The number of potential recipients is shrinking rather quickly as the season moves on, with this week seeing Mario Manningham, Chris Leak and Garrett Wolfe fall out of contention.  Not playing, turning the ball over in the fourth quarter and running for only 25 yards will do that to you.

This will most likely be the last week we honor Adrian Peterson, so another spot will open up in the top five.  The most likely to replace the holes at the top?  Tennessee's Erik Ainge has been lingering for a while now, and believe it or not, Brady Bleepin' Quinn is garnering a little bit of attention, deserved or not.  Excited to have a sophomore, a defensive lineman and a wide receiver in this Top Five.

Your voters for this week:

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

1) Troy Smith, "No, seriously, you can take the foot off the accelerator", Ohio State

"What can you say? Yet another efficient performance from the best player in college football. Troy helped OSU cruise pass the hapless Spartans by completing 15 of 22 passes for 234 yards and 2 TDs. His season number to date are staggering.  17 TDs, 2 picks, and he is completing almost 70 percent of his passes (170 attempts) throwing for almost 1500 yards.  The only suspense left is to see whether the Wolverine D can stop this almost picture perfect march to the top of college football world." - BruinsNation

"The Buckeyes' signal-caller had a typical day at the office in East Lansing on Saturday, connecting on 15 of his 22 passes for 234 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and no picks. Smith, like the team he leads, is on auto-pilot at this juncture, as the Ohio State Q.B. has steered the Cadillac Escalade that is the nation's No. 1 team into the fast lane, put the vehicle on cruise control with a casual flick of the wrist, and commenced to gliding down the highway while making the extraordinary appear absolutely effortless." - DawgSports

Troy continues to cruise towards this award, with the only potential rough patches left in his path consisting of a fluke injury or the OMGZ THEY ARE SO BIG Michigan defensive line at the end of the season.  Another pitch-perfect performance against Michigan State, although he's yet to put up overly overwhelming numbers.

My one qualm with Smith, as I stated on my ballot: The talent around him is so absurdly good that a great many quarterbacks would seem calm and collected when running the offense and having leads protected by that defense.  While Smith has a couple of "I'm Troy Smith" moments, a lot of the OSU highlights come from the crazy hands of Anthony Gonzalez, the crazy speed of Teddy Ginn and the crazy consistency of Antonio Pittman.  A worthy number one, but I'm just saying.

2) Calvin Johnson, "Tommy Bowden asked politely that you not play this weekend", Georgia Tech

"He moves up after a bye week?! Well, yeah, sort of by default, we suppose. But the junior wide receiver simply cannot be stopped unless your name is either Chan Gailey or Reggie Ball; no defensive back in the NFL could get a hand on this guy.  The Oakland Raiders should be drooling over CJ with what will likely be the first pick in April's NFL Draft." - UDubDish

"Off week. Still the platonic ideal when it comes to terrifying wide receivers. And velociraptors." - MGoBlog

If anyone has a chance to leap past Mr. Smith into our national conscience of "That guy is the best!", it's Calvin, who has the primetime game on ESPN Saturday against top ACC foe Clemson.  If Death From Above rains (reigns?) over the Tigers purple secondary like he has against all other BCS opponents, there will be no way to keep him off the ballots.  A near-lock for the Biletnikioff with injuries slowing down Jarrett and Manningham.

3) Steve Slaton, "Rutgers, Pitt and Louisville curse your fleet-footed name", West Virginia

"Lost in Pat White's Nintendo stat line was Slaton's outstanding performance as well. Eight yards per rush, another touchdown, and despite West Virginia not playing anyone of significance, he's working his way up our ballot. He and White look terrific running together." - BON

"Third in the nation in rushing yards behind the aforementioned Peterson and Wolfe.  WV QB Pat White stole some of his thunder with a wicked game last Saturday, but that was more a magician's sleight of hand than anything, making the best of diverted attention, pulling a fast one while no one is watching.  Oh, and despite all of that attention, Slaton still gained 163 yards on 20 carries, an average of 8.2 per carry." - RockyTopTalk

The Steve Slaton/Pat White Show rolls on, and the fact I just called it that might be Slaton's main problem.  If it's White, and not Slaton, that looks the fairest of them all when the competition picks up for the Mountaineers, then there's no way Slaton doesn't lose a little bit of love.  Still, if he drops a hundred-plus yards a couple of scores in nationally televised games against the other top Big East games and then goes all Sugar-Bowl-Versus-UGA in the postseason, who's not voting for him?

4) Lamarr Woodley, "I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast", Michigan

"After a statistical lull the past three games, he smashed his way into the box score Saturday by getting two sacks, an assist for loss among three other tackles and a forced fumble; season-to-date, he's one of the top pass rushers in the country (7 solo sacks) and more than half of his tackles have been in the opponents' backfield. But Woodley's inclusion is at heart a shout out to the raging but disciplined hellions of the entire Big Blue front seven, against whom opponents have gained a little over 71 yards per game rushing...and lost about 39 of those. That leaves an average of 32.4 rushing yards per game, when most teams give up on a single carry in two games out of three. Take away Mike Hart and Kevin Grady, responsible for about 77 percent of all the team's carries, and the rest of Michigan's offense still equals the entire rushing output of every Wolverine opponent combined. Which is obscenity. And the defense - most prominently Woodley - is responsible for its promulgation." - SMQ

"Woodley's 16 solo tackles tell only a part of the story, as his 10 tackles for loss---seven of which were sacks---have cost the opposition almost a full football field, depriving the other team of a cumulative 94 yards of lost real estate. His two fumble recoveries were advanced an additional 54 yards, as well. Against Penn State, his five tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble demonstrated just how disruptive Woodley can be, as the Nittany Lions were held in check until the closing moments of the contest." - DawgSports

The Michigan defense - the big, scary one that chews up quarterback and spits them out, sometimes accompanied by awkward fumbles and defensive scores - is now firmly represented, as Woodley and teammate Alan Branch both garnered votes in this week's ballots.  The numbers are there, as well as the general sense of terror he inflicts in opponents.  If Drew Tate and Troy Smith are broken by him on national television, we might differ very greatly from the Heisman.

5) Adrian Peterson, "Amazing Grace, how sweet...", Oklahoma

"Yes, we know -- he's done for the season, his career as a Sooner virtually certain to have concluded last Saturday. Consider this one final tribute to one of the best college backs we've ever seen, a guy whose career we're sad to see end early." - ConquestChronicles

"The presumed script all along has called for Mr. Peterson to take his chiseled frame and talent to the professionals for incredible lucre following this season, which - assuming he doesn't return from the broken collarbone he suffered on a touchdown run last week - means the alleged amateurs have lost one of their greatest on-field assets of the decade. It's only appropriate, then, to give AP one last ride atop the float at the front of the Maxwell Pundit parade; he was only on pace to rush for almost 1,900 yards and score 20 touchdowns. What a shame he was never allowed to fully elaborate at this level on his virtuoso debut." - SMQ

Adrian only received three votes, but they were all first-place send-off votes from TrojanWire, SMQ and myself.  Much like seeing Michael Bush go down this season, not even a rival can react with jubilation after watching such a beacon of talent extinguished in the Norman afternoon.  We can only pray he makes it back for a bowl game, as the lower-tiered bowl the Sooners seem conceivably bound for means AP would have one grand college finale, stiff-arming overwhelmed and undersized defenders into the ground before jumping to the NFL and hoping that the Raiders take Calvin or Brady.

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