The sale of the NYSE and the death of stocks

T

o the general public, it's quite a "shocker," says David Weidner at MarketWatch. IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), an upstart derivatives exchange, based in Atlanta, is buying NYSE Euronext, the company that owns the iconic, 220-year-old New York Stock Exchange, in a deal worth more than $8 billion. To long-time market professionals, however, this merger merely confirms something they've known for quite some time. They've been witnessing the slow death of stocks — as the lord of the marketplace — for years, as new regulations and decimalization of trades once done using rounder fractions "effectively squeezed the margins — and the potential for graft — out of the system." Initial public offerings offered healthy profits, but even those have dried up recently, leaving the NYSE and other exchanges "searching the globe for a merger partner," hoping they could buy their way to growth. But the lucrative futures and options exchanges that seemed like natural buyers of the stock exchanges turned up their noses, asking, "Why would we need them?"

There was an exception. The newcomer to the derivatives party, the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) needed something to vault it into the conversation — even though it not only had profits, but market share and a valuation to rival any exchange in the world.

For all of its lackluster financial cosmetics, the NYSE is still the Big Board. It is the venue where the great corporations of the world are listed. The announced deal will have some opportunities for technology sharing and other efficiencies, but mostly its an $8.2 billion deal for a brand.

As if that weren't already humiliating enough for the Big Board, says Felix Salmon at Reuters, "stock trading is a complete afterthought in this deal" for ICE. "The real reason that ICE wants the company is Liffe, NYSE Euronext's London-based financial derivatives subsidiary." Derivatives exchanges, you see, are few. They compete only with each other, so they make money hand over fist. "There are lots of stock exchanges," so they compete fiercely with each other, "and none of them make much money."

You can almost hear ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher rolling his eyes and wondering why on earth he needs to hang on to what at this point is little more than a heavily-guarded tourist attraction... [But] it's actually a good thing that stock trading has become a low-margin, low-value business: that's what's meant to happen when you have lots of competition. Think of it as one of the few areas of the financial-services sector where capitalism works as advertised. 

This deal, once unthinkable, really does underscore "what a dog the stock trading business has become," say Zachary M. Seward and Matt Phillips at Quartz. There's just no denying it. But if all this gloom is driving down the value of stocks in everybody's eyes, maybe equities markets will soon be so undervalued that they'll bounce back.

If we were contrarians, all of this Death of Equities talk — reminiscent of the 1979 Businessweek cover that nearly nailed the bottom of the markets before surges of the 1980s and 1990s — might get us a little more interested in the markets.

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Senator jokes that Boehner's 'Plan B' shows progress finally being made on women's issues

WASHINGTON - A Democratic senator joked Thursday that with House Speaker John Boehner embracing "Plan B," women's issues are progressing in Congress.
Washington Democrat Patty Murray told reporters that she "got really excited" when she heard Boehner talking about Plan B.
But then, she kidded, she learned it didn't signify progress for women after all.
Boehner had a backup plan for his fight over the "fiscal cliff" with President Barack Obama and dubbed it Plan B. House GOP leaders abruptly cancelled a vote on the measure Thursday night after they failed to round up enough votes for it to pass.
The "fiscal cliff" refers to huge tax increases and spending cuts that take effect in early January unless lawmakers can head them off.
Plan B is also the name of a contraceptive pill that some conservatives oppose because it can be used after unprotected intercourse.

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Malala asks Pakistan not to rename college in her honour to avert militant attacks on students

MINGORA, Pakistan - An official says Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education, has urged Pakistan to reverse a decision to rename a college in her honour to avert militant attacks on students.
The 15-year-old who became a symbol of youth resistance to the Taliban made the request after students broke into the school, tore down Malala's pictures and boycotted classes in her home town of Mingora. They say renaming the college endangers their lives.
Senior government official Kamran Rehman said Friday Malala called him from London, where she is being treated for critical wounds from the attack on Oct. 9. The Taliban said it targeted her for promoting education for secular girls.
Malala's case won worldwide recognition for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan.

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Former Singapore banker arrested in U.S. over Olympus fraud

SINGAPORE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Singapore banker was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday and accused of helping "liquidate" hundreds of millions of dollars in an accounting fraud at Olympus Corp , one of the biggest corporate scandals in Japan's history.
Chan Ming Fon, a one-time bank vice president, is the latest former executive and the first from outside of Japan to become ensnared in the $1.7 billion accounting cover-up at the camera and medical equipment maker.
The company has admitted it used improper accounting to conceal massive investment losses under a scheme that began in the 1990s.
Court papers in the United States said Chan was paid $10 million by Olympus or entities controlled by Olympus for his role in the fraud. The case against Chan was filed in a federal court in New York.
"The defendant had a direct role in the secret liquidation of hundreds of millions of dollars of Olympus investments. He then waged a six-year campaign to conceal that misdeed by lying, certifying to auditors that the investments still existed years after liquidation," said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos.
Olympus declined to comment.
Chan's arrest comes after three former Olympus executives pleaded guilty in September to charges related to the fraud.
Chan, a Taiwan national, was interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations this week, U.S. authorities said. He is being held in custody ahead of a scheduled appearance in a federal court in Los Angeles on Friday.
The former banker at Commerzbank and Societe Generale in Singapore is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.
Commerzbank and Societe Generale could not be reached for comment.
Chan, 50, is currently listed as a director of three Singapore companies, GIT Capital, GIT Consulting and SJ New Energy.
OLYMPUS STRUGGLE
The accounting fraud at 93-year-old Olympus was exposed in October 2011 by chief executive Michael Woodford, who was fired after he questioned dubious deals that were later found to have been used to hide losses.
The three former executives who pleaded guilty had been identified by an investigative panel, commissioned by Olympus, as the main suspects in the fraud seeking to delay the reckoning from risky investments made in the late-1980s bubble economy.
Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada said they inflated the company's net worth in financial statements for five fiscal years to March 2011. They are awaiting sentencing.
Revelations of the huge accounting fraud have revived calls for more outside scrutiny of its boardrooms but have failed to trigger sweeping corporate governance reforms similar to those introduced a decade ago in the wake of U.S. scandals such as at Enron.
Forced to re-issue several years of financial statements, Olympus has been left financially weakened, and it booked a loss of $581 million in the year to March 31. Its shareholder equity to total assets has dipped as low as 2.2 percent, well below the 20 percent level regarded as a minimum for stability.
The liquidity crunch has prompted it to accept $592.49 million from Sony Corp in return for an 11.46 percent stake and an agreement to set up a joint venture to develop medical equipment. The two companies on Friday said that plans to establish that company had been delayed as they wait regulatory approval overseas.
Olympus shares in Tokyo dipped 1.4 percent on Friday compared with a 0.8 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index.
TRAIL OF INTRIGUE
Chan's family in Singapore could not be reached for comment on Friday. A neighbor, who described the family as "avid piano players," said they kept to themselves. Nobody answered the door at GIT Capital's office in downtown Singapore.
An investigative panel report, commissioned by Olympus last year, mentioned a banker but used only the name Chan. It said the banker was an outside collaborator who first met Olympus executives Yamada and Mori in 1998.
At the time "Chan" was working at Commerzbank in Singapore, but resigned in 2000, it said. After leaving Societe Generale in 2004, the report said Chan formed his own company where he continued to work for former Olympus executives.
A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York said Chan was a former bank vice president, without naming the firm.
It said that from 1995-2004 he was employed as an executive at two financial institutions, and his primary responsibilities at one of them was to service accounts maintained by Olympus and entities that Olympus controlled.
The complaint said that in 2005 Chan established an entity in the Cayman Islands called SG Bond Plus Fund.
Until about 2010, Chan submitted false and misleading documents to Olympus's outside auditor regarding hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of assets purportedly maintained by Chan at SG Bond for the benefit of Olympus, it said.
Chan had actually transferred the assets to a British Virgin Island-based entity controlled by Olympus, the complaint said. ($1 = 84.3900 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting Rachel Armstrong and Saeed Azhar in Singapore; Tim Kelly and Nathan Layne in Tokyo; Editing by Gary Hill and Jeremy Laurence)

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Congresswoman broke ethics rules, House panel says

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A seven-term U.S. congresswoman from Nevada, Shelley Berkley, violated ethics rules by using her office to try to help her husband's medical practice but had no "corrupt intent" in doing so, the U.S. House Ethics Committee said on Thursday.
The committee said no further action was needed against the Democratic member of the House of Representatives. It had launched a probe in July into allegations Berkley may have been improperly involved in a bid to help save a hospital program linked to her husband's business.
Berkley's husband, Larry Lehrner, is a kidney specialist who owns a string of dialysis facilities and had a contract with the transplant unit at University Medical Center in Las Vegas when it was threatened with closure.
Nevada Republicans asserted in their initial complaint to Congress that Berkley would have directly benefited financially from her involvement in the 2008 case due to her husband's links to the hospital's kidney center.
Berkley, who failed in November to unseat Nevada Republican Dean Heller from his U.S. Senate seat in a narrow race, has said her effort to help keep the center open when it was facing federal action that could have resulted in its closure was not motivated by a potential financial interest.
She said she did nothing wrong.
A House Ethics panel agreed that her work to help the transplant center did not constitute a violation, but said that it was a mistake for her office to assist her husband's dialysis business in getting payment reimbursements.
"Representative Berkley had a legitimate concern, raised at the time that these issues were ongoing, that failures on the part of government insurers to reimburse providers in a timely fashion might result in the providers opting not to see patients insured by those programs," the Ethics Committee said in a statement.
It added that Berkley testified credibly that she had not helped her husband to obtain future benefits, and that the level of assistance her office provided him was not unusual compared to that given to other doctors.
But the panel ruled that she was mistaken when she determined her course of action was proper, although her lack of "any corrupt intent" mitigates the severity of the violations.
Heller, who had been a member of the House at the time, also joined in the Nevada delegation's efforts to keep the government from closing the kidney unit.

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EM ASIA FX-US budget impasse dents Asia FX; rupiah hit

One-mth dollar/rupiah NDFs highest since Sept 2009
* Sing dlr, Philippine peso down on U.S. dlr-short covering
* Philippine c.bank deputy governor says peso to stay firm
(Adds text, updates prices)
By Jongwoo Cheon
SEOUL, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian currencies
slid on Friday as deepening uncertainty over a U.S. budget deal
prompted investors to reduce risky assets after a Republican
attempt to avert the U.S. "fiscal cliff" failed.
The Indonesian rupiah slid, with dollar/rupiah
non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) at their highest in more than
three years.
The Singapore dollar and the Philippine peso
eased as investors covered short positions in the
U.S. dollar.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner abandoned a tax bill
designed to prevent the fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts
and tax increases set to start Jan. 1, denting other risky
assets including Asian stocks and the euro.
"Fiscal cliff worries are likely to keep investors away from
Asian currencies for a few days more, although markets may be
less sensitive to these issues because of the year-end effect,"
said a European bank dealer in Singapore.
Most emerging Asian currencies have seen inflows as monetary
policy easing by major central banks caused investors to seek
higher-yielding units with stronger economic and fiscal
fundamentals.
But regional units' upside is capped as the U.S. economy,
Asia's main exports market, may fall substantially if the
fiscal tussle is not resolved, or at least put off.
RUPIAH
One-month dollar/rupiah NDFs rose 0.5 percent to 9,845,
their highest since September 2009.
A break above 9,800 in the NDFs triggered faresh round of
buying from speculators and hedge-related purchases, dealers
said.
The central bank was noticed selling dollars at 9,670 they
added.
SINGAPORE DOLLAR
The Singapore dollar slid as worries over the fiscal cliff
prompted investors to cover short U.S. dollar positions,
although the city-state's currency took heart from corporate
demand.
PHILIPPINE PESO
The Philippine peso eased as investors squared bullish
positions with the country's financial markets closed until
Tuesday.
But the central bank Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said
the Philippine currency is likely to stay firm next year.
Capital inflows on a possible credit rating upgrade will
give Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas a greater challenge in terms of
keeping the peso stable, he said.
"Without the BSP's participation in the forex market, the
peso could have been firmer. But we really have to allow
fundamentals to determine the peso dollar rate, and that's what
happened in the first nine or 10 months of 2012, even up to the
end of November," he said.
CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR
Change on the day at 0705 GMT
Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move
Japan yen 83.93 84.37 +0.52
Sing dlr 1.2206 1.2183 -0.19
Taiwan dlr 29.050 29.120 +0.24
Korean won 1074.20 1074.70 +0.05
Baht 30.62 30.62 +0.00
Peso 41.14 41.07 -0.16
Rupiah 9685.00 9645.00 -0.41
Rupee 55.17 54.85 -0.59
Ringgit 3.0610 3.0550 -0.20
Yuan 6.2295 6.2302 +0.01
Change so far in 2012
Currency Latest bid End prev year Pct Move
Japan yen 83.93 76.92 -8.35
Sing dlr 1.2206 1.2969 +6.25
Taiwan dlr 29.050 30.290 +4.27
Korean won 1074.20 1151.80 +7.22
Baht 30.62 31.55 +3.04
Peso 41.14 43.84 +6.58
Rupiah 9685.00 9060.00 -6.45
Rupee 55.17 53.08 -3.79
Ringgit 3.0610 3.1685 +3.51
Yuan 6.2295 6.2940 +1.04
(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in MANILA and IFR
Markets' Catherine Tan; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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Notre Dame's Te'o wins Maxwell Award

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o has won the Maxwell Award, given to the nation's most outstanding player.

Te'o was presented with the award Thursday at the Home Depot College Football Awards show at Disney World. He beat out finalists and quarterbacks Johnny Manziel from Texas A&M and Collin Klein from Kansas State.

He is the first defensive player to win the award since 1980, ending a string of nine straight quarterbacks.

It's the sixth national award that Te'o has won since the end of the regular season. The Fighting Irish senior has also has won the Bednarik Award, Butkus Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Lombardi Award and Walter Camp national player of the year award.

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Notre Dame's Te'o eyes Heisman after Maxwell win

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Manti Te'o is one of the most important leaders for undefeated Notre Dame, having played in a ton of big games for the Fighting Irish.

Even so, he had a tough time processing this victory.

The senior linebacker was "at a loss for words" after capturing the Maxwell Award as the nation's most outstanding player, one of three honors he received at the 22nd Home Depot College Football Awards show Thursday night at Disney World.

"The last time I ever dreamt of winning that award was on a video game," he said. "So to win it is a mind-blowing experience."

Te'o now has won six major awards since the end of Notre Dame's regular season, also taking home the Bednarik Award for top defensive player and Walter Camp Foundation player of the year award on Thursday. He became the first defensive player to win the Maxwell Award since 1980, ending a string of nine straight quarterbacks.

Next up is the Heisman Trophy ceremony on Saturday night, with Te'o and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel considered the favorites. Then Te'o will try to help the Fighting Irish dethrone defending champion Alabama in the BCS national championship game.

Wearing a black beaded lei representing his native Hawaii, Te'o said coming back to play football following the deaths of his grandmother and girlfriend just four days apart this season makes everything he's achieved since then more worthwhile.

"I never thought that me coming back for my senior year would be the best situation for me with the tragedy," Te'o said. "It's a testament that the Lord answered my prayers and that I had 80-plus brothers there with me, sacrificing for me."

Te'o finished the regular season with 103 tackles and seven interceptions.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who was presented with the Coach of the Year award after leading the Irish to their first 12-0 regular season since 1988, said Te'o is an example of the family culture he's tried to build in his three seasons in South Bend.

"Everybody knows you don't do it with one guy," Kelly said. "Collectively, everybody just bought in. ... We still got one (game) left. We want to finish it off the right way."

While Te'o and Notre Dame certainly had a big night, so did Texas A&M. Manziel won the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and junior offensive lineman Luke Joeckel took home the Outland Trophy for the nation's best interior lineman.

Other players honored Thursday were Southern California's Marqise Lee (Biletnikoff Award for top receiver), Tulane's Cairo Santos (Lou Groza Award for top kicker), Louisiana Tech's Ryan Allen (Ray Guy Award for top punter), Mississippi State's Johnthan Banks (Jim Thorpe Award for top defensive back), and Wisconsin's Montee Ball (Doak Walker Award for top running back).

Manziel acknowledged he will be nervous Saturday knowing he has a chance to win college football's most hallowed individual honor. Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein is the third finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

Three sophomores have won the Heisman, including Tim Tebow in 2007, Sam Bradford in 2008 and Mark Ingram in 2009. The best a first-year player has ever done is second.

"I had high expectations, but I never would have expected this for myself," said Manziel, a redshirt freshman. "I'll be with two of the best players in the country, all eyes are on you. It's the biggest award in college football. I think you're gonna have a few butterflies."

Joeckel said even he has been amazed at watching "Johnny Football" and his exploits this season.

"It's hard to protect for someone when nobody knows where he is," Joeckel said. "He's a fun guy to block for."

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said that type of level-headed poise is what has defined his quarterback all season.

"The way he plays, no moment has been too big for him," Sumlin said.

In one of the non-competition awards presented Thursday, Texas long snapper Nate Boyer was honored with the Disney Spirit Award, given annually to the most inspirational figure or team.

Boyer, a 32-year-old sophomore, earned a Bronze Star for his service with the U.S. Army Special Forces Unit and has also provided assistance to autistic children and Darfur refugees.

Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian was honored with the Contribution to College Football Award for his works off the field.

Kelly said the former coach is every bit as revered as he was in his prime leading the Irish.

"He walks with a limp, but let me tell you, he could still coach today. And he can tell me things about my football team." Kelly said.

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Vikings lead NFL with 5 players from Notre Dame

Why, there's even an alumni chapter in the Minnesota Vikings locker room.

"It's really fun to be able to talk trash to everybody," said center John Sullivan, who has a leprechaun tattoo on his left shoulder.

Sullivan is one of five ex-Notre Dame players on the Vikings, the most of any NFL team. There are currently 26 former Fighting Irish on active rosters around the league, and the next-closest team is Indianapolis with three, according to STATS LLC.

So not only do Notre Dame alumni make up nearly 10 percent of Minnesota's roster but the Vikings have almost 20 percent of the NFL's, well, Irish heritage. After drafting Sullivan in the sixth round in 2008, they took tight end Kyle Rudolph in the second round in 2011. This year, they selected safety Harrison Smith in the first round and safety Robert Blanton in the fifth round. They also signed tight end John Carlson, a second-round pick by Seattle in 2008, as a free agent.

With the Fighting Irish undefeated and set to play Alabama for the BCS championship on Jan. 7, there's no doubt which school colors have been the brightest around the Vikings this season. Bragging rights were clear after Notre Dame beat Stanford (running back Toby Gerhart), Oklahoma (running back Adrian Peterson and right tackle Phil Loadholt) and of course rival USC (left tackle Matt Kalil, defensive end Everson Griffen and tight end Rhett Ellison).

"We're always coming in here after their games saying, 'We told you so.' So far it's been a good year," Smith said.

They've even roughed out a plan to fly to Miami for the big game, as long as a potential practice — should the Vikings make the playoffs — doesn't interfere.

Regular season games are typically tough to watch, with Saturday afternoon travel on weeks with road games or meetings in the hotel at night. But Blanton and Smith tried to watch together when the Vikings were on the road and Notre Dame had a prime-time kickoff. Sullivan chartered a flight with Rudolph and Loadholt to watch the game at Oklahoma on Oct. 27, a weekend the Vikings had off.

"Afterward, Phil came up to us and said, 'You guys just physically dominated the game,'" Rudolph recalled. "It's been a long time since Notre Dame's gone on the road to a top-10 team and just dominated the game."

That's true. None of these five teammates lost fewer than three times in any season they were at Notre Dame. Some years, they didn't even play in a bowl game.

Jealousy of the current team isn't part of their mindset, though.

"Pretty proud of those guys," Blanton said.

Just as proud of the traditionally strict academic standards, as they all noted, as the success on the field.

"They follow the rules there. It's one of those places where you don't get away with stuff. They expect you to go to class. They make sure everyone graduates," said Carlson, who met his wife, Danielle, at Notre Dame.

The Vikings didn't exactly make a conscious effort to create such a high concentration of former Fighting Irish.

"I think it was more coincidence because we're always going to stack our draft board according to a player's ability, and our rating system is building on upside and potential," general manager Rick Spielman said. "I don't know that we've honed in, just because they go to a Notre Dame or a USC or an Ohio State or something like that."

The Vikings, though, have shaped their roster philosophy around a stated desire for tough, smart, passionate players, attributes that Notre Dame products often possess, even during some of the down years they've had in the last decade.

"Clearly there's something about that school that our front office and the people making our personnel decisions like, but at the same time it really comes down to a case by case basis," Sullivan said. "You can find great people from a whole lot of schools. I think we've got a lot of great people here. That can come from the whole spectrum of college football."

Only the Notre Dame guys will be able to cheer for their team in the national championship game next month, however. The Vikings don't have any Alabama players on the roster now.

"We have to make sure that while we're on top," Rudolph said, "we let everyone else know."

___

AP Sports Writer Jon Krawczynski contributed to this report.

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Te'o and Manziel hit Manhattan with Heisman hopes

NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame  linebacker Manti Te'o was looking forward to a break after a five-city-in-five-days tour, during which he has become the most decorated player in college football.

"I'm just trying to get a workout in and get some sleep," he said Friday about his plans for the night.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel seemed to have more energy when he arrived at a midtown Manhattan hotel with his fellow Heisman Trophy finalist. In fairness, Johnny Football's week hasn't been nearly as hectic, though this trip to New York city is different from the first time he visited with his family when he was young.

"It's just taking it up a whole 'nother level, but happy to be here," he said.

Manziel and Te'o spent about 30 minutes getting grilled by dozens of reporters in a cramped conference room, posed for some pictures with the big bronze statue that they are hoping to win and were quickly whisked away for more interviews and photo opportunities.

Manziel, Te'o or Collin Klein, the other finalists who couldn't make it to town Friday, each has a chance to be a Heisman first Saturday night.

Manziel is trying to be the first freshman to win the award. Te'o would be the first winner to play only defense. Klein would be Kansas State's first Heisman winner.

Manziel and Te'o were on the same flight from Orlando, Fla., where several college football awards were handed out last night. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound quarterback was just happy the 255-pound linebacker didn't try to record another sack when they met.

"He's a big guy," Manziel said, flashing a big smile from under his white Texas A&M baseball cap. "I thought he might stuff me in locker and beat me up a little bit."

The two hadn't had much time for sightseeing yet, but they did walk around Times Square some, saying hello to a few fans. They probably weren't too difficult to spot in their team issued warm-up gear.

"We've just been talking about goofy stuff. Playing video games. Playing Galaga. Just some things from back in the day. Messing around with each other," Manziel said. "Kind of seeing who is going to take more pictures. He's definitely taking that award right now."

Te'o is already going to need a huge trophy case to house his haul from this week. He has won six major awards, including the Maxwell as national player of the year. He'll try to become Notre Dame's eighth Heisman winner and first since Tim Brown in 1987.

"I can only imagine how I would feel if I win the Heisman," he said.

Charles Woodson of Michigan in 1997 is the closest thing to a true defensive player winning the Heisman. Woodson was a dominant cornerback, but he also returned punts and played a little receiver. That helped burnish his Heisman credentials.

Te'o is all linebacker. He leads the top-ranked Fighting Irish with 103 tackles and seven interceptions.

Klein was the front-runner for the Heisman for a good chunk of the season, but he played his worst game late in the season — in a loss at Baylor — and the momentum Manziel gained by leading Texas A&M to victory at Alabama has been tough to stop.

Manziel's numbers are hard to deny. He set a Southeastern Conference record with 4,600 total yards, throwing for more than 3,000 and rushing for more than 1,000.

Klein, by comparison, averages about 100 fewer total yards per game (383-281) than Manziel.

A freshman has never won the Heisman. Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson came closest in 2004, finishing second by Southern California's Matt Leinart.

Manziel is a redshirt freshman, meaning he attended Texas A&M and practiced with the team but did not play last year. Still, he'd be the most inexperienced college player to win the sport's most prestigious award.

"It's surreal for me to sit here and think about that this early in my career," he said. "With what me and my teammates have gone through, with how they've played and how they've helped me to get to this point, it's just a testament to how good they are and how good they've been this year.

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