Credit: Greg Drzazgowski/Icon SMI

Four weeks of the college season are in the bag, and several Heisman candidates are out of the running due to their team’s early failures. I’m looking at you Brian Brohm and Chad Henne. Still, at this juncture, the best performers are likely not to be there at the end of the season due to their team’s suffering losses in conference play.

So who is still alive? USC is still undefeated, as expected, and John David Booty has put up solid, if not spectacular numbers. He has been very efficient, but is averaging just 213 yards per game. Booty still remains the favorite in my eyes, due the USC having the best chance of running the table.

LSU and Oklahoma do not have true stars on the offensive side of the ball, which probably cancels them out. Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin have been terrific for Florida, and if they can manage to go undefeated in the SEC, both would get consideration. However, it is almost impossible for a true sophomore to win th award.

The West Virginia duo of Steve Slaton and Pat White have been phenomenal and will likely continue to shine. If WVU can defeat South Florida this week, the Mountaineer players take a big step forward, but still run the risk of “splitting” the vote

Cal’s Desean Jackson has gotten a lot of hype and looked good in the national game against Tennessee. However, his receiving stats leave something to be desired. The game against USC will determine his fate.

Wisconsin’s P.J. Hill has been solid, but is likely to run into some bias of a weak Big Ten conference. If Rutgers can win the Big East, Ray Rice looks like a shoe in for the top 5 in voting. Hawaii’s Colt Brennan is putting up video game numbers, but missing last week’s game with a sprained ankle pushes him off of the top five for now.

However the two biggest risers in the early season at the QBs for a pair of undefeated teams - Andre Woodson and Matt Ryan. Woodson has led the Wildcats up to #14 in the polls and has received a lot of attention. A victory over LSU or Florida would catapult Woodson to the top of the pack.

Boston College’s Matt Ryan has really impressed me so far this season. He is a much better player than I ever thought. NFLdraftdog’s Robert Bryant has always loved Ryan, but the Golden Eagles look to have a strong chance in the ACC and he has blossomed under coach Jeff Jagodzinski’s system.

If Ryan can run the table in the ACC - no easy task with games at Clemson and Virginia Tech, he might just bring the Heisman back to Boston College for the first time in 23 years.

A pair of QBs off to hot starts also join our top five - Oregon’s Dennis Dixon has 11 TDs and 0 INTs, while Purdue’s Curtis Painter is invoking memories of Drew Brees with an incredible 16 TD to 1 INT for the undefeated Boilermakers.

While Desean Jackson is getting a lot of attention, the best WR so far this season has been Texas Tech wide out Michael Crabtree, who is on pace for a record season. Like many of the top players so far, Crabtree’s success is going to be tied to his team’s. Crabtree also lacks the pre-season hype typically needed to win the award.

The Week 4 Heisman top five:

1. Matt Ryan, BC, QB
2. Andre Woodson, Kentucky, QB
3. Curtis Painter, Purdue, QB
4. Dennis Dixon, Oregon, QB
5. Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech, WR

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 8:38 am and is filed under Andre Woodson, Matt Ryan, Chad Henne, Desean Jackson, 2008 NFL Draft, Darren McFadden, College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.