Alternate Heisman Reality: The case for Gabe Carimi, Badger bludgeoner du jour

Heisman ballots are in the mail. With the field of favorites rapidly narrowing down the stretch, Alternate Heisman Reality looks at some of the more deserving candidates off the beaten path. Today: Wisconsin left tackle Gabe Carimi.

• Generic profile. Nondescript recruit who inherited his position from an All-American predecessor and made it his own over the course of 48 career starts, developing into an All-American and rising scout favorite in his own right for a top-five, Rose Bowl-bound machine of an offense.

• By the numbers. Wisconsin's offense leads the Big Ten in scoring for the second year in a row with at least 31 points in every game of its current seven-game win streak, and has been significantly more dominant since star running back John Clay left the lineup with a knee injury at the start of the month. Since then, the Badgers have bludgeoned Indiana, Michigan and Northwestern for at least 550 yards apiece and put both backups, James White and Montee Ball, over 100 yards rushing in all three games. The average final score in all Big Ten games: Wisconsin 45, Manhandled Opponent 24.

Carimi doesn't show up personally on the stat sheet, but his opponents do. And the three soon-to-be first-rounders who lined up across from him this year – fellow All-Big Ten mates Cameron Heyward (Ohio State), Adrian Clayborn (Iowa) and Ryan Kerrigan (Purdue) – combined for five solo tackles and one sack in three Wisconsin victories. The Badgers' 184-yard, three-touchdown effort in the win over Ohio State matched the best night anyone's had on the ground against the Buckeyes in two years.

• Intangibles ho! Name an applicable award or All-Something team, and Carimi is on the list. Besides being an academic All-American, he was voted first-team All-American Monday by the American Football Coaches Association and first team All-Big Ten by conference coaches for the second year in a row. He's one of three finalists for the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman. His rising draft stock could put him in the first round – possibly in the top 20 – in April.

• Three strikes. Carimi a) Plays offensive line, b) Doesn't show up in box scores or highlight packages and c) Isn't Orlando Pace.

Two offensive linemen have plowed their way into the top five of Heisman voting since 1980: Nebraska's Dave Rimington (1982) and Pace (1996), who blocked for the '95 Heisman winner, Eddie George, and began that season with a flurry of magazine covers and a campaign that sent "Pace Pancake" magnets to Heisman voters. Most fans don't know Carimi's name.

• Might enter the real discussion if… After arriving in New York City next week, the actual finalists are crushed by an asteroid that reads "Gabe Carimi for Heisman. Signed, God." And even then, it would be a close re-vote.

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Previously: Da'Quan Bowers, Clemson. … Cliff Harris, Oregon.
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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