What the howl?: The Heisman Dilemma

The Heisman Trophy. It's the most prestigious award an athlete can earn during his college-football tenure. Like a presidential election, analysts discuss who will win it months before the season even starts. This year has been no different except...there is only one candidate deserving of it. Sounds like a pretty easy decision right? Well, what if I told you that the hands-down best player in college football has less integrity than Fox News?

Cameron Newton, the "superhuman" quarterback for the Auburn Tigers, has been nothing less than flawless all season.

From 60-yard pinpoint passes to 80-yard scrambles, Newton has proven himself the pinnacle of college athletes. However, the only thing as long as his record-breaking statistic list are the accounts of his "alleged" wrongdoings.

Newton was recruited to Florida to fill the massive shoes of previous Heisman winner Tim Tebow. Needless to say, he wasn't there for long. Newton was caught with a stolen $1,700 laptop in his dorm and when officials came knocking, he tossed the laptop out of an open window. This incident led to Newton's departure from the Florida Gators and his arrival at Blinn Community College in Texas.

This is the part of the Newton saga where the word "alleged" is used before every sentence. College football fans know the story so I won't go too far into detail, but "allegedly" Newton told two sources who recruit for Mississippi State that his college choice would be decided by a "pay-for-play" plan based on which school would pay him more money to go there.

Well, for those NFL fans who happened to stumble onto a college football column by accident, the players don't get paid in college. At least, they are not supposed to.

Mississippi State wouldn't pay the money and shortly thereafter Newton got signed by the Auburn Tigers. Newton says on ESPN that his school of choice was Mississippi State, but his dad made the decision that he would go to Auburn. As the old adage goes: money talks. Though nobody seems to be saying that Auburn agreed to Newton's "pay-for-play" plan, it can be speculated that there is a deeper reason for him signing there than, "my dad wanted me to."

Where does this leave Newton in his quest for the most prestigious award in football? Well we aren't to that point yet. The list of wrongdoings isn't over.

It was recently brought out that Newton's laptop scandal wasn't necessarily what ran him out of Florida, but instead the fact that he was facing possible expulsion due to cheating.

Newton got caught, "allegedly," cheating three times while at Gainesville, including putting his name on someone's paper and handing it in.

Newton's response to all of this? "I'm not going to entertain something that took place not three months, not six months, not a year but two years ago," Newton said in a recent ESPN article. "I'm not going to sit up here and say anything about it, whether I did or did not do it, because I don't want to beat a dead horse talking about it. It's not going to affect me any way, shape or fashion."

It may not affect Newton in any way, shape or fashion as an individual, but if the Tigers aren't careful they could find themselves in a similar situation as Southern Cal with the Reggie Bush scandal.

Bottom line, Cam Newton is the best player in college football and he continues to prove it every Saturday against the best defenses in the country.

Is he Heisman Trophy material? Well, by definition, the Heisman goes to "the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity." Those last two words are important.

You make the call.