as it once might have been given that they are now a 2-loss team that has been torched defensively in 2 of their last 3 games.
Running up numbers on USC is also a lot more likely than it once might have been.
Would LOVE to see this scenario play out – Gerhart is the epitome of a college football player.
Sorry, but Taylor Mays would cheapshot and take out Gerhart before he could reach 200 yards. In fact, I’d wager money that Gerhart or Lucky leave the game Saturday due to such a incurred hit.
A couple of comments above about Stanford’s number of losses; is the Heisman an individual award or only available to players on undeafeated teams ?
A look at Gerhardt’s stats vs. Ingram’s leaves you scratching your head; TG has the advantage across the board. Not only yards and TDs but in consistency and quality of opposition. Watch a highlight reel and TG looks like the Heisman Statue come to life. Ingram is nowhere close to TG stat wise; it would appear that he a total creature of east coast media hype.
See the following: http://www.stanforddaily.com/cgi-bin/?p=1035761
for the Stanford student newspaper’s take on the situation.
Surveying the Heisman buzz one gets the impression that the US extends no farther west that the city of Houston. Apparently there is a far west island called USC that is visible most years.
Hmm. Is 178 yards and 3 TDs enough?