Gregg Doyel

Tevin Coleman won't win the Heisman Trophy. We deal here with facts, not fiction, and Coleman won't come close to winning the Heisman -- and that's how it is. But that doesn't mean it's how it should be.

It would be one thing if Coleman's Heisman candidacy were doomed, but "doomed" implies his candidacy had a chance, or existed. It did not, and we all know why -- because he plays for Indiana and Indiana isn't very good and if you play for a team that isn't very good you don't win the Heisman or even get invited to New York as a finalist. Because that's Just The Way It Is.

Know what I hate? I hate Just The Way It Is.

It allows cowardly people to stay inside the box and find safety in large numbers. It happens in stodgy and serious areas like politics and irreverent and fun places like sports. It's going to happen to Coleman, and while there are worse things that could happen, that doesn't make it any less irritating.

Because Tevin Coleman might just be the best player in college football.

Best pro prospect? Didn't say that. The Heisman doesn't go to that guy. It goes to -- well, it's supposed to go to -- the best player in the country. In 1989 Indiana running back Anthony Thompson received 185 first-place votes and finished second in the Heisman to Houston's Andre Ware despite the Hoosiers' 5-6 record, but voters now lean heavily toward the best players on the best teams. The more you're on national TV, the more voters see you and see how good you are. And make no mistake, current Heisman frontrunner Dak Prescott of No. 1 Mississippi State is exceptional. So is Bo Wallace of No. 3 Ole Miss and Marcus Mariota of No. 6 Oregon.

So is Tevin Coleman, but voters aren't watching. You want honesty? Until this weekend, I wasn't watching. But Indiana played Michigan State on ESPN and I was about to join The IndyStar and so I thought, huh, maybe I should watch Tevin Coleman. And it happened. That game showed (again) just how sensational Coleman is, and just how futile his Heisman candidacy is. Michigan State is eighth nationally in rush defense, allowing 100.3 yards per game and 3.4 per carry. Coleman ran for 132 yards, and he did it on just 15 carries, which means he averaged 8.8 yards per carry.

That was his worst game of the season.

And he did it with a debuting freshman quarterback in Zander Diamont, a gutty but overmatched third-stringer who would have been a fifth-stringer if it weren't for Indiana's offseason attrition. The Spartans stacked the line and dared Tevin Coleman to run -- and he did.

"Are you kidding me, averaging 8.8 yards per carry against that defense?" says ESPN analyst Desmond Howard, a Heisman winner (and voter). "That's big-time respect from those in the know. I'm like, 'Hey, he's a guy to keep an eye on.'"

Grab some binoculars.

Heisman polls are everywhere, and Tevin Coleman is nowhere. Nowhere near the top, anyway. The most recent Heisman Pundit poll has Coleman in a five-way tie for eighth, a nice way of saying he's in a five-way tie for 12th. At ESPN he's 10th. At USA TODAY, tied for seventh. Newsday names six candidates, and no Coleman. A seventh, Georgia's Todd Gurley, is listed as dropping from the race. Four more are "on the outside looking in," and there's our man.

On the outside. Looking in. Despite having the most remarkable season of any running back in the country. He's second nationally in yards per game (170.2) and leads in yards per carry (8.8), more than a full yard ahead of the record set in 1983 by Nebraska's Mike Rozier (7.8) en route to 2,148 yards and, of course, the Heisman Trophy.

Because when you have a season like Rozier had in 1983, you win the Heisman. Maybe it helped that Nebraska was undefeated when votes were due.

Indiana isn't undefeated. Indiana is 3-4, with games left to play against the top two run defenses in the Big Ten, Penn State and Michigan.

"He's going to have some tremendous challenges," says Indiana coach Kevin Wilson, "and if he can continue to be consistent with his numbers, it will be reasonably impressive if people care enough to look."

That's the problem, I told Wilson: Will people care enough?

"Yeah," he said. "We'll see."

If you wanted, you could look around and wonder if it's an Indiana thing -- because the Colts have a quarterback on pace for 5,328 passing yards (would be third all time), 455 completions (second) and 49 touchdowns (third), and most MVP projections have Andrew Luck behind Philip Rivers and DeMarco Murray.

But that will sort itself out. If Luck keeps putting up these numbers and the Colts keep winning, his MVP candidacy will rise. Tevin Coleman's Heisman campaign?

It never got started. Just the way it is.

Follow IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar.