1. Troy Smith (QB Ohio State): 269 yds, 2 TD vs. Texas - Smith looked very impressive once again leading the top rated Buckeyes to a win over Texas. His biggest obstacle to the award might be trying to better Brady Quinn's number each week, especially when Quinn looks like he did on Saturday. Smith still leads this race right now, but it is much closer than last week.
2. Brady Quinn (QB ND): 287 yds, 3 TDs vs. Penn State - Quinn never really fell out of the talk around the award, but there were still some whispers after his first game if Notre Dame had reverted in the second year, much like they did in Ty Willingham's second season. Quinn came right back in game number two and embarrassed Penn State. His passes were much too accurate for the Penn State defenders. Every time that his receivers had a step on the defense, Quinn fit the ball right in. No question, that was a Heisman performance.
3. Steve Slaton (RB West Va.): 8 att., 105 yds, 2 TD vs. Eastern Washington - Slaton only played the first two series against Eastern Washington, otherwise, he might have had 500 yards rushing in the game. The numbers look like an average performance for Slaton against a weak team until you see he only needed to get 8 touches to earn those numbers. Weak name recognition is going to hurt him as we move forward, but this was definitely a performance to keep him near the top. A strong performance this Thursday is also key.
4. Garrett Wolfe (RB Northern Illinois): 24 att, 196 yds rushing, 2 TD - Northern Illinois may not have started the MAC season like they wanted, but Garrett Wolfe still looked unbeatable. 8.2 yards per carry is just wrong. Like Slaton, Wolfe, is going to have a tough time going forward, because he plays in the MAC.
5. Chris Leak (QB Florida): 352 yds, 4 TD, 1 INT vs. Central Florida - Anyone who thought that maybe Chris Leak was a flier of a pick for the Heisman is probably rethinking that now. Leak is finally becoming comfortable with Urban Meyer's offense and it is showing on the field. If it weren't for the huge performance by Garrett Wolfe, I would still have Leak fourth on my list.



6. Adrian Peterson (RB Oklahoma): 165 yds, 2 TD vs. Washington - Peterson looked more like himself this week as Oklahoma broke away late to take down Washington. Peterson was a big part of that win. Both of his touchdowns came late in the game. He is climbing back up my list, but still has two running backs ahead of him based on performance so far.


7. Michael Hart (RB Michigan): 116 yds rush, 3 TD vs. Central Michigan - Despite having to take almost an hour off during the game, Hart never got cold and was the strongest part of the Michigan offense on Saturday. Hart has shown over the last two years that he is the most valuable player on the Wolverines. More performances like these and Michigan will be looking at the Big Ten title.


8. Teddy Ginn, Jr. (Slash Ohio State): 5 rec., 97 yds, 1 TD vs. Texas - This is just in, Ted Ginn is fast. He once again showed that speed against Texas in a very nice win for the Buckeyes. I am surprised he didn't get the ball more considering how much faster the Ohio State receivers were compared to Texas's defensive backfield, but when the entire team looked quicker, they could spread the ball around well. Ginn still suffers from being at a receiver position and from not having broke a big return yet.



9. Erik Ainge (QB Tennessee): 333 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT vs. Air Force - Everyone who reads this page knows that I am neither a Tennessee or an Ainge fan, but he is looking like a different player over the first two weeks of the season. Ainge will continue to be on this list if he continues to put up numbers like this. The real test will be how he does against Florida next week.


10. Kenny Irons (RB Auburn): 69 yds vs. Mississippi State - After last week, when Irons was the top guy for the Tigers, he stepped back this week and Brandon Cox moved into the top role for Auburn. A sub-100 yard game is going to make his quest for the trophy difficult, especially with the other big backs on the list..

Outside chances: Marshawn Lynch (Cal), Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech), JaMarcus Russell (LSU), Zac Taylor (Nebraska)

Dropped from my watch list:

• Chad Henne (QB Michigan) - Another unimpressive game to start the season. That makes two which is two too many for getting the Heisman.


• Drew Tate (QB Iowa) - Hard to do this, but when you miss an entire game, it makes it that much more difficult to win the trophy. It is too bad because Tate had such a nice first game performance. I might rethink this at a later week, but he will have to put up some huge numbers to move back into contention.

Heisman-like Performance

This week's player: AustenEverson - QB, Ohio
Line: 23/31 passing, 322 yards, 3 TD vs. Northern Illinois
There were all sorts of choices for this honor in the second week, many of them from the MAC. If it wasn't for Austen Everson, Garrett Wolfe and the Huskies would have been celebrating an opening conference victory. Instead, Ohio takes the early lead in the conference. Everson was deadly with several long strikes to his receivers and he had the answer for everything that Wolfe and Northern Illinois put on the board. In a game that was back and forth, the team with the better leader at quarterback definitely came out on top.

Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com