Stiff Arm Trophy

Week 13: In late run, Montee Ball suddenly emerges in Heisman race

Posted by Kari Chisholm on November 30, 2011 in News.

In the final weekly Stiff Arm Trophy poll of Heisman voters, Wisconsin RB Montee Ball suddenly emerged at #6 overall - with top-five support from 31% of the 57 Heisman voters surveyed. Ball's only previous appearance in the ranking in 2011 was at #18 back in week five. Heisman voters appear to be taking fresh notice of the Badger player after he's piled up 34 touchdowns - just five short of the record set by Barry Sanders in 1988. (Though admittedly, Sanders did it in 11 games.)

Note:

After the final games on Saturday, December 3, Stiff Arm Trophy will start compiling public declarations by Heisman voters in an effort to project the outcome and bring transparency to the balloting process.

Since 2002, Stiff Arm Trophy has correctly projected the winner every single year.

The top four remain the same as last week - with Stanford QB Andrew Luck on top of the Stiff Arm Trophy poll for the 11th straight week, and appearing on 91% of top-five watch lists. The #2 spot is held by Baylor QB Robert Griffin III, on 87% of top-five lists. Alabama RB Trent Richardson remained at #3, though he moved much closer to Griffin, appearing on 84% of top-five lists. Houston QB Case Keenum hung on at #4, though he lost significant ground for the fifth straight week (dropping from a high of 90% support in week nine to 57% this week.)

USC QB Matt Barkley moved up one spot to #5 overall, with top-five support from 49% of Heisman voters surveyed.

After Montee Ball, Boise State QB Kellen Moore dropped two spots to #7 overall, with top-five support from 27% of the 57 participating Heisman voters.

Dropping out from the Stiff Arm Trophy rankings this week are Oregon RB LaMichael James, Oklahoma St QB Brandon Weeden, and Oklahoma St WR Justin Blackmon.

Note: With our watch list down to a short top five, we're only able to rank the top seven candidates.

57 actual Heisman voters from 28 states participated in this week's StiffArmTrophy.com poll. The poll asked voters to share an unranked top-6 "watch list" for the Heisman Trophy.

rankplayerweighted%votesprev
1Stanford QB Andrew Luck91%521
2Baylor QB Robert Griffin III86%492
3Alabama RB Trent Richardson84%483
4Houston QB Case Keenum56%324
5USC QB Matt Barkley48%296
6Wisconsin RB Montee Ball30%18--
7Boise St QB Kellen Moore27%145

With votes coming from multiple states, players are ranked based on a weighted percentage that adjusts for the number of participating voters in each state.

Here's the regional breakdown:

rankplayerAtlanticMidwestNortheastSouthSouthwestWest
1Stanford QB Andrew Luck87%81%85%100%92%100%
2Baylor QB Robert Griffin III100%90%100%66%84%77%
3Alabama RB Trent Richardson100%72%71%88%84%88%
4Houston QB Case Keenum62%45%71%55%61%44%
5USC QB Matt Barkley25%45%28%55%61%77%
6Wisconsin RB Montee Ball25%54%14%44%23%22%
7Boise St QB Kellen Moore50%18%42%22%7%22%

Participating voters included:

Mid-Atlantic: Frank Bodani, Tom Fallon, Phil Kornblut, Chuck Landon, Bob Molinaro, Keith Morehouse, Matthew Osborne, Dave Weekley

Midwest: Andy Baggot, Randy Beard, Beau Bishop, Mike Carmin, Doug Clarke, Todd Hefferman, Randy Kindred, Jeff Rapp, Mark Rea, Drew Sharp, Jon Spencer

Northeast: Albert Chen, C.J. McCarthy, Cory McCartney, Rick McGowan, Chuck Pollock, Lenn Robbins, B.J. Schecter

South: Brady Ackerman, Rick Bozich, Olin Buchanan, John Crist, Joe Girvan, Joey Johnston, Phillip Marshall, Billy Reed, Bob Tompkins

Southwest: Jimmy Burch, Sean Callahan, David Collier, Suzanne Halliburton, John Helsley, Gary Ivins, Josh Kinder, Harry King, Reid Laymance, Bob Lutz, Dave Matter, David McCollum, Mike'l Severe

West: Mark Anderson, Steve Bisheff, Lisa Horne, Mike Lewis, Eric Peterson, Eric Schmoldt, Kevin Schnepf, Mike Sorensen, Scott Wolf