ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

A 74-year-old trend won't change for Florida State. Or Duke. Or Clemson. Or any other team in the country for that matter.

Fair or not, Heisman Trophy voters look at team records as much as they do individual performances, if not more. Only one Heisman Trophy winner in the history of the award has ever won with a losing record -- Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung in 1956. The Irish were 2-8 that year. The very first winner, running back Jay Berwanger, finished with a 4-4 record.

Florida State is 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the ACC. That's what a lot of voters see right now, not how quarterback Christian Ponder played on Thursday night against North Carolina, or how remarkable he's performed in losses like the one to Georgia Tech.

I voted for Ponder as a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award, but he didn't make the cut. The ACC's lone representative was Jacory Harris, but I picked Ponder and Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis ahead of Harris. They've played more consistently, but Harris has the most wins and he earned them in a new system under a first-year coordinator against ranked teams. It's a fair argument.

I have C.J. Spiller in my top five for this week's Heisman Trophy watch, but Clemson has to keep winning for it to become a strong possibility. There's no question, though, that Spiller is one of the best players in the country right now. If I had to win with either Mark Ingram or Spiller, I would take Spiller in a heartbeat because of his versatility. But if I were a coach, I'd prefer Alabama's undefeated record to Clemson's three losses, and Ingram had a little something to do with that. If the Tigers wind up playing for the ACC title -- and especially if they win it -- there's nothing more Spiller could possibly do to build his résumé.

Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are struggling to match last year's performances, but there's one thing voters can agree on -- both of them are winners. Consistently. That doesn't mean they're the best players in college football this year, though, and their flaws, combined with injuries to Tony Pike and Sam Bradford, have opened the door wide open for this year's Heisman race.

Heisman history reminds us, though, that football is not an individual sport, and right now, the ACC's best arguments for a Heisman contender are based on individual performances. The one thing the players can help change in the second half of the season is their records -- not the Heisman voting.