I’ve was asked recently if the Heisman ceremony will include the more traditional number of five finalists this year, due to the race being so wide open.

I actually do think there’s a great chance we have five finalists this year:  Mark Ingram, Colt McCoy, Toby Gerhart, C.J. Spiller and Tim Tebow.

But for history’s sake, it’s noteworthy that having five finalists at the ceremony isn’t exactly a common occurrence.  Here are the number of finalists each year for the last 20 years.  As you can see, it is more common to have four or even three finalists at the ceremony:

2008–three

2007–four

2006–three

2005–three

2004–five

2003–four

2002–five

2001–four

2000–three

1999–four

1998–four

1997–four

1996–four

1995–four

1994–four

1993–four

1992–three

1991–four

1990–four

1989–four