However, I think the voters missed the boat on at least one of the two players in my top three who are not being invited to New York. As I pointed out in my last Heisman article, there were two players who exhibited the leadership and the skill to elevate their teams beyond what those teams were without him. Dennis Dixon and Pat White both put together seasons which could have them considered as the "best" player on the field this season.

I can understand potentially not voting for Pat White outside of his region. His big televised games were not the kind that would stand out to the rest of the country who did not see him play consistently. However, I see no reason for not voting for Dennis Dixon.

Even if you didn't see him play often this season, any voter worth his salt knew when he got hurt, and what happened to the Oregon team without him. Dixon made Oregon into a National Championship contender. Without him, they are in the Sun Bowl. That is a massive difference, and a testament to the skill of a single player.

I am quite surprised. Most of the ballots I have seen have Dixon at least in third place. So, I would think he would have gotten at least an invite. However, he isn't. I would have thought that a 5th spot on the stage would have been reserved. However it wasn't. That is a major loss for the world of college football who had a very good player left out of the mix in this season of turmoil from week 1 to week 14.

My other rant has to do with the decline in one aspect of good journalism. I know I just lost half of my audience, however small that is, with that sentence, but I think this is important.

We saw it start on Saturday, and even earlier, when Les Miles was rumored, and then reported to be going to Michigan. This led to Miles having to hold a press conference to stop the madness, and report that he was staying at LSU. This reporting (mostly blamed falsely on Kirk Herbstreit, when the blogosphere and others were all jabbering about this for weeks ahead of time. I am far from the biggest Herbstreit fan, and I thought he was jobbed on this) was just wrong, and ignored one of the fundamental principles which is verification, getting multiple sources to ensure that the proper information is released to the public.

I understand the pressure that is journalism in the new age. There is a race to be the first to report the information. However, there should also be a duty to ensure that the information is correct prior to that report. Anyone who has seen or, god forbid read, "All The President's Men" knows how many sources that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein needed before they were allowed to publish anything. There should be no less importance placed on multiple sources in today's world with the faster technology and increased pressure.

The reason this is bothering me beyond that single incident is the massive number of rumored reports about the coaching vacancy at Arkansas. First Tommy Bowden was leaving Clemson for the Razorbacks. Hours later, he wasn't. Last night, it was Jim Grobe of Wake Forest leaving, based on analysis of flight patterns between Charlotte and Fayetteville. Turns out that Grobe is also staying put with the Demon Deacons.

College Football journalists and bloggers alike need to take a step back and allow the schools to go through their processes. Michigan, Arkansas and others, all deserve the respect that responsible reporting should allow, to complete their search without losing candidates to the rumor mill of the Internet. These schools allow the journalists on campus each season, give them probably more than their fair share of access to players and coaches, and treat them better than what the journalists are giving in return.

It is time for the profession of journalism to act professional.

/soapbox

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