As part of BCS Know How’s 2010 season preview, we will be breaking down our ten favorite Heisman hopefuls to get you ready for this season’s edition of the Heisman Watch.

Here’s our No. 9 selection, Georgia junior wide receiver A.J. Green.

The hype was tremendous for A.J. Green’s sophomore 2009 season. Yet his production went down and the Bulldogs struggled against the cream of the SEC crop.

So what was missing for Green and the Bulldogs?

Well it seems like the loss of two NFL rookie standouts, quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno probably had a lot to do with the struggles of both Green and Georgia.

It’s not to say that Green’s 808 yards and six touchdowns were a complete failure. In fact its not an unfair assumption to say that without Green, the Bulldogs would have lost at least two more games than they did in 2009. Heck, he even blocked a field goal attempt against Arizona State that preserved a 20-17 Bulldog victory in Week Four.

Plus, Green was unable to play in three of the Bulldogs’ regular season games, including a matchup with FCS Tennessee Tech. If he had played a full slate of games, Green could have easily eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in ’09.

Now a year older and looking to exceed both his sophomore output and shocking freshman contribution (963 yards and eight touchdowns) Green will once again have to rely on an untested quarterback to deliver him the ball when he’s open — probably redshirt freshman Aaron Murray — if he wants to make a national impact.

Of course with Green’s athleticism many balls that would be uncatchable for most of the nation’s receivers are fair game for Green, which could not only help out his statistical line, but also boost the confidence of whoever is entrusted with getting him the ball.

Bottom Line: Health for the Bulldogs will be of the utmost importance, but especially for Green, who will need to shine in all of the Bulldogs’ games if he wants any shot at the Heisman as a wide receiver.

A good statistical season from Green will mean that the Bulldogs have found a solid option at quarterback, and if that’s the case, the Bulldogs could be on their way to the SEC Championship Game. If all of these things can fall into place, Green could be well on his way to New York City for the Heisman presentation.

Tim Tebow got everything he could from his final game as a Florida Gator, passing for nearly 500 yards and rushing for 50 more, as the Gators crushed the Cincinnati Bearcats 51-24 Friday night in the Sugar Bowl.

The strife of Urban Meyer’s health and Tim Tebow’s departure ruled the headlines during the days leading up to the game, and if the Sugar Bowl was Meyer and Tebow’s swan song, it was certainly a flawless one.

From kickoff it seemed as though the Bearcats were overmatched. Quarterback and team leader Tony Pike was pressured throughout the night, unable to hit his strong wide receiving core down field and flushed from the pocket all night.

In fact the Bearcats didn’t find the end zone until halfway through the third quarter as the vaunted SEC defense of the Florida Gators was just too much for the Bearcats.

Cincinnati had its own strife leading up to the game, as they lost their head coach of three seasons Brian Kelly to the Notre Dame job and were being coached by an interim head coach for the bowl game.

The player had shrugged the distractions off, but their lack of balance throughout the game showed a much different story.

Wide receiver Mardy Gilliard didn’t break 50 yards receiving and Tony Pike struggled until the Gators took their foot off the pedal in the third quarter, already up 34 points.

Pike was sacked on multiple occasions, and the Bearcat offense was only able to muster 249 net yards, with just 68 total yards coming on the ground.

The Bearcats finished the season at No. 3 in the BCS rankings, but certainly didn’t look like the same team that went undefeated through the Big East and nearly made their way to the National Title Game despite a suspect defense.

For Tebow and Meyer, the victory in a BCS bowl game isn’t quite what they hoped their final game together might hold, but for the Gator Nation, this victory in the Sugar Bowl is certainly sweet enough.