Don't count out TD Timmy for Heisman

ORLANDO, Fla.

Who was it who predicted early last season that Tim Tebow — after only two games as a starting quarterback at the University of Florida — would become the first sophomore in history to win the Heisman Trophy, would, in fact, win multiple Heismans and would go down as one of the greatest college football players in history?

That would be me.

So sit down there and listen when I tell you why Tebow still has a legitimate shot to have matching bronze Heismans instead of wooden Nutcracker soldiers on both sides of his front door come Christmastime.

Don’t listen to all the naysayers who say Tebow is out of it. Don’t believe Chris Huston, the founder of HeismanPundit.com — a Web site devoted to the most prestigious individual award in all of sports. Huston has already buried Tebow beneath the pyrotechnic passing numbers of the Big 12 (motto: We have the worst defense since the 1941 Yugoslavian Army).

“I think the only way Tim Tebow wins the Heisman is if all the Big 12 candidates decide to quit football immediately to take up sewing,” Huston says. “The Heisman winner is the player who best symbolizes the season and this season has not been about Tim Tebow; it’s been about the Big 12 and its incredible quarterbacks.”

Up to this point in the season, Huston is absolutely right. But guess what? There’s one-quarter of the season still to be played. It’s way too early to count out Touchdown Timmy. The autumn leaves are just starting to change, the biggest games of the year are still ahead and Tebow is turning into Tebow once again.

If you’re scoring at home, Tebow has run for two or more touchdowns in each of the last three games and his seven rushing touchdowns over that span are more than any other player in the nation. In addition, his passer rating of 214.5 in the past three games leads the nation.

“I think he has a chance, but that’s all it is,” says Dennis Dodd, college football columnist for CBSsports.com “Tebow’s a great player, not the best player.”

Don’t get me wrong, I tend to agree with both Dodd and Huston at this point. I have Tebow third or fourth on my list right now, but these lists can change dramatically from week to week.

Undefeated Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, with his pinball passing numbers, seems to be in a stratosphere by himself at this point. But let Harrell throw a late interception and cost his team a game and watch him fall back to Earth faster than a shot mallard.

“The game against Oklahoma could make or break Graham Harrell,” says ESPN college football guru Lee Corso, who has Tebow third on his list right now behind Harrell and Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. “There are still big games to be played. It’s all going to come down to who performs in the big games down the stretch.”

And nobody has bigger games remaining than Tebow. Three of Florida’s four games — South Carolina, Florida State and a monumental showdown with potentially unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game — are on national television. No other candidate will get more late-season exposure.

And let’s not forget, Heisman voters often vote in blocs. The writers in the Big 12 who cover Big 12 games every week vote for the players they’re most familiar with. Same with the SEC. You go with what you know.

Tebow is the only legitimate candidate in the SEC, a conference that carries more clout than any other in college football. It’s conceivable Tebow could lock up the Trophy simply by hoarding the brunt of the SEC’s electoral votes.

Meanwhile, the Big 12 has four major candidates — Harrell, McCoy, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford and Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree — who will likely siphon votes from one another.

The Heisman, in many ways, is a popularity contest and Tebow is without question the most popular player in America.

I still say Tebow can become the Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Trophy and get elected multiple times in succession.

So don’t fret, Tebow worshippers.

As FDR himself once said, “You have nothing to fear but fear itself ... and, oh yeah, a loss to South Carolina on Saturday.”