The Heisman Trophy, as of late, has gone to the best offensive player on the best team. Since the LSU Tigers' best offensive player plays defense, next in line is Alabama Crimson Tide running back Trent Richardson. While Montee Ball has bigger numbers, Richardson is the primary offensive firepower of a national championship contender.

Our own C.J. Schexnayder of the essential Alabama Crimson Tide blog Roll Bama Roll outlines why Richardson should become the Tide's second winner in three years:

Trent Richardson has been the engine of an offense for a team that has never been ranked lower than No. 2 this entire season. The Alabama scheme puts a premium on defense but that only works if you can keep control of the game on the offensive side of the ball. Richardson had done that in spades.

Thus far this season he has rushed for 1,583 yards and has scored 23 touchdowns this season. Richardson ranks fifth in the nation with an average of 131.92 yards per game. He has also caught 27 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns

In 12 games he carried the ball 263 times - more than any back in the SEC - for more than six yards per carry and an almost 60 percent success rate. And in 614 career touches Richardson has lost just one single fumble.

Richardson over Robert Griffin III would be too much for an already SEC-weary nation to bear, but you would not hear a single complaint out of the state of Alabama if he did win. He has a better case than Mark Ingram did in 2009, in fact.

Visit Alabama blog Roll Bama Roll for more Tide. For more, stay tuned to our 2011 Heisman Trophy stream, and here are the year's other college football awards winners.