By Bob Markus

Picking a Heisman trophy winner has always been a little bit like going truffle hunting with a pig or panning for gold. The pig may turn up a few of the expensive delicacies and the gold panner may flush out a few nuggets of precious ore, but don't count on it. There is no defined criterion for choosing a Heisman trophy winner, so each elector must use his own set of standards. some look at gaudy numbers and exclaim: That's my boy. Others look to the top ranked team, single out its best player, and pronounce: You da man. Others still look at the award as a sort of national MVP. Which player meant the most to his team?

I had a Heisman vote for a few years when college sports was my fulltime beat at the Chicago Tribune. I took the job seriously and was seriously upset on the few occasions when I felt a gross injustice had been committed. One of those came in 1987 when Notre Dame's Tim Brown was the winner. Brown was the last of the seven Fighting Irish Heisman winners and a case could be made that only one or two of them deserved it. Brown averaged nearly 22 yards a catch for the 8-4 Irish that year, so I'd have to say he was Heisman worthy. But not in that year. That was the year that Don McPherson led Syracuse to a perfect 11-0 regular season, only the second undefeated season in the Orangemen's history. To me, McPherson was the embodiment of what the Heisman is all about. I voted for him, gave my third place vote to Gordie Lockbaum, the two-way star from Holy Cross, and, though I can't really remember, probably gave my runner-up vote to Brown. Lockbaum was a great story, a Galahad of the gridiron whose main virtue was his virtue.

A few years later I got another chance to sulk when the man I voted for not only didn't win, but finished seventh in the voting. That was Jeff Blake, the quarterback from East Carolina, which lost its opening game to Illinois, then ran the table, winning 11 in a row, including its 37-34 win over North Carolina State in the Peach bowl. Blake was a one-man highlight reel that autumn, turning up almost every Saturday night on the postgame score shows, performing yet another miracle. Mine was one of only seven first place votes he received. Michigan's Desmond Howard was the winner.

It's difficult of course for a player to emerge from almost total obscurity to the Heisman in a single season. Unless, of course, you play for Notre Dame (see John Huarte, 1964, a year that included the likes of Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers, who didn't even crack the top 10). The history of the prized statuette is replete with players who sort of sneaked up on the honor, gaining a spot on the ballot for a year or two before winning. Even Army's great Glenn Davis finished second twice before finally winning it in his final year. Doak Walker was third the year before he won as was Johnny Lujack, the one Irish player who undoubtedly deserved the honor in 1947, although Walker, Charlie Conerly, Bobby Layne and Chuck Bednarik were among the future pro stars who also played that year. Of the five, Lujack probably had the least productive pro career, but then, the Heisman is not meant to be a predictor of NFL potential. In fact, going back to Ricky Williams in 1998, only Carson Palmer, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, has had a solid pro career after winning the Heisman. The jury is still out on Reggie Bush.

Of all the Heisman trophies that have been presented since Chicago's Jay Berwanger won the first one in 1935, the one that has me most puzzled was the one given to Paul Hornung in 1956. Hornung became a Hall of Fame running back with the Green Bay Packers and also a friend, so I hope he'll forgive me for saying this. But Hornung was the quarterback of a Notre Dame team that finished 2 and 8. Runner-up Johnny Majors starred for a 10-1 Tennessee team and a guy named Jim Brown was finishing his college career at Syracuse.

I no longer, of course, have anything to do with voting for the Heisman, although I probably have about as good a handle on it as the current writers, since they see only one game a week and I can see a dozen of them, or parts thereof, on any given Saturday. When this season began, it appeared pretty certain that the trophy would go to one of the three players who finished one-two-three last year--Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, Texas' Colt McCoy, and Florida's Tim Tebow. Bradford didn't even make it out of the starting gate before his season imploded with an opening game injury. McCoy and Tebow are still alive since their teams are unbeaten and figure to meet for the national championship. But neither has had the kind of season they anticipated. Tebow admits his performance is down from the last two years and nine interceptions thrown by McCoy speak for themselves.

According to an ESPN poll of 15 experts, the current leader is Alabama running back Mark Ingram, who drew 10 of the 15 first place votes. Kellen Moore, the quarterback of unbeaten and unappreciated Boise State got two votes, while Tebow, McCoy, and Houston's Case Keenum got the other three votes. Keenum, the Houston quarterback, has piled up some unreal numbers for the 8-1 Cougars. In his last two games alone he's thrown for close to 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns. He has 28 touchdown passes for the season. Almost matching that is Boise State's Moore with 27 touchdown passes and only three interceptions.

I admit I haven't seen too much of Alabama's Ingram and I suspect he is a candidate because someone on the Crimson Tide offense has to be partly responsible for the defense-oriented team's unbeaten record. Talent-wise, receiver Julio Jones should be the man, but he has underachieved for the most part this year. As for my own choice, I think I'm going to surprise you. After all my Notre Dame bashing, if I had a Heisman vote I think I'd spend it on Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen. The Irish may be struggling a bit, but without Clausen (and his marvelous receiver Golden Tate) the Irish could be 1-8 and there would be no speculation about Coach Charlie Weis' fate. Clausen has repeatedly brought the Irish from behind and four of their victories and all three defeats have been by seven points or less. I'd probably vote Keenum second and Moore third. But that's just me. What do you think?