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'Captain Comeback' is as good of a choice as any for Heisman Trophy By Don Hunt My Heisman Trophy vote has been tucked away in a desk drawer since it arrived in the mail the first week of November. Since it doesn't have to be in New York until Friday, there was no rush to fill it out. I dropped the envelope in the mail Monday, and I make no apologies for the three names I put on my ballot: 1, Joey Harrington. 2, David Carr. 3, Eric Crouch. No player from the West Coast has won the award since USC's Marcus Allen in 1981, and Harrington probably won't win it this time because the vast majority of the voters live east of the Mississippi and vote accordingly. But he just might, because there is no clear-cut favorite. And he should. You can talk all you want about Florida quarterback Rex Grossman being the NCAA passing efficiency leader, or Miami's Ken Dorsey calling signals for the nation's top-ranked Division I team, or Nebraska QB Crouch being the best athlete, or Carr having the best arm and pro potential. Those are all valid points, but no one has done more with less than Harrington. The most important statistic for any quarterback is wins and losses. Harrington is 10-1 this season, 24-3 since he took over the starting job halfway through his sophomore year and he's engineered 10 fourth-quarter comebacks. No, he didn't have a big game against Oregon State last Saturday, throwing for just 104 yards, but how would the others have fared under monsoon conditions? Harrington also has 23 touchdown passes versus five interceptions this season, and has also run for seven scores. But more than the numbers, you must ask yourself where the Ducks would be this season without their leader. How many wins would they have? Would they have finished in the upper half of the Pac-10 Conference? Would they have beaten Wisconsin, Southern Cal, UCLA and Oregon State? Dorsey plays on a team that NFL scouts claim have as many as 12 future first-round picks, and he operates behind an offensive line that is recognized as one of the best in college football history. Crouch leans on Cornhusker guard Toniu Fonoti, an Outland Trophy finalist, and Dave Volk, one of the better tackles in the Big 12 Conference. Harrington? He plays behind an 'O' line that didn't land a single player on the first or second All-Pac-10 teams. So, if we're looking at the MVP of college football, as well as the best player, then Harrington's the pick. He means more to his team than any of the others. I doubt that Carr makes his way onto many ballots, but the Fresno State phenom was my front-runner early this fall after leading the Bulldogs to victories over Colorado, Oregon State, Wisconsin and Colorado State. But then came back-to-back losses to Boise State and Hawaii, and the bloom was off the rose. UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster was also high on my list when the Bruins were 6-0, but then came losses to Stanford and Washington State followed by Foster's suspension for improprieties involving a new car. Another strong candidate, Boston College tailback William Green, was kicked off his team for disciplinary reasons. All the while, Harrington did what Harrington does best: He excelled at crunch time and, except for a 49-42 loss to Stanford in which the Ducks blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, he won. He'll head to New York in a rather familiar role, as the underdog. If he can win Saturday, it'll be his best Houdini act yet. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.