In almost all team sports, MVP awards are nice individual honors, but winning a championship is valued more.

You wouldn't know it the way college football fans talk about the Heisman Trophy. It is touted as the most prestigious individual honor in sports. Every year, the player with the most votes is awarded the trophy on a stage decorated like a country club -- it has paintings hanging in the background for extra grandeur.

Trying to figure out why the Heisman is so important is as difficult as forecasting the winner in the third week of the season, as many TV analysts and college football experts like to do.

The Heisman is like a celebrity who's famous for being famous. If you ask why, you likely won't get much of an answer. It's like a curious 6-year-old questioning his parents about a holiday tradition -- "Because you're grandfather said so!"

Maybe it's because the trophy looks cool. Everyone makes the pose in their backyard after catching the game-winning touchdown pass.

It isn't held in such high regard because it's an accurate account of the best player in the country that season. Defensive players and linemen have very little chance compared with offensive skill players. That's the case in the NFL, too. But the NFL MVP is considered less important than owning a Super Bowl ring, so you don't hear that argument much in the pros.

That means that this is the Bowl Championship Series' fault. If college football had a playoff, each season would be remembered first and foremost by which team won the title and the championship performance in the process. The Heisman would fall down the ladder a bit.

Perhaps it already has, and this mystique is just television hype. Usually when the Heisman comes up in conversation, it's about how few of the winners went on to NFL glory (I know, it's not intended to be an NFL predictor. That's usually the next thing that comes up in the conversation). Of course, this doesn't come up between the TV hosts while they're sitting on the set with the expensive furniture before the winner is announced.

It also gives broadcasters something to talk about during the offseason, when there isn't much to discuss besides inaccurate recruiting projections, which coach ditched his team before a bowl game and which schools had the worst NCAA violations. Networks have paid hundreds of millions of dollars for rights fees and would rather avoid those topics. So the Heisman it is.

My suggestion: Go to a playoff for the national title, and award the Heisman to the MVP of the championship game.

- Howard Primer

Some make fun of the 1980s. Considering the pop culture cheesefest in terms of movies, music and TV shows, those critics have a point.

When it comes to the Heisman, I'm forever stuck in the 80s. Not even Andre Ware, who some argue was the product of a pass-happy, gimmicky offense and the last Heisman winner of the decade, can bring down this awesome collection of talent.

In honor of the 80s, let's rank the Heisman winners during that super decade:

10. Andre Ware, QB, Houston, 1989: Threw for 4,699 yards and 44 touchdowns, and set 26 NCAA records during his junior season, but as the years go by, Ware's Heisman season loses steam because of the gimmicky offense he directed.

9. Tim Brown, WR/PR, Notre Dame, 1987: Brown is the first receiver to win the Heisman, but his performance as punt returner against Michigan State (two consecutive punt returns for touchdowns) all but clinched the award. He had over 1,800 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns, and was helped by a week group of Heisman candidates. His pro career far outweighed his college career.

8. Vinny Testaverde, QB, Miami (Fla.), 1986: Testaverde was remarkable during the regular season for the No. 1 Hurricanes, with 2,557 yards and 26 touchdowns, but it all came crumbling down in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State for the national championship, throwing five interceptions.

7. George Rogers, RB, South Carolina, 1980: Rogers was solid (1,781 yards, 14 TDs), and the fact he was a senior probably helped him in the Heisman race because true freshman Herschel Walker (1,616 yards, 15 TDs) should have won the award.

6. Doug Flutie, QB, Boston College, 1984: Flutie's Hail Mary pass to beat Miami (Fla.) the day after Thanksgiving in '84 is the greatest Heisman moment ever. He wasn't a one-game wonder, though, throwing for 3,454 yards and 27 TDs that season. Ohio State homers still complain runner-up Keith Byars deserved the award that year. Nonsense.

5. Mike Rozier, RB, Nebraska, 1983: Rozier was the best from one of the best teams never to win a national championship, rushing for a whopping 2,148 yards and 29 TDs before Bernie Kosar and the Miami Hurricanes stunned the No. 1 Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl.

4. Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn, 1985: Bo knew Heisman voting in '85, as he edged Iowa QB Chuck Long, 1,509 to 1,464. It shouldn't have been that close. Jackson, who ran for 1,786 yards and 17 touchdowns in '85, was clearly one of the best running backs of the '80s, especially considering the top three on this list.

3. Marcus Allen, RB, USC, 1981: Many fans forget how awesome Allen was as a senior at USC, rushing for 2,342 yards and 22 touchdowns.

2. Barry Sanders, RB, Oklhoma State, 1988: It's difficult to deny Sanders the No. 1 spot on this list after a season of 2,628 yards and 37 touchdowns, but ...

1. Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia, 1982: Walker is the greatest college running back ever. He probably should have won two Heismans. As a junior, Walker rushed for 1,752 yards and 16 TDs. The top three in the '82 Heisman voting is arguably the greatest Heisman trifecta ever: 1. Walker, 2. Stanford's John Elway, 3. SMU's Eric Dickerson. Wow.

- Mark Podolski | @mpodo

The website www.stiffarmtrophy.com has been forecasting the Heisman Trophy since USC's Carson Palmer won the award in 2002.

That year, the site correctly predicted Palmer would win the most famous award in sports. Stiffarmtrophy.com's methodology is simple. Listed on its website, it is (word for word):

- We count actual votes. We count only the picks from people who claim to be actual voters.

- We make two assumptions: 1. That the voter turnout in each region will be equal, and 2. that the undisclosed votes in each region will mirror the publicly disclosed votes.

- Based on those assumptions, we total up the votes in each region, and then extrapolate the totals.

- We continually update as more information comes in.

The site says when 20 to 25 percent of the votes have been counted, they are confident with its prediction. As of Wednesday afternoon, the site reported the results of 189 ballots. There are 926 Heisman voters. That's a little over 20 percent of the votes.

So far, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III has a huge lead over Stanford's Andrew Luck. Griffin III's projected total is 2,244 votes, and Luck's 1,262. None of the other finalists are within striking distance of Griffin III, nicknamed RG3, or Luck.

Barring a late surge by Luck, it appears - as Griffin said to ABC after his team's win over Texas last Saturday - "Baylor just won its first Heisman."

- Mark Podolski | @mpodo