ESPN College Football

Let's be real: It's going to take a near miracle for a Big East player to win the Heisman Trophy this season.

That's not a knock on the league's talent -- although the lack of advance buzz on many Big East stars will hurt. It's more a reflection of how closed this race is this season, with previous winners Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford returning along with last year's top-three finisher, Colt McCoy.

One of those guys is going to win it this year unless there's a major upset. But here are some Big East players who could at least get into the conversation if everything goes right:

• Noel Devine, West Virginia: He ran for 1,289 yards last year as a sophomore and probably has the best chance of any Big East player to work his way into the Heisman mix. The Mountaineers may give him the ball more this year with Pat White not around. Devine averaged 6.3 yards per carry and is capable of churning out the kind of thrilling highlight plays that the short attention span voters love.

But he'll also have to increase his touchdown production (just four scores last year) and have West Virginia go at least 11-1. Remember that Donald Brown rushed for more than 2,000 yards and led the nation in rushing but couldn't even get an invite to New York last December.

• Matt Grothe, South Florida: Has a chance to convince the voters he's a shorter version of Tim Tebow. Like Florida's star, he carries a heavy load on offense, having led his team in rushing each year. He'll become the Big East's all-time career yardage leader as soon as Week 1, and he should put up big numbers in Mike Canales' new offense. But he'll have to cut way down on the interceptions, and South Florida will likely have to run through the Big East and beat both Miami and Florida State with monster games from Grothe for him to be considered.

• Tony Pike, Cincinnati: He'll have opportunities to post obscenely large stats if Brian Kelly does unleash the full fury of the offense as planned. He'd probably have to throw for more than 3,500 yards and 30 touchdowns with an undefeated Bearcats season to have a realistic chance against the higher-profile quarterbacks.

• Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati: It's awfully hard for a receiver to win the Heisman. Michael Crabtree wasn't invited to New York last year, and the most spectacular receiver in recent Big East history -- Pitt's Larry Fitzgerald -- came in second. Gilyard has one advantage in that he also returns kicks and does it extremely well; he averaged 27.5 yards per return and scored twice on returns last year. He'll need to have a storybook season to even get noticed.