Manti Teo- First Defensive Heisman Winner Since Charles Woodson?

Last night the Notre Dame Fighting Irish did what they had to do and defeated the USC Trojans to earn a spot in the 2013 BCS National Championship game. Hats off to them for an undefeated season. Hats off to Lane Kiffn as well for coaching as if he could score nine points on the final drive but that’s another post for another day…

During the game, Manti Teo was active as usual and even though USC made it a point to block him out of as many plays as possible his impact was still felt. Teo had a big interception in the contest that may go down as his Heisman moment.

Will he win the award?

It’s very possible he may. His stat line for the regular season includes 98 tackles, 6 ints, 1.5 sacks.

In 1997 Charles Woodson amassed 8 interceptions and scored a touchdown on a rush, reception, and punt return.

So in a one-to-one comparison, no Teo should not win it. He had a great season but he did not score any points. It will come down to will voters vote for the freshman Johnny Manziel or Collin Klein over Teo? Will they vote for Braxton Miller, who is the quarterback of the only other undefeated team in the country?

All in all, I expect Teo or Manziel to win the award. Teo gets the nod because of the Notre Dame hype. Should he win? History says no, you just have to look back at the season Ndamukong Suh was snubbed to see that better defensive stat lines were passed upon. However, like I said there is a lot of Notre Dame hype that is sure to sway the voters.

We will see how it plays out but it looks like Teo is going to ride this wave all the way to the Downtown Athletic Club.