The results are in for the initial offering of the MaxwellPundit Award for Blogger Collegiate Football Player of the Year, and despite the miniscule sample size and massive amounts of worthy nominees, I like how this is looking so far.  Your voters for this week were:

MGoBlog
DawgSports
SundayMorningQB
Deadspin
BurntOrangeNation
ConquestChronicles
BruinsNation
StateFansNation
Rakes of Mallow

Voters chose the five players they thought are the best in the country after week one.  Statistics, performance, team success and every other intangible that sabermetrics hate, the MaxwellPundit embraces in its quest to choose the very best this country has to offer.

1. Steve Slaton, SuperFreak Running Back, West Virginia

Slaton was one of the more hyped national RBs coming into this season. And he showed why he may be the best. SS carried the ball 33 times, rushing for 204 yards, with 1 TD. A truly impressive performance against instate rival Marshall in Morgantown. - BruinsNation

Oh, to be young, in love (with both Pat White and scoring touchdowns) and able-bodied.  Slaton actually didn't receive a lot of first place votes - only one, from ConquestChronicles - but nearly everyone, save for myself and Brian, voted for him.  In a week where the darts of excellence were scattered, that means a lot.  We all know what kind of joke WVU's schedule appears to be, so Slaton's campaign really hinges on how dominant he is against Pitt, Rutgers, Maryland and Louisville, the only decent teams really on the Mountaineer schedule.

2. Kenny Irons, Workhorse Running Back, Auburn

The only part of the Auburn-Wazzu game SMQ actually watched was a long WSU touchdown pass to a tight end from a backup quarterback with the game basically out of hand. Far be it for him to deny Irons, though, who by then had smashed his way to 183 yards and a touchdown on an ungodly 9.2 per carry average, and had 40 yards receiving on top of it. Washington State's defense is a sorry collection, for sure, but not that sorry. - SMQ

Indeed, it appears to succeed at the top of this initial poll you need to A) Have some preseason hype and B) Live up to that hype with crazy-delicious numbers.  Irons did just that, pacing - if you can call 9.2 yards per pacing at anything below motorsports - a team some have ranked number one to their opening victory over a BCS-conference opponent.  The game was close for the first half, but Irons turned into primary receiver and tailback for a few series, and that was when Washington State could do nothing to stop him.

3. Ben Olson, New PAC-10 Gunslinger/Southpaw Jesus, UCLA

Aside from the aforementioned McCoy's, was there a more impressive quarterback debut this fall than Olson's performance against Utah? The rising star of Westwood connected on 25 of his 33 pass attempts for 318 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, giving him a 186.7 quarterback rating. 186.7? That's just tacky. . - DawgSports

I'm just going to send you here to read Nestor sing the praises of UCLA's new prized quarterback.  Pundits were throwing out Utah as a potential BCS-buster, or at least predicting them a decent team, and Olson rolled the Bruins offense through them like hot katana-through-butter.  Much like Slaton, Olson can roll up all the numbers he wants to against some of the weak PAC-10 defenses, but his chances at this award will be decided at the end of the season against the Trojans.  Still, I'm none-too-happy to have him coming into South Bend in October.  

4. Buster Davis, Unstoppable Force of Linebacking Nature, Florida State

Sure, he waddles everywhere. There's some duck in his genetic heritage. But that is one enormously pissed-off duck. Kyle Wright can no longer watch Looney Tunes without wetting himself. - MGoBlog

The Seminole senior is listed as F.S.U.'s middle linebacker, but the modifier seems almost superfluous . . . unless by "middle" Mickey Andrews intends to indicate that the standout stalwart on a stellar defensive unit will be in the middle of every play. Davis recorded nine solo tackles and three assists, including two sacks. His three and a half tackles for loss cost the Hurricanes 36 yards of real estate, which were critical in a low-scoring battle for field position such as last night's game in the Orange Bowl. We gave Vince Young credit for being the game-changing player in several of Texas's victories last year; Buster Davis deserves the same credit for altering the outcome of the major clash of heavyweights in the season's opening weekend. - Dawg Sports

I was seriously considering voting Davis at the top of my ballot, but unsure if his sensational Monday night was due to high levels of skill or simply the Hurricane offensive line's inability to block anybody.  I'm glad to see my view of him as a roving monster was shared by others.  If he continues this rampage through the rest of the season, he will epitomize what this award is to be about: The game-changing player who Heisman refuses to recognize because of position.

5. Erik Ainge, Rejuvenated Cutcliffe QB, Rocky Top

The Tennessee QB out of Oregon (who was also recruited heavily by UCLA) had a sensational game against the Cal bears. Ainge passed for 291 yards, completing 11 of 17 passes (64.7%), throwing 4 TDs and 1 pick. Ainge may turn out to be the best QB in the SEC this upcoming season, upstaging Chris Leak, who got lot of pre-season Heisman hype. - BruinsNation

Somebody on the field deserves a lot of credit for the destruction of Cal's Golden Bears on Saturday, and it feels nice to give it to a guy who got absolutely destroyed - on the field, in the papers and one can only assume emotionally - in the Vols offense last year.  SMQ also high-lighted Robert Meachem and Arron Sears, who did the catching and blocking, respectively, for young Erik, but after the awkward injury against the Irish in 2004 and a rough 2005, it's good to see Ainge doing well.

The rest...

I said, there were a lot of votes from all over the place this week.  You of course had your worthy homer picks - Brain took Lamarr Woodley, Pete took Jamaal Charles, I took Darius Walker - but overall, a nice collection of nationally-recognized talent.  Feel free to make your campaign for who we absent-mindedly left out.  My choice goes to Calvin Johnson, who somehow was left off all but two ballots despite being so terrifying to play against I'm still worried he might catch a deep fade as time expires and defeat the Irish.