Here's the RTT Maxwell Pundit ballot for week eight. Rakes of Mallow posts the weekly standings Wednesday mornings, so head over there noon-ish for this week's results.
Last week, the big question was Where's Wolfe? This week, you can add Calvin Johnson, Erik Ainge, and, to a lesser degree, Steve Slaton and Robert Meachem, to the list of those mostly missing in action.
1. Troy Smith. 1,715 yards, 21 TDs, 2 interceptions, 0 losses. Mr. Consistent in a volatile world.
2. Steve Slaton. Okay, so Slaton looked like a regular guy for most of the game, but he did rip off a 56-yard run late in the fourth quarter. He finished with a solid 128 yards. On a week when others were also struggling, he seemed to struggle the least. With the exception of Troy Smith, of course.
3. Brady Quinn. Back into the mix with a 27 of 45, 304-yard effort and an excellent game-winning TD pass to a man of many consonants in the final seconds to salvage a win. Of course, he's not Troy Smith.
4. James Davis. Never heard of him until he dressed in all purples. A 218 yard romp against a good Georgia Tech team got me looking, and you know what? He's averaging 120 yards per game. Not bad. Not Troy Smith.
5. Robert Meachem. Third on the national receiving-yards-per-game list with an average of 109 despite the fact that QB Erik Ainge tossed half as many passes to opponents against Alabama (3) as he did to Meach. Troy Smith-esque? No.
Others considered: Erik Ainge, Calvin Johnson, Garrett Wolfe, the Michigan defense, and a handful of others.