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Sam Bradford of the Oklahoma Sooners talks with the media at a press conference after winning the Heisman Trophy.

Bradford’s statistics, and the margin of Oklahoma’s victories, spoke louder than any quote he could mutter or any “College Gameday” feature could. Meanwhile, the Heisman race quickly evolved into a Big 12 quarterback version of a Nextel Cup race. Perhaps Brent and Kirk should have had Michael Waltrip up in the booth with them.

For six weeks Missouri’s Chase Daniel was the front-runner (remember that?) as the Tigers raced out to a 5-0 start and a 53.4 points per game average. Daniel’s zenith occurred with an appearance on the magazine cover of ESPN.

Then, on October 11^th, Texas beat Oklahoma and Oklahoma State defrocked Mizzou. McCoy moved into the lead … even though it could be argued that Bradford had the better game of the pair that day, throwing five TD passes. Three Saturdays later, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech passed McCoy (though contrarians such as myself argued in favor of Michael Crabtree) when the Red Raiders unseated the top-ranked Longhorns in Lubbock.

For three weeks in November we were subjected to Harrell-or-Crabtree debates by gasbags in print, radio and television, a group (to which I reluctantly belong) best described as Fulmi-Nation. One after-midnight ESPN radio host actually argued in favor of Harrell by declaring, “Crabtree cannot catch the ball if nobody throws it to him.”

As if Harrell can generate completions without anyone catching his passes. This might describe why that host has the midnight-to-4 a.m. shift.

In the end, as with NASCAR, it doesn’t matter how many laps you lead, it only matters that you lead when the checkered flag is out. Oklahoma closed out the final three games of its season in prime-time on network television and each offensive performance was masterful. The Sooners scored 65, 61 and 62 points versus Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri, respectively, three programs that had spent at least part of the season in the top ten. In those three games Bradford threw ten touchdown passes, no interceptions, and averaged 352 yards passing per game.

Sam Bradford was outstanding all season, and when it truly mattered he and the Sooners were even better. He becomes the third Big 12 passer to win the Heisman this decade (after Eric Crouch of Nebraska and White), and he could be the first of the trio to complete a pass in the NFL. Perhaps as soon as next September.

Right now, though, Bradford has a national title game for which to prepare. Reggie Bush of USC won the Heisman in ’05 and Troy Smith of Ohio State won it in ’06. Both played on the losing side in the national championship game those seasons.

The last man to win the Heisman and lead his team to the national title the same season? That would be Bush’s teammate, Matt Leinart, who led the Trojans to an emphatic 55-19 win in Miami against … Oklahoma.

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