At this point, it seems there will be only three serious candidates that will be headed to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City. It remains to be seen who else will join them.
Johnny Manziel of the Texas A&M Aggies and Manti Te'o of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were the two surest Heisman candidates going into this final weekend of the season. Manziel's spectacular redshirt freshman campaign helped spur Texas A&M to upset national champion finalist Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and also ensure the Aggies to a successful debut season in the SEC with a ten win campaign. Te'o was the leader of an Irish defense that allowed only ten touchdowns on the season. They were undoubtedly the two most spectacular individual performers of the 2012 college football regular season.
Both Manziel and Te'o did not play this week, as their teams concluded regular season play last week.
The only serious Heisman Trophy contender in action was Kansas St. Wildcats quarterback Collin Klein, and he ended up decimating the Texas Longhorns in his final regular season game. He rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for 184 yards and another TD. It was hardly the most spectacular performance from Klein, but he's carried Kansas State to a BCS bowl bid and a likely trip to Glendale and the Fiesta Bowl this postseason. Klein's performance should ensure he earns an invite along with Manziel and Te'o.
It remains to be seen who will join those three. Marqise Lee of the USC Trojans, Braxton Miller of the Ohio State Buckeyes, and Kenjon Barner of the Oregon Ducks were all out of action. Tavon Austin had 187 total yards for West Virginia in their win over Iowa State, and Stepfan Taylor helped carry Stanford to a Rose Bowl bid with 133 yards from scrimmage against UCLA.
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