Texas' McCoy barely beats out OU's Bradford on my final ballot

Colt McCoy's ability to make plays with his feet, along with a win over Oklahoma, gave him the edge over Big 12 rival Sam Bradford. Peter Read Miller/SI Related Links MENEZ: Q&A with my Heisman pick, Colt McCoy SWEEP: Provide your own Heisman ballot Gene Menez's Mailbag Have questions or feedback? E-mail Gene Menez. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

In the four seasons that I've been writing The Watch, no Heisman Trophy race has been as excruciatingly tight as this year's, with three players (maybe four if you count Texas Tech's Graham Harrell) having good cases to win the stiff armed statuette. And when the winner is announced on Saturday night, The Watch wouldn't be surprised if Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow made the three-way finish the closest in Heisman history.

The Watch's ballot, however, came down to Bradford and McCoy (to read why Tebow was not the pick, see below), and, after much hair-splitting, the choice was McCoy by about the width of a credit card. I'm sure Bradford backers will send e-mails along the lines of "How could you vote for McCoy over Bradford? Bradford passed for more yards and more touchdowns than McCoy and won the Big 12 championship" (with much more colorful language thrown in). So to answer those e-mails in advance, let's explain.

Why does McCoy deserve the Heisman over Bradford? There are a few reasons, the main one being that McCoy regularly makes plays with his feet while Bradford rarely does. (And, yes, I saw Bradford's 10-yard touchdown pass to Juaquin Iglesias in Saturday's Big 12 championship game.) Unlike the Oklahoma quarterback, McCoy doesn't have a consistent running game to help him out; he is the running game. (He led Texas in rushing this year.) And his fleet feet allow him to consistently turn broken plays into big gains, the most memorable being his falling-down impromptu flip to Chris Ogbonnaya for a 65-yard touchdown against Colorado. The Watch wrote this earlier in the season, and it still holds true: "McCoy escapes from seemingly impossible situations so often, The Watch wonders if his real surname isn't actually MacGyver."

Meanwhile, Bradford is aided by a lethal rushing attack (led by the electric DeMarco Murray and ranked 19th in the country) that got better in the second half of the season and put Bradford in position to throw for a ton of touchdowns. There's no doubt that Bradford had a great season, setting a slew of Oklahoma passing records with 4,464 yards and 48 touchdowns. But if stats are the basis for the argument, then Houston's Case Keenum (more passing yards per game than Bradford and just as many total touchdowns per game) is your Heisman winner.

The second reason behind the McCoy choice is that his offensive line is far inferior to Bradford's. Texas allowed 22 sacks this season, and McCoy was hit hard in games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M, to name a few. Still, he got off the turf and made plays. Bradford, playing behind arguably the best offensive line in the nation, was barely touched. The Sooners allowed just 11 sacks this season, giving Bradford time to stand in the pocket and pick out his receivers.

Speaking of Bradford's receivers, they're the third and final significant reason why McCoy gets the edge. The Watch watched every televised snap that both Bradford and McCoy took this year, but, regrettably, did not track each receiver's yards-after-catch stat. Still, it's safe to say that the Sooners' band of gamebreakers led that by an enormous margin. Every week it seemed as if Iglesias, Manny Johnson, Ryan Broyles and tight end Jermaine Gresham were zig-zagging through defensive backs for big chunks of yardage or running freely to the end zone. How many times did you see Texas receivers doing that? Maybe Jordan Shipley here and there, but that was it. In simple terms: Bradford was the kind of quarterback to throw to receivers who then would make plays with their feet for touchdowns; McCoy was the kind of quarterback to make plays with his feet and then throw to his receivers for touchdowns.

There are other reasons why McCoy got the edge (his NCAA-best 77.6 completion percentage, his uncanny knack of moving the chains on third down, his win over No. 1 Oklahoma), but the main reasons were the three above.

The Watch is not Bradford bashing. Again, he had a phenomenal season and had the edge over McCoy in many areas, the most significant coming in the downfield passing game. (McCoy threw mostly short and intermediate routes.) But even if you give Bradford the edge in passing, McCoy has an enormous edge in running.

The Watch had to split hairs to come up with the pick for the "most outstanding college football player in the United States for 2008," and that choice was McCoy.

1. Colt McCoy, Texas, QB, Jr.

Last week: Idle.

Season: 291-of-375 passing, 3,445 yards, 32 TDs, 7 INTs; 128 rushes, 576 yards, 10 TDs; 2 punts, 69 yards.

Heisman-o-meter: Either Bradford or Tebow would be a worthy winner of the Heisman, but The Watch believes the most deserving is McCoy. The main reasons for him being No. 1 were stated above, but, to repeat, he was the best passing and running threat in college football the whole season. He was terrific in Week 1 and played at that level the whole year. He repeatedly turned broken plays into big ones. He had the accuracy of a military sniper. He led his offense to a second-half surge to beat No. 1 Oklahoma. He was clutch on third downs. He threw into tight windows. He avoided interceptions. And, with respect to Shipley & Co., McCoy did all that without as much talent around him as Bradford or Tebow.

McCoy's The Watch's first choice for the Heisman Trophy. We'll find out Saturday night if he wins it.