Alright, let me start off by telling you a little secret. Before the season started, my Heisman list looked like this:
1. Colt McCoy QB Texas
2. Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma
3. Tim Tebow QB Florida
And that's it. There was no 4 or 5. Ok, so maybe that's not really a secret. Everyone in the nation thought it was going to be a three man race. But at least now you know that I am sane. With Bradford's game one shoulder injury and McCoy's high interception total, the Heisman race has already opened up to new faces. There are many young men around the nation who have thrown their hat in for the award, and right now even Tebow isn't sitting pretty at the top. Some players, like Jahvid Best, were known to be excellent before the season but have put up better than expected numbers, while some players would have to admit that their own mothers would not have dared use their name in the same sentence as Tebow or McCoy three weeks ago. These are the guys like Jacory Harris of Miami and Tate Forcier of Michigan (I know we hate him here, but don't worry. There's no way he ends up anywhere near New York come Heisman ceremony time). But one new candidate has stood out more than any of the rest, and it has even surprised some people at his own school. I'm talking, of course, about Jimmy Clausen.

I have been to every ND game so far this year (really not that impressive, just means I went up to Michigan), and I have seen first hand how great Jimmy has been. His stats jump off the page (62 for 91, 951 yards, 9 td, 0 int), but his presence and decision-making have been even more impressive than that. Everyone knows by now that he played almost flawlessly against Nevada in the season opener, where he threw more touchdowns than incompletions. But not as many people realize that he played incredibly well against Michigan and Michigan State too. Unfortunately for him, the fact that we lost at Michigan has overshadowed his great performance. My friends and I stayed in Michigan Saturday night after the loss and had to endure the heckling of the UM fans. But one fan came up to us while we were eating and just said "Man, that Jimmy can throw." That's respect. My friends and I try to count the mistakes that Jimmy has made after every game, including anything from bad passes to bad reads to bad decisions. And let me tell you something, he makes it very hard to do. I don't know if we have come up with much more than 5 for any of the three games so far. That being said, his road to the Heisman just became much more difficult with the loss of Michael Floyd. He should still put up good numbers against teams like Purdue, but if anyone wasn't already worried about the USC game, they should be now.

Alright, it's time to make an updated Heisman Watch. In the future, my fellow bloggers and I will vote on Heismans and you can see the results at the top of the page. For this week, you're stuck with my votes. So let me say this right away, I hate the best player on the best team argument. Maybe that's because I'm from Minnesota and I go to Notre Dame so my team is never the best. Whatever the reason, if you ever see me use that argument send me a hateful email or forum post. Enough talking, let's see the votes:

1. Jimmy Clausen QB Notre Dame
2. Jahvid Best RB Cal
3. Tim Tebow QB Florida
4. Colt McCoy QB Texas
5. Michael Floyd WR Notre Dame

I think you can figure out from the name of the website why Jimmy Clausen was my number 1. Jahvid Best has to be number 2 after a 5 touchdown performance at Minnesota. He also has 8 rushing touchdowns on the year. I know I said I didn't like the best player on best team argument, but Tebow plays like a Heisman too. And his leadership on that team is more important than the fact that he is the best player. No one can argue that he doesn't deserve to be on this list. Colt McCoy is still one of the best players in the league, and he was playing with the flu on Saturday. He will put up the big numbers we expected to see from him, so I'm keeping him on my Heisman watch. And I had to put Michael Floyd on the list because I knew it was the last time I could get away with it. He has 5 receiving touchdowns and 358 receiving yards through 2 and a half games.