Bob McCarty Writes

UPDATE: Fewer than 12 hours after the post below was published, Sam Bradford’s name was added to the list of hopefuls on ESPN’s Heisman Watch page, possibly the result of an ESPN panelist reading this post.

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Visit Heisman Watch on the ESPN web site and you’ll find descriptions of nine fantastic college football players, six of whom are quarterbacks. Missing from the list, however, is one player who, by any standard of measurement, should also be included as a serious candidate for the award. That player is Sam Bradford.

As a redshirt freshman, he lead the Oklahoma Sooners to an 11-2 finish, capped by a sound 38-17 thrashing of then-top rated Missouri, a Big 12 Conference title and an opportunity to play #9 West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

A look at the quarterbacks stats page on ESPN shows Bradford finished the season as the highest-rated passer (180.5) in Division 1, in part, by completing a best-in-the-nation 70.1 percent of his passes. But that’s not all:

• Bradford also set an NCAA record for touchdown passes (34) by a freshman;

• Only three top 10 quarterbacks — Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell (45), Tulsa’s Paul Smith (42) and Hawaii’s Colt Brennan (38) — threw more TDs than Bradford; and

• Bradford’s team lost only one game (Colorado, 27-24) in which he played more than three plays. In a Nov. 17 loss to Texas Tech (34-27), he suffered a concussion on OU’s first play from scrimmage and had to leave the game soon after.

To some, it might seem Bradford is following in the footsteps of former Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson. Now setting records as a Minnesota Viking in the NFL, Peterson finished second in the Heisman Trophy after a remarkable freshman season during which he gained 1925 yards and led the nation in carries with 339.

The difference, however, is this: Thanks to sites like ESPN’s Heisman Watch, it seems as if Bradford isn’t even receiving consideration alongside quarterbacks like Florida’s Tim Tebow, West Virginia’s Pat White, Brennan and, most importantly, Missouri’s Chase Daniel, whom the Sooners QB defeated and outplayed twice.

When awards like this are given based on popularity and marketing ability rather than performance and talent, the trophy begins to appear tarnished.