WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Guidera: Tebow Stood Alone By Standing Out in Heisman Race

Guidera: Tebow Stood Alone By Standing Out in Heisman Race

 I usually make it a practice not to quote documents.

First of all they're no fun to talk to. Also, when one speaks to me, I tend to think it's just another voice inside my head.

But there is a good case for an exception now, because the only thing that needs to be said about voting for the Heisman Trophy comes straight from the ballot.

That's where it instructs voters to indicate their choice for "the most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2007.''

And that's it.

It doesn't say the best player who is not an underclassman.  It doesn't say the best player on a team in contention for the national championship.

There are no stipulations about how many losses a player's team has or what conference he played in, and nothing about what position he plays or how draftable he is.

Just the most outstanding player.

So, by that simple criteria, there is a simple choice this year when nobody stood out more than Tim Tebow.

The Florida quarterback was the ultimate hybrid - efficient, durable and versatile. He was also the college game's best machine, churning out production with his arm and legs, which both accounted for 20 touchdowns and a total of 51.

By comparison, his season was better than anyone else's, which is why when the vote is announced Saturday night, Tebow will stand alone and I will be in the majority. I voted for Tebow, who not only should win the Heisman, but should win it in a landslide.

That will trouble some people who have tried to invent reasons not to vote for him.

They'll say his team lost three times without pointing out that he completed 61 percent of his passes and accounted for eight touchdowns in those games. Those are not goat numbers.

They'll say he was not so much a true quarterback as the product of Urban Meyer's free-wheeling system, failing to mention that scheme required him to play two positions and that he performed them equally well.

They'll also say no sophomore has ever won the Heisman, as if that's supposed to mean something.

But, according to the only rule that matters in voting for the award, none of those arguments should.

Tebow was simply the most outstanding player, especially in a year when no one else separated himself from the pool of candidates coming into the season.

Darren McFadden was probably the most talented player in the country the last two years and might make the best pro. But his 1,725 yards were a little misleading, with 42 percent coming in three games.

They were important games for Arkansas - Alabama, South Carolina and LSU. But they were still only three games out of 12 that his team played.

Oregon's Dennis Dixon might have been the country's most valuable player judging by how his team tanked after he was injured, losing its last three games. But he missed too much of the season at too important a point to get serious consideration.

Missouri's Chase Daniel and Hawaii's Colt Brennan compiled impressive passing statistics. But they were nothing one or two quarterbacks don't put up every year.

Tebow did something that has never been done before and might never be done again, unless he matches his 20-20 performance next season.

He ran for more touchdowns than the nation's best running backs and threw for nearly as many as the best quarterbacks, leading a team that could finish the season in the Top 10 in both passing and rushing yardage.

He controlled most games he played in, completely took over some and was not the responsible for his team losing any. And, for all the criticism about Florida's non-conference schedule, he still faced four teams that ended the regular season ranked, seven that will play in bowl games and the two division winners of the nation's toughest conference.

That's at least as challenging as any other candidate faced and far stronger than the JV competition a couple of them played against. And it should dispel one more of the silly arguments being made against the player who had the best season in college football in 2007, the kind of cockeyed thinking that produced Heisman winners such as Gino Torretta.

In a year when every other candidate stand about even, Tebow stood out. And it says right on the Heisman ballot that should make him the Heisman winner. 

 Reported by: Tim Guidera, tguidera@wtoc.com - Read more of Tim's stories here.