Why Georgia Fans Should Root for Sam Bradford to Win the Heisman

With the departure of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno, the Bulldogs do not figure to have a serious contender for the Heisman Trophy on their squad in 2009. Even if either of those players returned, I doubt they would have been able to wrestle the award away from the three players who were the finalists for the award last season - Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, and Sam Bradford. Considering that two of those players already have a Heisman and the other could have easily won the award last season, I see no way that one of these three does not take home the trophy in New York come this December. While Georgia fans do not have one of their own to root for, they should all be rooting for Sam Bradford to become only the second player to win the Heisman Trophy.

Let me state, for the record, that I do not think Sam Bradford is necessarily better or more deserving to win the award over Tebow and McCoy. However, as the defending champion, there's evidence to support Georgia fans rooting for him as the best player. But my argument here is less about why Sam Bradford should win the Heisman and more about why Georgia fans should root against Tebow and McCoy.

Let's start with Tim Tebow. Do I really need to spell it out? HE PLAYS AT FLORIDA. I bleed Georgia red and I will always root against the Gators when given the choice. Some people will argue that it looks good for the SEC when a player from the conference wins the Heisman, but I could really care less. A second Tebow Heisman would mean another year of Florida playing well and would probably include another victory over the Dawgs in Jacksonville. For those reasons, Georgia fans should not root for Tim Tebow to win the Heisman this fall.

Next, we move on to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. McCoy is entering his fourth year as the starting quarterback in Austin and the Longhorns expect to battle Bradford's Oklahoma Sooners for the Big XII Championship again this fall. I think McCoy is a fantastic player whose passing and running makes him a top candidate. The real reason Georgia fans should root against McCoy is that for him to win the Heisman, the 'Horns will most likely need to be a contender for the national title and thus they would need to finish with more than 10 wins on the season. Colt McCoy has won 32 games as the starting quarterback for Texas and if he wins more than 10 games this fall, he will become the winningest quarterback in NCAA history. As I pointed out in The Countdown, the current record for victories as a starter is held by former Georgia starter David Greene, and I do not want to see another Bulldog-held NCAA record fall.

With the cases against Tebow and McCoy, that leaves Bradford the lone man for me to root for this fall. Boomer Sooner, Bradford!

GO DAWGS!