In 2001, the talk of college football was a 10-story billboard in Times Square.

Plastered to a skyscraper, looking over the downtown area, Heisman-hopeful quarterback Joey Harrington suddenly became a household name.

Paid for by Harrington’s school, Oregon, the billboard cost the university $250,000. But the media attention was priceless in promoting their star quarterback.

While a 10-story billboard is an extravagant promotion, Heisman campaigns are as common to college football as Keith Jackson’s “Whoa, Nellllllly!”

So why is there no Heisman promotion for NIU’s star football player Garrett Wolfe?

Director of Media Relations Donna Turner said head coach Joe Novak didn’t want a gaudy Heisman campaign for Wolfe and Wolfe didn’t want one himself.

Leading the NCAA in rushing, Wolfe has 185 more yards on 21 fewer carries than Oklahoma running back and 2004 Heisman second place finisher Adrian Peterson, who is second in the nation. Wolfe has 3.13 more yards-per-carry, 46.25 more yards-per-game and one more touchdown than Peterson.

But Peterson is said to be the best back in the nation, while Wolfe is in relative obscurity.

The fact is that a Heisman promotion gets the player’s name and the team out to the public, and that’s what Wolfe needs.

Yes, having a game against the No. 1 team in the nation helps for exposure, but being from the MAC, players are still at a disadvantage.

Wolfe isn’t getting the same exposure that Peterson is. And despite the lack of SportsCenter highlights, Wolfe is outstanding enough to get ESPN Senior Writer Pat Forde to list him in his top-five Heisman candidates last week.

Turner said NIU media relations has sent out e-mails to various forms of press and are working on sending out postcards about NIU’s national TV appearances, but that still doesn’t create enough buzz for Wolfe or NIU.

In 2003, NIU had another Heisman candidate in running back Michael Turner. For Turner’s promotion, they used his nickname “Burner” and put it on notebooks, T-shirts and even hot sauce.

Turner didn’t win the Heisman or even get a trip to New York. But the campaign did what it was supposed to do: create a buzz that wasn’t typically attributed to a mid-major school.

So why does one running back get a campaign when the other doesn’t?

Maybe after Turner finished 18th in Heisman voting, media relations figured that spending the money for a campaign would be a lost cause.

Novak has said that he doesn’t believe that a player from the MAC can win the Heisman and, sadly, it’s true. It would take a miracle.

But with a player like Wolfe there should be no holding back. A trip to New York would be well worth the cost of any campaign.

Andrew Hansen is the NIU volleyball beat reporter for the Northern Star.