NEW YORK — With one brilliant display of brute force, Ndamukong Suh altered the Heisman Trophy race like no other player this season.
In fact, it’s doubtful that any one performance by one player has ever done more to determine who wins college football’s most prestigious award.
The Nebraska defensive tackle in one night went from Heisman dark horse to fast-finishing finalist and might have shaken the big bronze statue loose from Colt McCoy’s grasp as he was tossing the Texas quarterback around Cowboys Stadium.
“I didn’t have any idea what my (Heisman) chances were (going into the game),” Suh said Friday, not long after checking into a midtown Manhattan hotel with his parents and sister. “My focus was to go out there and play as hard as I can to win that Big 12 championship and go to the Fiesta Bowl.”
Suh might not win the Heisman when it is handed out Saturday night, but the guy who does should probably thank him.
McCoy, despite the pounding he took from Suh and the Cornuskers in a 13-12 victory in the Big 12 title game, is also a Heisman finalist, along with running backs Toby Gerhart from Stanford and Mark Ingram from Alabama, and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
Ingram seems to be the front-runner in what is expected to be a close vote. McCoy, the runner-up last year, was the favorite before he followed up a spectacular game on Thanksgiving night against Texas A&M with a clunker against Nebraska. Now there’s no guarantee he’ll finish in the top three,
Suh, meanwhile, probably has a better chance at becoming the first defensive lineman, and just the second defensive player, to win the Heisman than Tebow has to become the second player to win No. 2.
“I’m a competitor so I’d like to win, but I don’t think I will,” said Tebow, who was the first sophomore to win the award in 2007 and finished third in 2008.
Along with the Notre Dame coaching search and the usual BCS bashing, Suh’s thoroughly dominant performance vs. the Longhorns — 4½ sacks, 12 tackles and more time in the Texas backfield than just about anybody but McCoy — has been the talk of college football.
Tebow called him a “dominant player.”
“Four and a half sacks is pretty ridiculous for a nose guard in the two-gap defense,” Tebow said.
Ingram called Suh “a man,” “a game-changer” and “a force to be reckoned with.”
Gerhart said, “I can’t pronounce his name so I just call him the beast from Nebraska.”
Even with all the attention Suh has gotten, being named a finalist on Monday caught him off guard.
“I was definitely surprised,” the 300-pound senior said. “I would have assumed a lot of the votes were in already. I had some media people who had votes down at the Nagurski (Award presentation) and said they voted for me and said a lot of people waited until after the Big 12 game and SEC game and the other games that were played on Saturday to make their votes.”
The only defensive player to win the Heisman was Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson, but he also returned kicks and played some receiver.
Suh is the first lineman to be a finalist since Ohio State offensive tackle Orlando Pace in 1996. He’s the first defensive lineman since Miami’s Warren Sapp in 1994.
Sapp finished sixth that season. In 1991, Washington’s Steve Emtman finished fourth in the Heisman voting.
“It’s definitely a rare thing and I’m definitely proud to be in a position to represent the defensive line and offensive line as well,” Suh said. “I’m definitely glad to be here to represent them and if I were to win that would be a great honor to represent those guys.”
Ingram, who ran for 1,542 yards and scored 18 touchdowns, would be the first Alabama player to win the award.
“All the All-Americans, all the SEC championships, all the national championships, all the bowl victories, all the great coaches, great players that have come through here, it’s kind of crazy to me that nobody has even won the Heisman Trophy, not one person,” Ingram said.
Tebow, who has a vote as a former winner, declined to say who received his vote, but said he thinks Ingram is the favorite.
So did Gerhart, who has more yards rushing (1,736) and touchdowns (26) than any other player in the country.
Suh also said the tailbacks look like the favorites.
He doesn’t have a vote, but when it comes to this Heisman race, Suh might have been the deciding factor.
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