This week's MaxwellPundit was so simple, yet so confusing.  On one hand, candidates who were slowly building momentum or already at the top - Troy Smith, Lamarr Woodley, Ian Johnson, Steve Slaton - all had excellent weekends.  Others, such as Erik Ainge, who three picks, and Calvin Johnson, who was wearing a cloak of invisibility (set to only Reggie Ball), tumbled off of their perch.

The MaxwellPundit will run through the bowl season, because if statistics and wins are cumulative through the first week of January, shouldn't awards be as well?  Despite that, part of me believes strongly that the survivor of the Smith/Woodley duel in Columbus will take a very hefty lead into bowl season.  Then again, if Steve Slaton or Ian Johnson spring for two hundred yards against Clemson or Texas, all bets will be off.  

And wait, what's that I hear?  Oh my God, it's Brady Quinn's music!!...

Your full slate of fantastic voters this week:

DawgSports
SundayMorningQB
Deadspin
BurntOrangeNation
ConquestChronicles
BruinsNation
TrojanWire
MGoBlog
RockyTopTalk
UDubDish
The Morning After - SportsTalk Cleveland
Rakes of Mallow

1) Troy Smith, "A Man For All Seasons", Ohio State

"As long as Smith doesn't get hurt, caught with steroids, or start a brawl, Mr. Smith will walk away with this award. As the season goes on, Smith only seems to be getting better. In a lopsided win over Indiana, which, unbeknownst to us, has a football team, Smith threw for 22o yards and 4 touchdowns. On the season, the Ohio State signal-caller has thrown for 1,715 yards, 21 TDs and only 2 interceptions. How does Smith do this? Magic." - UDubDish

"The Buckeye signal-caller isn't a student-athlete, he's a well-oiled, finely-tuned quarterbacking machine churning out weekly stat lines that appear mundane only because of their consistent excellence. On Saturday, Smith threw 23 passes for 15 completions, 220 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions, attaining his best single-game passer efficiency rating against a B.C.S. conference opponent this season. Over the course of the entire autumn, he has tallied 1,715 yards through the air while connecting on 131 of his 193 throws and achieving a striking 21-to-2 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio." - DawgSports

Troy Smith is just ridiculous.  The total poise he shows all the time, drifting around in the pocket like some apparition of Fran Tarkenton and Steve Young combined, before delivering laser-guided death bombs to his talented group of receivers.  The Buckeyes run the ball a lot because they're ahead a lot, mainly because Troy Smith is oh-so-very good.  As Kyle stated, he has an obscene 21-to-2 - 21-2! - touchdown to interception rate, and there will be no slowing him down by any of the cannon fodder on the schedule until the Wolverines come to town to decide the Big Ten title, a championship berth and the MaxwellPundit Award.

t2) Steve Slaton, "Gone With The Wind", West Virginia

"Another week, another 120+ yard performance with a TD. This is not a broken record, it's just Steve Slaton abusing the Sisters of the Poor that WVU saw fit to schedule in 2006. In all honesty, though, with all the other contenders dropping down Slaton would've moved up with a bye." - Morning After

"SS had another solid weekend on the road in Joementum's home state, rushing for 128 yards and 1 TD, against UConn. Slaton now has over 1059 yards rushing, averaging more than 7 yards a carry, and 9 TDs. It will be interesting to see how he does against Louisville." - BruinsNation

Slaton rises up as a lot of other offensive powers fall off.  Both West Virginia and Louisville have bye weeks to prepare for the coming clash of the Big East titans - although don't forget Rutgers, silently awaiting their home game with the Cardinals in the aftermath - so Slaton should be well rested to make a run at Bobby Petrino's defense.  Despite being rather unimpressive these last few weeks, they've been rather strong on the ground prevention, recently holding Syracuse to .7 yards per on 28 carries.  If Slaton's running wild on national television against Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers and their bowl opponent, Smith will need some serious style points to hold off his charge.

t2)Lamarr Woodley, "Silence(r) of the Lambs", Michigan

"Had two more sacks Saturday, another forced fumble. More than the nation's best pass rusher, but the most consistently disruptive force on probably the nation's best defense - and almost indisputably its finest front seven - to date." - SMQ

"Accolades aplenty for the entire MGoLine, but LaMarr is our choice for the face of the monster. Longhorn fans have been treated to an ungodly defensive performance against the run this season. Amazingly, Michigan's has been better. The Wolverine defense leads the nation in: fewest rush yards per game (33.63), yards per attempt (1.42), TD allowed (2), and total sacks (29). So, yeah, they're good." - BON

The aforementioned lambs would be Morelli, Tate, Stanton, Quinn and any other quarterback unlucky enough to go up against Michigan defense line this season.  Woodley's reward both for his individual statistics - nine sacks, removing an entire football field from cumulative opponents - and for the defense's overwhelming success, suppressing any and all offense that attempts to move the ball on it.  Woodley's biggest hurdle in claiming this award for a defensive player will also be the Wolverine's biggest test: against the elusive Troy Smith and Ohio State.

4) Brady Quinn, "Gladiator", Notre Dame

"Another 2-minute drill another game winning TD. The Bruins kept the pressure up all day long but he still managed to go 27/45 for 304 yards and 2 TD's. He got some help from some questionable play calling by the UCLA coaching staff that allowed The Irish to get the ball back on a UCLA 3-and-out. That final drive was pretty impressive." - ConquestChronicles

"Ditto all the drivel applied above to Smith, this time for the one-minute drill and pump fake/mind meld magic at the end of a day of ruthless pummeling. But then, as we know, the consciousness of the Manchurian Candidate knows no adversity when his target is in sight." - SMQ

If you watch the entirety of a Notre Dame game, Brady Quinn will probably make a bad throw or two.  It'll land at D-Walk's feet or sail out of bounds, but you'll also see him make some great throws.  Up the seam to John Carlson, perfect deep-outs to Rhema or the mind-melding pump fake that frees up The Shark for some sweet Jaws music.  Through all of this, Notre Dame's running game hovers around the hundredth best in the nation mark and his offensive line acts as more of a sieve, helping the statlines of opposing defensive ends.  Brady, despite the Michigan game, will vault up this list with an end-of-season victory in the Coliseum.

t5) Ian Johnson and Calvin Johnson, "Rocky", Boise State and Georgia Tech

"The Bronco running back failed to claim the top spot on my ballot because his production slipped a bit this weekend; after Saturday's effort, he's only averaging 6.99 yards per carry this season. Otherwise, Johnson was his usual stellar self. In 169 rushing attempts this fall, he has tallied 1,181 yards and 18 touchdowns. Those numbers were bolstered by a 27-carry, 183-yard performance on Saturday, when Johnson had his second consecutive four-touchdown game." - DawgSports

"CJ's line last week in a big 31-7 loss to Clemson: 0 catches, 0 yards, 0 TDs. Only one explanation, right? He didn't play.
Unfortunately for football fans everywhere, that wasn't the case. We describe Johnson as "Don't keep a brotha down." Well, between Georgia Tech QB Reggie Ball and coach Chan Gailey, (and of course a solid Clemson defense) Johnson was more than kept down. He was shutout for the first time in his career, and it wasn't timely. With a national audience in a big game for GT, Johnson had his worst game as a collegiate athlete. Bad timing indeed.
We're 110% sure that if CJ played for The Ohio State, he'd have 6,000 receiving yards and about 124 TDs at this point. But he doesn't. So instead he falls fast this week on our ballot." - UDubDish

I chose the greatest underdog story of all-time for these two because it would take an upset of amazing proportions for them to win the award.  For Ian Johnson, it's the fact he's a white running back from Boise State with no preseason publicity.  For his half-brother, Calvin, the fact that his quarterback, head coach and offensive coordination attempt to avoid giving him the ball to a point that mild-mannered, ESPN Primetime Verbal Fellatio Expert Mike Patrick was getting upset.  If their performances from Saturday repeat, this is simply two great players passing in the night, each heading in opposite directions.

Final Vote Tallies