This is my ballot that will be submitted to the Heisman Pundit for this week’s CSTV Heisman Poll. I have decided to be a little less harsh on players that had a bad week. As the season goes on though, the games become more critical and one bad game could spell their doom. This week should be a great week for Heisman voters as we will see a bunch of them go head to head. My top 3 right now are really close, you can make an arguement for any of those 3 to be #1 right now.

1. Troy Smith - Smith proved that he is multi-dimensional by winning the big game with his arm. Smith threw for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns in Ohio State’s 24-7 win over Texas. He was the star shining bright, deep in the heart of Texas. (Last Week 3)

2. Adrian Peterson - Peterson had another big game rushing for 165 yards and 2 scores. The emergence of Paul Thompson at QB should help him big time as teams won’t be able to put 8 in the box. He goes head to head with another RB, Jonathan Stewart this week and must win that battle. (Last Week 2)

3. Brady Quinn - Quinn quieted all the haters throwing for 287 yards and 3 scores. He completed 69% of his passes and some throws were threaded so perfectly that I don’t think 50% of NFL QB’s could make them. (Last Week 4)

4. Kenny Irons - One subpar week only will hurt Irons a little bit. He can take two positives from that experience, 1) No one saw it and 2) he can erases it all with a great day against LSU. (Last Week 1)

5. Steve Slaton - Slaton only needed 8 carries to eclipse the 100 yard barrier this week and was pulled in the 1 quarter or he would’ve easily surpassed last week’s mark. The Thursday Night game against Maryland is huge since all of the media will be watching. (Last Week 5)

6. Chris Leak - Leak had a career day (352 yds and 4 Tds) and has many Gator fans saying Tim who? He can quiet his critics once and for all with a win in Knoxville this weekend. (Last Week 6)

7. Ted Ginn Jr - When this guy shows up and decides he wants to play he is great. He burned the Texas secondary for 1 touchdown and 97 yards receiving. He could have had another but Smith overthrew him. Ginn needs to have some bigger days on the returning side if he wants to be a serious contender. (Last Week 9)

8. Michael Hart - Hart has been a positive in the Wolverine offense and has picked up the slack due to the struggles of Chad Henne. The Irish’s rushing defense looks ripe for Hart to have a big day on the national stage. (Last Week 7)

9. Erik Ainge - Ainge has quietly had two good games against California and Air Force. Against the Falcons, Ainge completed 83% of his passes for 333 yds and 3 tds. He’ll go head to head with Mr. Leak this week and will have the comfort of 100,000 plus Vol fans behind him. (Last Week NR)

10. Garrett Wolfe - Wolfe had another good game almost reaching the 200 yard mark rushing wise but if he wants to be any kind of contender in this race Northern Illinois cannot lose to teams like Ohio. Frankly they cannot lose more than 1 more game. (Last Week 10)

Honorable Mentions: Brian Brohm, Drew Weatherford, Graham Harrell, and Calvin Johnson

In The Bleachers was asked by the Heisman Pundit to take part in a poll that will vote on the Heisman each week for CSTV.

I have been posting my picks for the first two weeks, you can find this week’s here and my preseason one here. My ballots along with seven others will comprise the CSTV Heisman ballot poll for each week. To check out the article visit the CSTV heisman page.

The other bloggers in this poll are as follows:

Heisman Pundit
The College Football Independent
College Game Balls
College Football Resource
Just College Football
Pitch Right
The Wizard of Odds

As a continuing series, here are my Top 10 Heisman picks after week 1.

1. RB Kenny Irons, Sr, Auburn - Irons spent all day Saturday running around and over Washington State defenders as he led the Auburn Tigers to a 40-14 victory. When it was all said and done Irons had 183 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. (Last Week 3)

2. RB Adrian Peterson, Jr, Oklahoma - Peterson was the reason that Oklahoma was able to squeak by UAB 24-17. Late in the third quarter he took a Paul Thompson screen pass 69 yards for a score and the lead for the Sooners. He also had 139 yards rushing and another touchdown to go along with the receiving one. But Peterson will need Thompson to step up if he doesn’t want the box stacked against him each week. (Last Week 2)

3. QB Troy Smith, Sr, Ohio State - Troy Smith did most of his damage this week in the air as he completed 18 of 25 for 297 yards and 3 touchdowns. This week he will be on center stage when the Buckeyes travel to Texas, and a great showing on Saturday night could vault him to the top of the Heisman list. (Last Week 4)

4. QB Brady Quinn, Sr, Notre Dame - Quinn (28 of 38 246 yds) was front and center as he lead the Irish to a unimpressive 14-10 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets put a lot of pressure on Quinn and cause him to miss on a lot of easy passes. The Nittany Lions attacking style defense is up next to Notre Dame so Quinn better learn how to handle the pressure. (Last Week 1)

5. RB Steve Slaton, So, West Virginia - Steve Slaton absolutely tore through the Marshall defense, carrying the ball 33 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns. With WVU’s schedule, Slaton should be able to do this a lot this year and the Heisman voters are going to have to take notice of Slaton, even though he is a sophomore. (Last Week 9)

6. QB Chris Leak, Sr, Florida - In 3 quarters of play Leak silenced his critics, for now, passing for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns in Florida’s 34-7 rout of Southern Mississippi. Leak looked good throwing the ball but if he wants to flourish in Meyer’s offense he still needs to work a little on his running skills. (Last Week 7)

7. RB Michael Hart, Jr, Michigan - Hart looked on top of his game against Vanderbilt. With Henne struggling, Michael Hart took control of the Wolverine offense as he had 146 yards on 31 carries. Hart should be able to have another productive game next week against Central Michigan before going up against highly ranked Notre Dame. (Last Week NR)

8. WR Calvin Johnson, Jr, Georgia Tech - Johnson was a man-child against Notre Dame Saturday night. He is the Tech offense and if he had a quarterback with any kind of arm, he (and GT) would have had a bigger game offensively. Johnson accounted for 111 of 140 Georgia Tech’s receiving yards. (Last Week NR)

9. WR Ted Ginn Jr, Jr, Ohio State - Ted Ginn Jr. started off the season on the right foot as he had 4 catches for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. Add to that 2 kickoff returns for yards and 2 punt returns for 44 yards that is a really productive day for this young man. He will be a great asset to Troy Smith, as they have to deal with the hostile crowd in Austin. (Last Week NR)

10. RB Garrett Wolfe, Sr, Northern Illinois - All the Husky senior did against the Buckeyes was rack up 285 yards of total offense (171 rushing, 114 receiving) and a touchdown. This was either Wolfe’s coming out party or it exposed the Ohio State defense to have many holes. (Last Week NR)

Honorable Mentions: WR Dwayne Jarrett USC, QB Brian Brohm Louisville

The Heisman Pundit recently named his Top 10 canidates for this years award, and I must say that I am really impressed with the fact that he has gotten the winner right the past two year. While I agree with some of his guys there are a few that I have a differing opinion. So without further wait, here is Dr. Sak’s Top 10 Heisman Canidates.

1. QB Brady Quinn, Sr, Notre Dame - Quinn plays for the more publicized school in the country right now and is the head of probably one of the top 2 offenses in the country. If he has a bad year he will still throw for over 3000 yards and over 20 tds. I believe that if Notre Dame is playing for the National Title, Brady Quinn will win the Heisman.

2. RB Adrian Peterson, Jr, Oklahoma - Peterson will have to carry the load for the Sooners, especially early with the loss of QB Rhett Bomar. The maturation of Paul Thompson will play a key role in Peterson’s heisman chances. If Oklahoma is able to pass the ball, it will not allow teams to stack the box and stop Peterson. Adrian must stay healthy, but even with all the injuries last year he still had over 1000 yards.

3. RB Kenny Irons, Sr, Auburn - Last year at this time Irons was the third string running back for the Tigers. He ran for over 100 yards in each of the last six Auburn, which is a nice feat since the SEC boasted a lot of good defenses last year. One of them being Alabama at the end of the year. Irons will be the feature back again this year and should improve on his 1200 yards rushing.

4. QB Troy Smith, Sr, Ohio State - For all intensive purposes, Troy Smith is the reason Ohio State is ranked #1 in both polls. Smith got better as the year went on last year and had a great performance in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. Many are comparing his skills to that of Vince Young. He has two games early that will be nationally televised (Texas & Penn State), that if he plays good in those it will vault him to the top of the Heisman list.

5. WR Dwayne Jarrett, Jr, USC - WIth all the losses offensively, Jarrett and fellow WR Smith will be looked upon for production. QB John David Booty, although inexperienced, has been in the program for three years and was a blue chip recruit out of high school should be able to get Jarrett the ball. Jarrett will also benefit with having Smith on the other side of the field, so he will not receive the double teams. I can see Jarrett with a 1000 yard receiving year and 10 plus touchdowns.

6. RB Marshawn Lynch, Jr, California - I am going to be honest I really didn’t know much about Lynch before a few days ago. But in 10 games last year he rushed for over 1200 yards and with the strength of Cal’s offense (and relative weakness of the Pac 10 defenses) he should have no problems surprassing those numbers. If Cal somehow beats USC, Lynch will get a huge boost with the Heisman voters.

7. QB Chris Leak, Sr, Florida - Even though some Gator fans think Leak had a bad year last year, his numbers actually improved from the year before. Leak is on pace to have a 3000 yard passing year with over 20 touchdowns. His familiarity with Urban Meyer’s spread-option offense should help him this year. If the Gators get through a tough SEC, Leak will be the one leading them but if they fall early expect Tiebow to come in and Leak’s Heisman hopes to go bye bye.

8. QB Brian Brohm,, Jr, Louisville - I was a little reluctant to put Brohm high up if even at all on this list since he is only 8 months removed from tearing his ACL. His mobility might not be back to 100% but his throwing is. He is one of the 5 best QB’s in the country and he will have the opportunity to rack up some big numbers playing the the Big East. The big match up will be against WVU and if they come through that, Louisville and Brohm could potentially be looking at a National Title date.

9. RB Steve Slaton, So, West Virginia - It was between him or Pat White to put on this list and White’s lack of passing skills last year made my decision for Slaton a little easier. WVU will rely on both players but Slaton is an exceptional back. It will be a little difficult for him to win this award since he is a sophomore but people cannot over look 1100 yards and 19 touchdowns he had last season. WVU’s schedule should allow him to rack up those yards close to 2000.

10. LB Paul Posluszny, Sr, Penn State - It will be difficult for him to win the award but I wanted to include at least one defensive player in my initial top ten. Last year Poz became the first player to win Big Ten Defensive Player of the week for 3 consecutive weeks. He also won the Butkus and Bednarik last year. He is a little over 80 tackles away from being the All Time leader at Penn State for tackles, and if he reaches 100 tackles this year he will be come the first player in PSU history to have 3 seasons over 100 tackles. WIth all the great linebackers that came from Penn State he is the best one…according to Hall of Famer Jack Ham.

Honorable Mentions: RB Michael Bush, QB Pat White, QB Chad Henne, RB Jamaal Charles, QB Drew Weatherford, QB Kyle Wright