Perhaps Chris DuFresne of the Los Angeles Times phrased Shaun Alexander's chances of winning the Heisman Trophy best.

	Shaun Alexander is ready to tear up the Orange Bowl turf.

"One more arrest, one more loss for Wisconsin, if Joe Hamilton loses a couple of games, then who do you go to?" Dufresne said. "Shaun Alexander. Why not?"

Now there's a catchy Heisman Campaign slogan: "Shaun Alexander. Why not?" Clearly, the Alabama tailback has some more ground to make up to become a front-runner in this year's Heisman Trophy race.

However, with the suspension of Florida State wide receiver Peter Warrick, the Purdue losses hurting quarterback Drew Brees, and Wisconsin's Ron Dayne struggling a bit, Alexander is a lot closer to the top of the list than he was at the start of the season.

And he clearly has more opportunity to impress Heisman voters.

His next chance to impress is Saturday when No. 11 Alabama (4-1, 3-0) plays at No. 22 Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1).

"I think Shaun Alexanders' chances are good, and getting better all the time," said Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald. "You don't need fancy campaigns and mailouts and fliers. If you play well against good competition, the voters will find out about you.

"To me, (Georgia Tech quarterback) Joe Hamilton is No. 1, Shaun Alexander is No. 2. But a lot can happen between now and the end of the season."

That's the way the voting is running in the weekly Scripps-Howard Heisman Poll conducted by the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Warrick, the FSU receiver who has been suspended after his arrest on felony grand theft charges, had been the unanimous pick of a panel of 10 Heisman voters from all regions of the country for the past four weeks.

But with Warrick's arrest and suspension, Hamilton moved into the lead, with nine first-place votes. Alexander, who has been steadily climbing since not appearing in either the preseason poll or first week's poll, got his first first-place vote this week and moved into second overall.

"The mentality of the Heisman voter is to find someone to hang your hat on and ride that guy," said Randy Holtz of the Rocky Mountain News, who has been conducting the poll for 13 seasons. "If that guy falters, then you start to look for someone else. The guy everyone was riding was Warrick. Now, Hamilton is the guy. But that could definitely change. ... At this point, if anyone can beat Hamilton, it's definitely Alexander. The other major candidate is Dayne, and he's always hurt, so his production is limited."

In spite of how well known Alexander has been in this part of the nation, he was not as recognized elsewhere.

"I think, at the start of the year, when people thought about Alabama they thought about the situation with (Tide head coach) Mike DuBose, or the A.D. (athletic director) situation," Barfknecht said. "It took time for people to begin to see they had a good team, and see what Alexander was doing."

Indeed, Alexander's first big move in the Scripps Howard poll came after the victory over Arkansas, when Alexander jumped to No. 4. He went to third after the Florida game, and this week to No. 2 after Warrick fell out of favor for his off-field problems.

"People can only process so many people in their minds at one time," Holtz said. "You think of only two or three players. Warrick had to do something to lose it, and he did. Hamilton is the clear favorite now.

"But with no Warrick, suddenly Alexander gets more looks. ... It's always the case that your team needs to win. The more high profile the team is, the higher they are in the rankings, the better shot an individual player has to be noticed. Alabama doesn't have that problem. It has a big name, it's on TV. It probably would have been better for Alexander if he'd started on a high-profile team from the start of the season, but the more attention the team gets, the more attention he'll get."

Alexander, sixth in the nation in rushing (144 yards per game), second in all-purpose yards (203.6), and first in scoring (16.8 ppg), says he doesn't keep up with the latest Heisman polls.

"Everyone else tells me where I am," Alexander said. "Everywhere I go, I hear, 'You're No. 4 now' or 'You're up to No. 3.' I don't have to watch it."

As for Warrick and Hamilton, Alexander said, "when you play in the SEC, I believe if your team wins, it should be hands down (who gets the Heisman). The competition is not the same in the ACC. Warrick and Hamilton should destroy those kids. They're that much better."

At the same time, seeing what happened to Warrick has made Alexander even more aware of the fishbowl he lives in as a high profile college athlete.

"Seeing what happened to Peter and Shamari (Buchanan, the Tide wide receiver suspended for having a speeding ticket fixed), it makes you be aware of your 'Ps and Qs.' It just makes you watch everything you do. It should get to that point (where off-field actions influence voting for on-field awards), but I understand that what they did was wrong, too."

Meanwhile, Alabama has another game on CBS this week, and is scheduled to be on CBS again next week for the Tennessee game.

"The SEC gets good exposure with the ESPN and CBS contracts," Holtz said. "That helps. Alexander may only need one more big break-out game to get everyone's attention. But I still think it is Hamilton's to lose."

The important thing is production, Barfknecht said.

"Go back to Barry Sanders at Oklahoma State -- no one knew him when the season started," Barfknecht said. "But people found out soon enough.

"If you play well enough, against quality competition, people will find out about you."

(Ray Melick writes for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama.)