No ignoring Big 12 nominees Sooners QB notch ahead of rest, barely

The tossing and turning commenced early the past week leading up to this year’s Heisman Trophy decision.

The three main candidates are quite close in almost every way, leading three of the country’s top teams and each the unquestioned leader of their teams.

Oklahoma sophomore Sam Bradford, Texas junior Colt McCoy and Florida junior Tim Tebow were all impressive in 2008.

A year ago, Tebow ran away with the Heisman Trophy after putting together a statistically superior year, accounting for more rushing touchdowns than any player in SEC history.

This year, Tebow is in the conversation again, but he sits third on this ballot, ahead of Ball State quarterback Nate Davis, Iowa running back Shonn Greene and Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

This was the internal discussion for this year’s Heisman, and although all of the above are good, they couldn’t realistically be one of the final three.

The problem for Tebow – as magnificent as he’s been over the last half of the season – is that he struggled early in the season. He combined for 122 yards against Tennessee and 174 yards against Hawaii. Three times this year, he had less than 200 yards of total offense. It is why he was third.

The decision came down to two players, two Big 12 quarterbacks: the Bradfords and the McCoys.

McCoy’s Texas squad beat Bradford when the schools played in the Red River Rivalry in October. McCoy is more of a dual threat than Bradford and has accomplished his status with less talent around him.

He is the Longhorns’ leading rusher and passer and should have had a chance to go to the Big 12 and BCS title games.

Bradford received those chances, and the No. 1 Sooners will head to Miami to face Tebow and Florida for the national title. He is the nation’s most efficient passer for the second consecutive year and even in his team’s loss to Texas, threw for 387 yards and five touchdowns. Against Cincinnati, which will go to the BCS as the Big East champion, he threw for 395 yards and five touchdowns.

The Sooners scored more than 60 points in each of their last five games, with Bradford accountable for most of it. In almost every statistical category, Bradford trumps McCoy.

He is more efficient. He has thrown more touchdown passes (48-32), less interceptions (6-7), and for more yards (4,464-3,445). Bradford has also had more games of 300-plus yards of total offense (11-10).

In the end, this year’s vote is really parsing the miniscule details, every statistic and different argument. In doing that, it became apparent Bradford was the guy.

But not by much.