65° CLEAR, Ingram tops Heisman poll; Tebow falls to fifth place
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 2:50 p.m.
An October surprise has hit the Scripps Howard Heisman Trophy poll.
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Just two weeks after Florida quarterback Tim Tebow appeared to be in charge of the race, Alabama running back Mark Ingram grabbed the lead in a jumbled vote that saw six different players receive first-place votes.
A close second to Tebow last week, Ingram grabbed four first-place votes after gaining 99 tough yards in the Crimson Tide’s 12-10 win over Tennessee. Voters seemed to overlook Ingram’s key fumble with four minutes left that nearly sparked a Vols’ comeback or Ingram managing just 27 yards rushing in the second half.
Tebow, the 2007 Heisman winner who had led all five previous polls this season, was judged more harshly. After throwing a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in a sloppy 29-19 win at Mississippi State, Tebow plummeted all the way to fifth. Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen moved up a spot to second while Houston QB Case Keenum and Texas QB Colt McCoy also moved up a notch to third and fourth, respectively.
No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Alabama remain on a collision course for the SEC Championship Game set for Dec. 5 in Atlanta. That showdown could go a long way toward settling what is now a wide-open Heisman race as Ingram tries to become the first Tide player ever to win the award.
Voting tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four points for second, etc. First-place votes are in parentheses.
This week’s poll, with statistics from last week:
Player, Position, School, Last Week, Points1. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama, 18 carries, 99 yards, 30 (4)
2. Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame, 26-of-39, 246 yards passing, 2 TDs, 23 (1)
3.Case Keenum, QB, Houston, 25-of-36, 233 yards passing, TD, 22 (1)
4. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas, 26-of-31, 269 yards passing, 3 TDs, int., 20 (1)
5. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida, 12-of-22, 127 yards passing, 2 ints., 88 yards rushing, TD run, 19 (2)
Others receiving votes: Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh 6 (1), Cincinnati QB Tony Pike, 4; Boise State QB Kellen Moore 4; Pitt RB Dion Lewis, 4; USC QB Matt Barkley 2; Notre Dame WR Golden Tate 2; Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers 1; TCU DE Jerry Hughes, 1.
Scripps Howard News Service Heisman Trophy poll voters: Kirk Bohls, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman; Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com; Vahe Gregorian, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Mike Griffith, The Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel; Michael Lewis, Salt Lake Tribune; Bob Condotta, Seattle Times; John Lindsay, Scripps Howard News Service; Tom Luicci, The (Newark) Star-Ledger; John Rohde, The Oklahoman.)
Contact John Lindsay at lindsayj@shns.com
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Comments
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October 28, 2009 3:14:56 pm
RE: Link
The pollsters have awakened a sleeping giant.
October 28, 2009 3:23:13 pm
I'm pretty sure Tebow would rather win the SEC and a national championship than the Heisman.
October 28, 2009 3:29:17 pm
I agree, but he just got a little more motivation.
October 28, 2009 3:45:50 pm
I don't know how this is motivation - he has not played better than Ingram to this point. And I'm sure he'd be the first to say Ingram deserves the spot.
October 28, 2009 4:02:46 pm
Probably not worth worrying about at this point. He will have his chance to beat the tide before voting and they play the tigers next week. sam won the trophy last year by throwing against hapless defenses and was embarassed in the MNC game. The gator offense will begin playing better and TT will be right back in it. I understand Hammond will be back for uga giving TT another 6+ foot target.
October 28, 2009 4:11:41 pm
Tebow had a tough game against Arky and MSU. However, I don't think Ingram did much better against Tenn.
October 28, 2009 4:13:15 pm
There's an ebb and flow to these kind of things. Tebow hit the low point in Starkville and some of the media delight in reporting his failures.
This weekend he will be highly scrutinized as he is likely to break the SEC TD record and we continue on course to a showdown with Bama. It's not over by a long shot and he has ample opportunity and moments ahead to sway Heisman voters.
October 28, 2009 4:51:34 pm
Hmmmm... so what does it mean when we were unable to score against several hapless defenses?
October 28, 2009 4:58:08 pm
It is Atlanta and Pasadena - not New York City again...
October 28, 2009 5:57:09 pm
Interesting, I realized today that Ingram made this big move despite not rushing for 100 yard and committing the key turnover that almost and really should have cost his team a game.
Sure Tebow threw a couple of meaningless picks as UF was ahead the whole time but maybe Tebow should have dropped. Still I dont see why Ingram did not drop also if committing key turnovers and under achieving compared to your stats and position standards are the issue?
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