COTTRELL COLUMN: Ingram stating case for Heisman

Just a little while ago (about seven weeks, to be exact) this season seemed to have the most clear-cut group of Heisman front-runners ever.

Previous winners Tim Tebow of Florida and Sam Bradford of Oklahoma were both coming back, and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy seemed to be the one guy capable of knocking them off.

Then Bradford got hurt. Then Tebow got hurt. Then Tebow started not playing all that well. Then Bradford got hurt again. And all the while, McCoy was playing well, but nowhere near the lights-out levels of a year ago.

Preseason darkhorses like Jahvid Best of California and Jevan Snead of Ole Miss quickly fell by the wayside.

At this point, unless you consider Houston’s Case Keenum, Cincinnati’s Tony Pike or Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen serious candidates, there seem to be only two players competing with McCoy.

Miami’s Jacory Harris has had a fabulous season thus far, and may only get better. Although considering how unknown he was at the start of the year, he’ll probably have to find a way to get the Hurricanes in the title game to win the thing because Heisman voters are
terrible.

But the other candidate — and maybe the current front-runner — appears to be Alabama running back Mark Ingram.

Despite the fact that he’s sharing carries with three other guys, the Tide sophomore has 905 yards so far on the season and has, along with Bama’s outstanding defense, carried a sometimes-struggling offense.

All this being said, however, despite how underwhelming McCoy has been, you can almost take it to the bank he will win the trophy if Texas wins out.

Because, again, Heisman voters are dumb.

Speaking of McCoy ...
He pretty much assured his Longhorns of reaching the national title game after they squeaked by Oklahoma on Saturday.

The Sooners, damaged as they are this year, were the only Big 12 team capable of staying with Texas. So we’re talking smooth sailing from here, most likely.

But the scarier thing might be the fact that we pretty much know the BCS title game matchup after seven weeks, because, barring either of them getting upset between now and the conference title game, either Alabama or Florida will be in Pasadena, Calif., to face
Texas.

The only real drama of this season could be that Dec. 5 SEC title game.

Groh-tober
Virginia coach Al Groh seemed to be the most obvious Dead Man Walking in college football just a few short weeks ago, but is now pulling his annual “start horribly, then turn things around and get a contract extension” run.

After losses to William & Mary, TCU and Southern Miss, the Cavaliers have defeated North Carolina and Maryland on their way back to .500.

A testament to dumping the spread offense? To a blind squirrel somehow continuing to find acorns? To the ACC being really, really bad?

Hard to say, but if Groh actually does manage to stay on as head coach Virginia fans would have every right to riot.

More ACC Talk
By around 8:30 p.m. last Saturday, the three best teams in the best division in the conference had all played each other.

Coastal Division rivals Miami, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech have all played and beaten each other, and now will have to watch each other and hope for losses to avoid the fickle hand of fate (also known as three-way tiebreakers).

Not exactly the kind of drama TNT endlessly promotes during basketball games.

A Moment Of Incredulity
They absolutely deserve it, because they are very good, but seeing the Cincinnati Bearcats at No. 5 in football is more than a little weird.

Maybe coach Brian Kelly was right to turn down all those big-time offers.

He’s got a budding powerhouse of his own.

Tim Cottrell is sports designer of the Opelika-Auburn News. He will write a weekly column on college football during the season. You can also read him on the O-A Sports Blog at oanow.com. He can be reached at 737-2511 or .