5. Another week, another Heisman shake-up
Last week, I had Ohio State's Braxton Miller and West Virginia's Smith 1-2 on my ESPN Heisman Watch ballot. This week, neither is in my top five.
Here goes: Klein is first, followed by Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, then Barner, then Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege.
Te'o had 10 tackles and an interception in the Irish's close win versus BYU.
McCarron threw for a career-high 306 yards at Tennessee, finding a new favorite target in freshman Amari Cooper. His numbers this season: 107-for-154 (69.5 percent), 1,476 yards, 16 TDs, no picks -- and he hasn't thrown one in 249 attempts.
Michael C. Johnson/US PresswireSeth Doege had another impressive game against TCU.
And Doege threw seven touchdowns (no interceptions) against a Gary Patterson defense, pushing Tech past TCU in triple overtime. That keeps the Red Raiders' Big 12 hopes alive and creates a similar faceoff this week as the one that Klein and Smith just had. If Doege plays well at K-State and the Raiders win, Doege would ascend further.
This list is clearly subject to change, and it's not as if Smith, Miller and those outside the top five are eliminated. It will be a fascinating race to December.
