McFadden Remains Atop Heisman Trophy Straw Poll

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The second Heismanpundit.com Straw Poll of the 2007 college football season has been tallied and the panel–consisting of former Heisman winner and current Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, plus nine members of the college football media–has Arkansas running back Darren McFadden as the overwhelming leader in the race to win this year’s Heisman Trophy.

McFadden, who opened his season with 151 rushing yards and a touchdown (plus a 42-yard TD pass) against Troy, totaled 49 points and holds a commanding 30-point advantage over Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm (19 points). Pat White of West Virginia and Colt Brennan of Hawaii are tied for third (17 points) in the weekly poll.

McFadden captured nine out of 10 possible first-place votes, with the other going to Steve Slaton of West Virginia.

Heismanpundit.com is conducting a Heisman straw poll each week during the college football season. The idea is to get a good sense of voter sentiment as the season progresses. There are 10 Heisman voters canvassed from across the various Heisman voting regions and they vote for five players each week. The tabulations are made on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with five points for a first-place vote, four points for a second-place vote, three points for a third-place vote and so on.

In a unique feature to the poll, a Heisman Trophy winner’s vote will be added to the total each week. This week’s poll (Sept. 6) includes the vote of 2004 winner Matt Leinart of USC.This week’s poll results, with total points and first-place votes in parentheses:1. Darren McFadden, Arkansas, 49 (9)2. Brian Brohm Louisville, 19, 3. Pat White, West Virginia, 17, Colt Brennan, Hawaii, 175. Steve Slaton, West Virginia, 12, (1)6. John David Booty, USC, 107. DeSean Jackson, Cal, 98. Ray Rice, Rutgers, 59. Glenn Dorsey, LSU, 410. Tayshard Choice, Georgia Tech, 3Others Receiving Votes: Matt Stafford, Georgia; Arian Foster, Tennessee; Matt Ryan, Boston College; Mike Hart, Michigan The Heismanpundit.com Straw Poll Heisman votersTom Dienhart (The Sporting News)Austin Murphy (Sports Illustrated)Stewart Mandel (Sports Illustrated)B.J. Schecter (Sports Illustrated)Olin Buchanan ( Rivals.com)Neal McCready (Mobile Register Guard)Ted Lewis (New Orleans Times-Picayune)Dick Weiss (New York Daily News)J.B. Morris, ESPN.comSept. 6 Heisman Voter: Matt Leinart, 2004 winner, USCAug. 31 Heisman Voter: Eddie George, 1995 winner, Ohio State * * *

Heismanpundit.com, the ‘foremost authority on the Heisman’ according to Sports Illustrated, is the brainchild of Chris Huston, formerly a sports information director at Southern Cal. The site–one of the oldest and most popular college football blogs around–is in its fourth year covering the Heisman Trophy race and college football.

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