After watching Stanford RB Toby Gerhart rush 38 times for 223 yards against Oregon in the beginning of November, I began to take notice of this back’s serious skills. Then, the following week, his Stanford team put a serious hurt on USC thanks to his 29 rushes for 178 yards. Now, after watching Gerhart rush for 205 yards on 29 carries and THROWING a TD pass in the 4th quarter, on 4th down and 4 tonight against Notre Dame, I am officially campaigning for Gerhart to take the Heisman trophy for the 2009 season.
Gerhart’s has amassed 3 200+ yard rushing performances this season while scoring 26 TD’s, which is a Pac-10 record. A rushing record in the Pac-10 is extremely impressive considering the plethora of top tier RB’s that have come from the conference including the last RB to win the Heisman, USC’s Reggie Bush. Even more important than the records is Gerhart’s impact on the Stanford team. No other Heisman candidate is surrounded by less play-makers than Gerhart is at Stanford.
QB Tim Tebow has elite WRs in Hernandez and Cooper. He also has the speedy RB Demps. QB Colt McCoy has superstar WR Shipley and a strong RB Newton. Alabama RB Mark Ingram dropped a poor performance against Auburn this weekend only rushing for 30 yards on 16 carries. That poor performance has taken him out of the Heisman lead and the only way he is going to have a chance to win is by rushing for a few hundred yards against #1 Florida in the SEC championship game next Saturday.
The Heisman will come down to two games next weekend, the Big 12 championship and the aforementioned SEC championship. Three of the four finalists will be in action, leaving only Gerhart to sit at home and watch. That puts him at a huge disadvantage because voters will not be able to fairly judge the candidates side-by-side, but his numbers speak for themselves. Gerhart rushed for 1,736 yards on 311 carries, averaging 5.6 yards per carry, scoring 26 TD’s, and not fumbling once during the season. There has only been one RB winner since 2000 (Reggie Bush in 2005), and it is about time that changed.
[pro-player width='455' height='255' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-gIJea6J2c[/pro-player]
If you would like to read more from B-Dogg, visit his blog atwww.sportsaholicbrian.blogspot.com.
Need More? NCAA, NCAA FB, Stanford, Toby Gerhart
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Gerhart would not put up those numbers in the SEC.
Surely the voters know that.
Look at Bradford last year when he met a team that played D-fense.
Put Gerhart in the SEC and see who looks the best.
That up-high running style would be put to an end quick.
He's a tough kid playing in a mediocre conf.
SEC is overrated. Garrett above is an ahole who's been licking up the ESPN drivel. Gerhart runs people over until he gets free. There's no player on the field more spent than Gerhart at the end of a game. Watch the last 5 minutes of Oregon, USC, Cal, Notre Dame….all exhibit why Gerhart deserves the Heisman.
SEC football is dull and slow and stupid. Dumb coaches. Dumb players, Dumber fans.
Pac Ten went 5 and 0 winning all its bowl games in 2008. Pac Ten has 5 teams in the top 25 of current BCS standings. SEC has 3 teams in the top 25 of BCS standings and LSU is far and away the most overrated of all teams in the top 25. In fact Washington Huskies players made clear after playing USC, LSU & Stanford the the best team was the Card. Florida and Alabama have played weak schedules all year. The SEC is all powerful is a myth. 9 out ot 10 sports writers agree that watching Pac-10 football is by far a more fun and interesting and entertaining endeavor than slogging through another 13-10 SEC inbreeders ball. Watching SEC teams play is for the dull and slow witted. It's just plain boring. Uggggggh.
Blah, blah, blah…..SEC/Tebow/Blah blah blah….I'd love to see Gerhart and Tebow in a one on one open field battle. Gerhart wins. The other nice thing about Toby Gerhart is that he never refers to "the Lord" or "God Bless" or "Jesus his personal saviour" or any of that proselytizing crap that so pollutes American televised sport. Thank you Gerhart.
Some of my liberaler friends make that point that SEC schools are more "diversity minded" because they have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for students and student athletes on the subject of sexuality. They say that these schools permit more open expression of alternate lifestyles, wink/wink on campus.
Well, maybe so. But I don't understand how that makes them better at football.
Who has not put up big numbers on Notre Dame, Oregon, and USC? Beating up on Notre Dame has been the story of this decade.
On draft day do you really think Gerhart is gonna be more coveted than Ingram from Alabama?
Jump on the "rip Tebow" band wagon all you want, they guy has proven his stuff as a rushing threat and as a passer.
Oklahoma thought they would criticize him as well and look at the numbers he put up on them.
It is almost laughable to think Gerhart is a better back than Ingram.
Go right ahead think highly of that "intimidating" Pac-10 conf all you like, at the end of the day they are not going to get the rankings or produce the same tough defenses and speeds that the SEC does pound for pound.
If so… why are not voters taking them more seriously?
Ask Kiffin about his switch from PAC-10 to SEC, ask Meyer about the switch he made from Utah.
Sure, LSU and others are not on their best looks, but it has only been 2 years since they won their last National title.
Archie, you think the SEC is boring. (Great argument from a fool is too emotional about the Pac-10)
Dude- take a hormone pill and be a man.
I just Read this SEC worship bullcrap above. Garrett just be sure you ask em not to get it in your eye when your servicing the SEC in the future. Be sure they're wearing a condom when then flip you over.
Refresh my memory. How did UUUUUtah do just last year in that game against the dumb asses from the SEC? Refresh all of our memories. Also, really, pro football is a drip compared to college. Who cares about what the NFL thinks? If that's your argument why is Tebow so often cited as not NFL material? That's sort of funny eh. Look all I ask is that you toothless retards propogating the SEC myth just stay east of the MIssissippi so we won't have to look at your ugly mugs and hear your deliverance banjo music.
The SEC is pretty mediocre after the top three teams, and so is the Big 12. Gerhart would do well in any conference. And the Heisman is supposed to be about the best college player – not the best one from a BCS or potential number 1 team. It is also hard to see what some of the other top candidates would do against the best teams, since they have not played them! UT and Florida have thus far only played one team each that is still ranked.
I don't know the details on this, but living in the south all my life, I cannot imagine that anything done in the SEC along these lines has not already been done in the PAC 10 and other areas first. May be wrong. 25 years ago in the ACC when I competed in T&F, this was a non-issue already!
Travis, don't get your gay panties all in a wad. Say what you will, but seriously, putting up big numbers on Notre Dame this year is a joke. Stanford and the rest of the Pac-10 schedules are a joke compared to other big time schools. Do you think when people conisder Stanford and Notre Dame they tremble with fear. No. They get pumped because that usually translates in W's in the record collum. By the way dipstick, I never championed Tebow as NFL quaterback. Try to read without getting so emotional you little sissy. Grow a pair and deal with what I said as I said it. Say what you will, but the coaches vote, as well as your ever so enlightend west coast writers. Do you really think the SEC or Big 12 is slightly intimidated by the Pac-10. Absurdity. You live in absurdity.