I can't remember going back and forth on my Heisman Trophy vote as much as I did this season.

At some point, I think I had five or six different guys at the top of my list during the season.

But my final ballot, which I submitted early this morning, looks like this:

1. Mark Ingram, Alabama

2. Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska

3. Toby Gerhart, Stanford

Ingram's performance against so many good SEC defenses is what sold me on him. That and his value to an Alabama team that's ranked No. 1 in the country. The guy is incredible after contact and to rack up 189 rushing/receiving yards against Florida's defense speaks for itself.

According to this week's NCAA statistics, Ingram faced six of the top 28 defenses in the country (No. 4 Florida, No. 14 Virginia Tech, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 28 LSU). And in those six games, Ingram rushed for 924 yards, averaging 154 yards per game and scoring seven touchdowns.

When Alabama needed him the most this season, he was at his best. He has 1,542 rushing yards and 30 catches going into the BCS National Championship Game.

How many players in SEC history have rushed for more than 1,500 yards and caught 30 passes in the same season?

Here's betting we spend a long time looking.

Speaking of looking, I looked long and hard at Suh as my top choice. He's the most dominant interior defensive lineman I've seen in college football in a long time.

Leaving Texas quarterback Colt McCoy off my ballot was tough. But he played poorly against the two best defenses he faced -- Nebraska and Oklahoma.