Heisman Hopefuls After Week 13

Front-runner's performances on week 13:

C.J Spiller:

• 37 offensive yards
• 18 rushing yards
• 19 receiving yards
• 88-yard kickoff return
• Team Loss vs South Carolina
  

Mark Ingram:

• 30 yards rushing
• 21 receiving yards
• Team Won vs Auburn

Toby Gerhart:

• 205 rushing yards
• 3 touchdowns
• 33 receiving yards
• 1 throwing touchdown
• Team won vs Notre Dame

Tim Tebow:

• 17-21 passing
• 221 yards
• 3 passing touchdowns
• 90 yards rushing
• 2 rushing touchdowns
• Team won vs. Florida State

Colt McCoy:

• 24-40 passing
• 304 passing yards
• 4 passing touchdowns
• 175 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• Team won vs. Texas A&M

End of a Era

On Saturday afternoon, it won't be another game day in Gainesville. Saturday's game versus Florida State is much more meaningful. It will be the final game of Tim Tebow at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Four years ago, Tim Tebow's choice of college was between Alabama and his child-hood dream school, Florida. It wasn't easy for Tebow; crying and not knowing what to do. One day prior to the anouncement, Tebow spent twelve hours talking to then Tide coach Mike Shula. Urban Meyer thought he had no chance of getting Tebow to become a Gator.

Singing Day came, and coach Meyer refused to watch Tebow's nationally televised pick. Instead, he went outside to play catch with his son. His wife and two daughters went screaming outside to tell Meyer of the surprise pick. The QB from Nease High School officially became a Florida Gator.

In his freshmen year, Tebow became a goal line specialist and help the Gators win a national championship for the first time in a decade.

Ever since, it has been a Heisman trophy, Maxwell's, four NCAA records, 12 SEC records and two dozen school records.

After four years, two Southeastern Conference championships, two national titles, and a chance to lead the program to its first perfect season, the top-ranked Gators may be ready to name him "The Greatest One."

Battle of the Free Agents

The Miami Heat took on the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. Miami came in the game losing three out of four games and the Raptors having a record of 5-7. I personally thought it was going to be a competitive game, but the Heat would come on top at the end of the day. Things didn't turn out to be a W for the Heat, but another L in the lost column.

Toronto, coming into the game, was allowing 107.8 points per game and it showed why they are struggling in defense. Even with the defeat, the Heat managed to score 113 points against the Raptors, but it was Toronto who had the explosive offense that night.

Despite Dwayne Wade and Mario Chalmers scoring 30 points each and the Heat cutting the lead to one with with less than 4 minutes left, the Raptors showed that they were not going to let Wade takeover the game.

Andrea Bargnani, who scored 24 points, hit a deadly three and backup point guard Jarret Jack scored 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and made two important 3's to help stand Miami's comeback.

Raptors star forward, Chris Bosh, scored 29 points with 12 rebounds. Heat center Jermaine O'Neal finished 17 points and Michael Beasley had a solid 21 points.

Udonis Haslem and Quentin Richardson did not play and this may be a reason why the Heat are struggling after starting strong.

Chris Bosh is another star player who is a free agent after this season and for the past years, there have been rumors that Bosh might have a home in Miami after this season. Would that be enough for D.Wade to stay?

Who Knew

Who would have ever known that the Stanford Cardinals would be 7-3 (6-2 in the Pac -10) and most importantly, win back to back games versus top 10 teams.

Last week, the Cardinals won over a very strong Oregon team and on Saturday, Stanford destroyed #9 USC 55-21. It was the worst lost for a USC team in the Pete Carroll-Era.

QB Andrew Luck threw two touchdowns and ran for another, RB Toby Gerhart ran for 178 yds with 3 touchdowns and USC QB, Matt Barkley, was simply outplayed, throwing for 196 yds, 1 touchdown and 3 picks.

USC streaks of Pac-1o titles, Top 4 AP finishes, BCS Bowling, and 11 win seasons are now down the drain after this loss.

Remember Dave Wannstedt?

Dave Wannstedt succeeded Jimmie Johnson as the Miami Dolphins head coach in 2000. In his first year as the head coach, he took the Dolphins to a 11-5 record and win the AFC East title for the first time since 1994. Result in the playoffs? 27-0 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

2nd time around was similar. In the 2001 season the Dolphins managed another 11-5 record and another embarrassment in the playoffs. This time a 20-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

3rd season: The Fins didn't win 11 games this time but still were able to go 9-7. The Dolphins needed just one more win to clinch a playoff spot, but they blew an 11 point against the New England Patriots and cost them by not going to the postseason for the 3rd straight year.

Now the 4th season was hell from the start. Star player, Ricky Williams, who Wannstedt traded two draft picks for him, retired out of nowhere. Key players were injured and the Dolphins won 1 out of their first 9 games. Wannstedt resigned in the middle of the season.

In December 23, 2004, University of Pittsburgh named Wannstedt as the head coach of the team.

The first three years were tough for the Panthers, finishing .500 only once.

In 2008, the Panthers went on a roll with a 9-4 record, but a lost in a bowl game. Even though they lost, it was a sign of a new beginning in Pittsburgh.

This season, the Panthers started 3-0, but lost a game against NC State in the fourth quarter. Wannstedt's team went on to win the next 5 games and are now 8-1(currently winning, 20-7, vs Notre Dame)

If the Panthers continue the streak, they will have a chance to win the Big East title if they are able to upset the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats in the last game of the season. Does anyone smell Oranges in Miami?

Upset Upset

Last week we saw No.7 Oregon upset USC and basically bashing their BCS title hopes and no Pac-10 title this year. Oregon became the number one team in the Pac-10 but once again, the standings change just after one week.

Stanford did what Oregon had done to USC last week. UPSET. Running back Toby Gerhart ran for a school record 223 rushing yards with 3 TD's against a defense who held all of USC running backs to a total of 140 rushing yards! Freshman QB Andrew Luck didn't need much luck because his true freshmen skills were exposed. Luck went for 251 yards, 2 touchdowns in 12/20 passing. Standford pulled off the 51-42 victory.

With the win, Stanford becomes bowl-eligible for the first time in eight years. The win over Oregon could be a bigger win than the one of two years ago when Stanford SHOCKED No.2 USC in the Coliseum.

Now with the lost that Oregon suffered, it takes them out of title contention and the margin of the Pac-10 title just got smaller.


Note: Iowa's undefeated streak came to an end last night when Northwestern won 17-10. The Hawkeyes 'Captain Comeback' QB Ricky Stanzi, suffered an ankle injury and was out for the rest of the game.

Only unbeaten teams left are Florida, Alabama, Texas, Boise State, TCU and Cincinnati .

Other news: No.22 Notre Dame had no luck of the Irish last night when Navy took them down for the 2nd straight win in Notre Dame Stadium 23-21.