Suh Falls Short

Despite huge accolades from multiple sportswriters and commentators, Ndamukong Suh fell short of the Heisman. Mark Ingram of Alabama received just enough votes to edge out Toby Gerhart for the Heisman Trophy Saturday night. It's tough to criticize people for voting Ingram because of his success running the ball and carrying Alabama's offense to the BCS Championship game. However, Toby Gerhart had some phenomenal numbers, including a beastly 26 touchdown runs. He led the nation in most statistical categories. The Heisman Trophy has turned into a different award than what it was originally attended for. It definitely showed Saturday night.

Call me biased, but Ndamukong Suh showed day in and day out that he was the best player in the nation. The trophy is supposed to go to the "most outstanding player," and it is tough to say anybody was better than Suh. He led his teams in tackles and is in the top 5 in the nation in sacks. He almost single handily stopped Texas' high powered offense. Had that second run off the clock and the Huskers were going to a BCS Bowl game, would the results have changed? Ingram got his votes for a couple of reasons, and undoubtedly, his team's success was one of the major reasons.

Another huge advantage that Ingram (and actually Gerhart) had besides the offensive bias was location. Let's break the region into 6 major categories for simplicity:
West Coast (obvious)
Midwest (obvious)
Southwest (Texas area)
Southeast (Louisiana up through the Carolinas)
East Coast (obvious)

Gerhart would take the voters from the west (even though you could argue that the West gets shafted by the East Coast bias). Ingram likely takes the southeast, such as states like Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and maybe even Florida. The only player Ingram needed to battle was Tim Tebow. However, Tebow had pretty much a decent year, and I'd venture to say hardly any voters (even in Florida) chose him over Ingram. Ingram, then, likely took the East Coast as well. Being the most heavily populated areas in the nation, he probably won because of this bias alone. All the while, McCoy and Suh battled for the desolate midwest. Not only did Suh cause McCoy to almost lose the Big 12 two weeks ago, but he forced many uneasy voters to put him down rather than McCoy. The whole system has turned political. You win regions, not the nation. It's sad to see that the award isn't truly going to the right player.