Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon Lose His Shot at the Heisman With Poor Big Ten Championship Game?

When the list of Heisman finalist was announced it did not come as a surprise that Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon was included on the list. After all, he did join the exclusive 2000+ yard club and momentarily held the mark for best single rushing game in college football history. Had he not been invited it would have been an absolute injustice to football fans everywhere.

But after a poor game against Ohio State does he actually have a chance of winning? Probably not.

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Marcus Mariota has been the front-runner for some time and is expected to run away with it this year. Some have even tossed around the possibility of him being a unanimous selection. That seems a little far-fetched when you consider the kind of season his two competitors have had especially Gordon.

With 2,336 yards and 26 rushing touchdowns it is hard to ignore what he has accomplished, and he has done it in a pretty dominant fashion all season. Out of 13 games he ran for over 100 yards 11 times; five times he cleared 200 yards and once 400.

As telling as those stats are the best may very well be his per carry average--7.9 yards.

However, a good part of the reason his numbers are so gaudy is that Wisconsin fed him the ball. They struggled at quarterback this season and would not have done as well as they did had Gordon performed in any other way than how he did.

Some would say that is what makes him Heisman worthy, but others would compare his season to a major college team playing a crappy FCS one. Given the situation of course the stats are going to be ridiculous.

That being said had he dominated in the Big Ten Championship game the vote may not be as clear cut as it is going to be. Mariota pretty much dominated the entire season, but unlike Gordon he never had a truly bad game.

Gordon did--and it cost him.

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