On Saturday, Dec. 10, the Heisman Trophy Trust awarded the 75th Heisman Trophy to Robert Griffin III of Baylor. In this article, I take a look at the five Heisman finalists’ real-life performance (as well as one player who remained in the Heisman picture until late in the season), as well as their virtual doppelgangers in NCAA Football 12. I’ll assess their case for college football’s highest individual honor, as well as their case for being considered the best virtual player in NCAA 12. I simulate a season of NCAA 12and track the players’ progress against their real-life stats, and close by offering my vote for the most dominant virtual player.


Case Keenum
Real Life: Prior to Houston’s meltdown against Southern Miss, Case Keenum had a 43-3 TD-Int ratio. Keenum is prone to putting up dramatic statistics, as he’s thrown as many as nine touchdowns and as many as six interceptions in a single game. This year, he was usually the best player on the field by a longshot. His numbers are undeniably terrific, but Keenum has a bad track record when he runs up against quality opponents and often looks rattled when he faces pressure. Keenum’s an interesting player who has accomplished a lot, considering the talent surrounding him, but he hasn’t dominated top competition like the other players on this list.
Real Stats: 5,099 passing yards, 45 TD, 5 INT, 9.55 Yards Per Attempt (YPA)

NCAA 12: Virtual Case Keenum clocks in at a 95 OVR. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, with only 89 throw power, but he offers a 93 in throw accuracy, as well as some decent scrambling ability (and some unusually high kicking ratings). In Houston's offense, he's a perfect fit, and you should have no trouble picking apart opposing defenses on quick timing routes.
Simulated Season Stats: 4,110 passing yards, 49 TD, 11 INT, 537 rushing yards, 3 rushing TD

Tyrann Mathieu
Real Life: How did a guy who stands 5’8” and weighs 175 pounds become one of the most feared defenders in college football? The Honey Badger is a ballhawk in the defensive backfield, as well as an exhilarating special teams player. Mathieu is only a sophomore, but he’s the most electrifying player on an LSU roster that’s stocked with future NFL players. If LSU can involve him on offense like Michigan did with Charles Woodson, he stands a good chance at eventually becoming only the second primarily defensive player to win the Heisman before his college career is over.
Real Stats: 71 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 5 recovered fumbles, 2 INT, 16.2 yards per punt return, 4 total touchdowns

NCAA 12: Unsurprisingly, Mathieu is the Heisman finalist with the lowest rating in NCAA 12. The game has Mathieu as LSU’s No. 2 corner, at 87 OVR, although he moves up to a 91 if you switch him to free safety. With 92 speed and 85 hit power, he can force fumbles all over the field. Plus, he has dynamite zone coverage skills, and his overall rating suffers mainly because of a 69 awareness rating. However, virtual Mathieu has only a 66 return rating, and although nobody seems to have figured out what that rating actually does, it’s still amusing to see Mathieu 15th on LSU’s return depth charts. In-game, he doesn’t really stick out at corner, but as a fast and powerful safety, he’s a real weapon – as I’m typing this, he just destroyed a scrambling Darron Thomas and broke Thomas’ foot. 
Simulated Season Stats: 26 tackles, 6 INT, 1 recovered fumble, 3 defensive touchdowns

Montee Ball
Real Life: Year after year, quarterbacks at schools like Hawaii and Texas Tech put up huge passing numbers, only to be dismissed as “system quarterbacks.” You could make the same argument about Wisconsin’s halfbacks, as a recent string of feature backs for the Badgers haven’t exactly gone on to light up the NFL. Wisconsin, though, has never had a back put up a season like Montee Ball’s 2011. Ball goes into the Rose Bowl one TD short of Barry Sanders’ record for total touchdowns in a season (39). He’s not a flashy player, and he runs behind a mauling offensive line in a system that turns middling recruits into thousand-yard rushers on a routine basis. But nobody has been able to stop Ball, who has averaged at least 4.6 YPC and scored at least two touchdowns in every game this year. 
Real Stats: 1,759 rushing yards, 32 TD, 6.4 Yards Per Carry (YPC), 255 receiving yards, 6 receiving TD

NCAA 12: Virtual Montee Ball isn’t even the Badgers’ starter in NCAA 12 – he sits second on the depth chart behind James White. Ball has a 90 OVR rating with 92 speed and an 89 break tackle rating. He’s a solid all-around back, but his virtual persona isn’t really a game-changer like some of the others on this list. Still, he almost always falls forward after he's hit, and the two maulers on the right side of Wisconsin's line almost always give him plenty of room to work.
Simulated Season Stats: 1,140 rushing yards, 14 TD, 5.5 YPC, 53 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD (Fourth in Heisman Voting)

Trent Richardson
Real Life: This year, Trent Richardson finally had the opportunity to emerge from Mark Ingram’s shadow. He made the most of this chance, rushing for 20 touchdowns and more than 1,500 yards for the nation’s No. 2 team. He’s fast, he’s powerful and he offers an uncommon combination of strength and agility. Richardson has been a workhorse for a terrific team. Simply put, it’s hard to find flaws in his game. 
Real Stats: 1,583 rushing yards, 20 TD, 6.0 YPC, 327 receiving yards, 3 TD

NCAA 12: Virtual Trent Richardson is as well-balanced as his real-life counterpart. Richardson is a 95 OVR, with 92 speed, 96 acceleration, and 94 trucking. Plus, with 98 stamina and 85 injury, you can run him all day. Like the real Richardson, his virtual counterpart refuses to go down easily and he’s hard to stop as the CPU. Using Richardson, I've seen new animations that I never saw when using lower-quality backs. 
Simulated Season Stats: 1,017 rushing yards, 6 TD, 6.0 YPC, 305 receiving yards, 5 receiving TD


Andrew Luck
Real Life: Luck may have been the Heisman favorite before the season began, and although he didn’t quite match his yardage totals from 2010, it’s hard to be disappointed with his performance. Luck has shown tremendous poise and polish in leading Stanford’s turnaround from Pac-10 also-ran to national title contender. For two seasons in a row, he has completed 70 percent of his passes, maintained a TD-INT ratio of about 4:1 and has shown no fear of making difficult throws. Luck also demonstrated that his success wasn’t just a product of the Harbaugh magic that turns disappointments into top performers. 
Real Stats: 3,170 passing yards, 35 TD, 9 INT, 8.50 YPA

NCAA 12: Luck is the only player on this list to earn the coveted 99 overall rating. His overall is inflated by a 90 awareness rating, which won’t make a difference when you’re controlling him in-game, but he also has 92 throw power and 94 throw accuracy, as well as 80 speed – nearly as fast as some of the country’s top scramblers. Luck can make any throw, and he's elusive enough that he's not a sitting duck against blitzes.
Simulated Season Stats: 3,250 passing yards, 34 TD, 3 INT, 450 rushing yards, 5 TD


Robert Griffin III
Real Life: I believe that the Heisman Trophy should go to the biggest difference-maker. With that criterion in mind, there’s a good case to be made that Andrew Luck deserved the award. But the voters went with Robert Griffin III, who posted a 6:1 TD-INT ratio and demonstrated a flair for dramatic late-game heroics. He also added more than 600 yards and 9 touchdowns on the ground. Yes, Baylor has three losses, but RG3 led a team with the 114th-ranked defense to a top-15 ranking. He may not fit the mold of the prototypical “NFL quarterback” as well as Luck or USC’s Matt Barkley, but that’s not what the Heisman is about. This year, the Heisman voters declared Robert Griffin III to be the best player in college football, and I think they made the correct choice. 
Real Stats: 3,998 passing yards, 36 TD, 6 INT, 10.8 YPA, 644 rushing yards, 9 rushing TD, 4.0 YPC

NCAA 12: Virtual RG3 also comes in at 95 OVR. He has great passer ratings, with 91 throw power and 90 throw accuracy. But Griffin really shines when he scrambles, as his 84 speed and 99 acceleration make him a lethal weapon out of the backfield. 
Simulated Season Stats: 2,413 passing yards, 26 TD, 756 rushing yards, 7 rushing TD, 4.3 YPC


My Virtual Heisman Pick: Every player on this list is great in the right hands, but in the NCAA series there’s no greater weapon than a dual-threat quarterback. The NCAA 12version of Robert Griffin III throws as well as Luck and has a better set of wheels. If you were to pick one player off this list to add to a terrible team, RG3 would be your best option. There are better passers in NCAA 12, like Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden, and better scramblers, like Michigan’s Denard Robinson, but Griffin offers the ideal combination of the two.

Who is your favorite Heisman candidate to use in NCAA 12? Are any of these players overrated in-game? Underrated?