Auburn's Irons Captures SEC Player of the Week Honors

While all the media attention continues to be on Notre Dame's Brady Quinn and Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson, Auburn running back Kenny Irons is taking care of business on the field. Saturday night in the Tigers 40-14 romp over Washington State, Irons rushed for 183 yards and a touchdown in the win. On Monday, Irons was named the SEC's Offensive Player of the Week. It's the third time Irons has received the honor. He led all SEC rushers this week, going over the 100 yard mark for the ninth time in his career.

There was no comparison in week one between Irons and Peterson. While Peterson did manage to top the 100 yard mark, he was unimpressive in his win against UAB. It's too early to begin talking about the Heisman Trophy, but it's not too early to talk about the best player in college football. Irons is much more than a feature back, he's a team leader.

That's something that Peterson has lacked since his sensational freshman campaign. The luster has fallen off Bob Stoops and his Sooners. Saturday he nearly had a repeat performance of last year's opener against TCU; having to fight and claw to hang on against lowly Alabama-Birmingham. Peterson is a great athlete. But is he a great leader? So far he hasn't proved that for an entire season.

Quinn will continue to benefit from the Notre Dame media machine. And while his numbers were impressive against Georgia Tech, the scoring output was not. Quinn will have plenty of time to prove himself in the next few weeks. The same goes for Kenny Irons. But after week one, Kenny Irons has established himself as the top running back in the country. It's a title that's his to lose.