Could Return Quickly: Mario Manningham (if he can bounce back from the injury, he will be right back in the mix).
Tragically Eliminated: Peterson.
Probably Done: Chris Leak (rough fourth quarter against Auburn, I felt bad for him), anyone playing for USC (not this year for the Trojans), and Kenny Irons (too injured, too little time left to rack up big stats).
On the Verge: DeSean Jackson (Lynch passed him as "best Cal rep" but that can change quickly), P.J. Hill (144.4 yards per game and 11 scores for the Wisconsin sophomore who has come out of nowhere), Colt Brennan (2,271 yards through the air and 23/5 touchdowns to picks for the Hawaii quarterback, who is gaining some momentum on sheer stats, David Klingler-style), and Colt McCoy (don't look now, but the Texas frosh has 18 touchdowns - third in the country - against three interceptions and a passer rating of 175.3 for one of the best one-loss teams in the country ... plus, I wanted to get two "Colts" on in the column).
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
1. Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
2. Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame
3. Mike Hart, RB, Michigan
"... I'm ducking the inevitable 'Midwest bias!' comments"
Yeah, but see, you never really think of Notre Dame as Midwest, much like you never think of USA TODAY being published in Virginia. When you think of Indiana, you think of IU and Purdue. Never UND.
Maybe if they ever moved to the Big Ten, on the other hand ...
2 - Adam Hoff
Good point. I keep waiting for that national media to realize how exciting that Rice/Slaton, Rutgers/WVU matchup could wind up being. It is flying way below the radar right now.
I also wonder what people will say if West Virginia winds up in the #2 BCS spot. If USC wins out, they will erase most doubts by beating Oregon, Cal, and ND, which would be pretty impressive. Whoever wins the Ohio State-Michigan game will get all the credit in the world. But what about the Mountaineers? Will wins over Louisville and Rutgers be enough to quiet the "bad schedule!" calls around the nation? I'm not sure. If there are just two undefeated teams in Big Ten WInner and WVU, I really hope Auburn isn't the #3 team with one loss, because we are going to hear a whole lot of complaining from them.
But I digress.
3 - Adam Hoff
I was feeling good about my Heisman Poll, but I just got done reading Terry Bowden's at Yahoo Sports and they look a little too similar for my liking. Son of a ...
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
We here at BC Sports safely assume that anything that looks similar to one of our stories was most likely stolen from us.
5 - Adam Hoff
That is a pretty good policy, I have to say. Although I was more referring to the fact that if I am agreeing with Terry Bowden, I am worried about my sanity. It wasn't so much a copyright issue as it was a "oh crap, I'm agreeing with him?" issue. Either way, good to know.