Bradford wins Heisman

Oklahoma football player Sam Bradford, right, speaks after he won the Heisman Trophy during a ceremony Saturday, Dec. 13, 1008 in New York. (AP)

In what was an anticlimactic ceremony, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford came away from the Downtown Athletic Club of New York carrying the Heisman Trophy.

Bradford beat out Texas’ Colt McCoy and the reigning Heisman winner, Florida’s Tim Tebow, for the honor. Bradford becomes only the second sophomore ever — Tebow was a sophomore last season when he won — to win the Heisman.

This announcement came as no surprise to me — as I had predicted it early in the day — but I was somewhat disappointed by the result.

After seeing the voting totals, however, I thought it was a supremely interesting Heisman race. I mean all one needs to see is the final votes to see how interesting the race truly was.

Bradford received 300 first-place votes, McCoy 266 and Tebow 309. Not since 1956 — Tommy McDonald of Oklahoma — had a player drawn the most first-place votes and finished third.

And the Heisman goes to…

Heisman finalists Sam Bradford, left, of Oklahoma, Colt McCoy, center, of Texas, and Tim Tebow, of Florida, pose for a photo after The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards ceremony in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008. (AP)

Today marks the biggest day of individual achievement in college football, the presentation of the Heisman Trophy.

This year brings with it an interesting fight for this coveted statue, including maybe the three most compelling arguments for the award I’ve seen in a long time. However, that isn’t the only storyline that has lead up to tonight’s award ceremony. No, there has also been plenty of controversy.

It all started with the controversy of the BCS and the Big 12 Championship. With the extra game, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford showed himself well against a slumping defense and lead the Sooners to their fifth straight 60-point game. But did Oklahoma deserve the extra game over Colt McCoy and Texas? It’s debatable.

Then there is the invitations sent out by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York , and how Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell wasn’t even invited. Instead, there were only three invitations sent out … to Oklahoma’s Bradford, Texas’ McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow.

Although there was controversy about the invitations, there is no controversy about whether one of these three would win the award. With that in mind, here’s a look at each one of these three candidates.