As I sat and watched Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford collect his Heisman last night (beating out fellow invitees Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy), I couldn’t help but get that feeling in my gut that I get every year around this time. It’s that little feeling of aggravation when you know that the best man isn’t getting the job or the top performer is going unrewarded once again. Every year I get this feeling and that led me to my recent ultimate conclusion: this is the most overrated award in all of College Football. And it’s not even close. (Yes even more overrated than the National Championship- which this year could go to a team- Oklahoma- that’s only loss is to a team that could also finish with only one loss, yet one spot behind them in the rankings at #2).
The Heisman Memorial Trophy was named for former college football coach John Heisman, and it is the most prestigious award in College Football. It is purportedly awarded to the “best player” in college football. However, I have several bones to pick with this prestigious award and how it has been doled out over the years. My first gripe is that everybody knows that the Heisman does NOT go to the best player in College Football most years. It in fact goes to the best running back or quarterback of a highly competitive team. In the 73 years of that the Heisman trophy has been awarded it has only been awarded to 5, yes you heard me right, 5 non quarterbacks or running backs. The list reads Yale End Larry Kelley in 1936, Notre Dame End Leon Hart in 1949, Notre Dame Wide Receiver Tim Brown in 1987, Michigan Wide Receiver Desmond Howard in 1991, and Michigan Cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997. And looking at that list, you have to recognize that Tim Brown, Desmond Howard, and Charles Woodson all took part in punt returning duties. (Some more than others) So, what does this tell us…well it tells me that in order to win the Heisman you have to play a position where you have the ball in your hands, a lot! That cuts off some of the nation’s best defenders, offensive lineman and most wide receivers. If you look at the defensive line for example you can come up with some deserving players who didn’t even get a quick look for the Heisman. Think Terrell Suggs who was possibly the nation’s most dominant player in 2002, the year he posted an NCAA record 24 sacks (note that this is higher than the NFL sack record and posted in less that the NFL 16 games). He didn’t even sniff the Heisman Trophy. He wasn’t invited to the ceremony in New York and didn’t finish in the top 10 in voting. Just to give you a little more background on that statement, in 2002 Carson Palmer won the Heisman but he was followed in the top 10 by “Bid Bad” Brad Banks, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee, Ken Dorsey, Byron Leftwich, Jason Gessar (yes, I said
Jason Gessar…in case your wondering wikipedia has him last as a high school o-coordinator, good for you Jason, good for you), Chris Brown, Kliff Kingsbury, and Quentin Griffin. I pose the question, did we really believe that Terrell Suggs was a less valuable player, or not as good of an overall player as Jason Gessar?! (I kid with this whole Jason Gessar thing, I realize the guy actually put up some pretty good numbers in college). The point here is that I can go through every season and pick out guys that I don’t think belong on the list of Heisman hopefuls and replace them with Groza award winners, Bednarik award winners, Biletnikoff award winners, Thorpe award winners, and Lombardi award winners (note that I left the Outland off b/c I just think its tough for any o-lineman to be that dominant a player to garner Heisman consideration unless they have out of this world run and pass block skills, don’t allow any sacks in their career and have a ton of pancakes, but that’s another blog for another day).
Point number two of my rant is that the Heisman usually goes to a player from a top ten team. My problem with it going to a player on a top team is that in actuality sometimes the best players are on teams that are not ranked and go maybe about 7-4, but would be 0-11 without that player. (See Matt Forte running for over 2000 yards on a 4-8 Tulane Greenwave Football Team that should have been 0-12…he is a beast in the league and possibly the rookie of the year). Players like this rarely get a fair look from Heisman voters because they aren’t on a top team that will regularly be covered on Sports Center or play on national television. Just take a quick look at the Heisman winners since 2000. In 2000 Chris Weinke was the QB on an FSU team that was #1 the whole season and played in national championship game, in 2001 Eric Crouch was the QB for a Nebraska team that was top 5 all season and ultimately played in the national championship game, in 2002 Carson Palmer played QB for a USC team that ultimately finished 3rd in the polls, 2003 again gave us a national championship bound Jason White, 2004 gave us Matt Leinhart, followed by Reggie Bush in 2005 both of which played on top 5 national championship game bound teams, 2006 gave us Troy Smith of the #1 national championship Troy Smith, 2007 we have a slight break in tradition as Tebow the first sophomore to win the award was on a 9-4 Florida team that only finished 13th (gasp, yes I said 13…but don’t get me started on this b/c I feel like Tebow is a media darling who can do no wrong so its fitting that they bent the rules for him), and now lastly in 2008 we have Heisman winner Sam Bradford of the #2 one loss OU team that will be in the national championship game. But I don’t want to bore you too much with the numbers, I feel like you get my point here. You have to be on a top ranked to win it. (Maybe not to get a sniff, because players like Byron Leftwich and Randy Moss did get a look) But my major problem with this is the fact that sports writers across the nation are voting on this, they watch and discuss sports for a living and should be capable of scouring through the college ranks to find the best players as opposed to just picking the players that we all see every Saturday on national television. (Again see Matt Forte and Kevin Smith).
Okay here is the last point I’m going to make on this issue (not because I can’t make more, but because I don’t want to bore you and furthermore, I’ve got other stuff to do)….drum roll please, Heisman winners almost never go on to do anything in the pros. I’m not going to bore you by going down the line and naming all the players who bombed at the NFL level b/c that would take too long and frankly it would be easier for me to simply name the players who did have good NFL careers. (I will provide you with the link though…http://www.heisman.com/winners/hsmn-winners.html#winners-year). I am also not trying to argue by any means that this should or could carry any weight in the Heisman voters’ minds, but the fact still remains that one would think the best player in College Football would go on to have some success in the pros. A quick glance at the list of Heisman winners since 2000 again and Carson Palmer is the only player that is having great success at the pro level and we all know that Tebow is not a pro quarterback….good luck Sam Bradford. (Note that as a Saints fan I am still holding out hope that Reggie Bush can shake this Heisman jinx of sorts).
In essence the Heisman goes to the player with the most exposure. Everybody knows that quarterbacks and running backs get the most exposure because they touch the ball the most, score the most touchdowns and get the most camera time. However, if we are going to continue to call this the award for the best player in all of college football, sports writers are going to have to open their eyes and widen their scope as to what makes a player great. Its not just yards and touchdowns and its not all about the perennial power house schools (see Graham Harrell getting the snub not b/c his teams ranking wasn’t high or his numbers weren’t on par with his peers, but b/c he is team is not a perennial power with a media following). Lets stop making this a popularity contest and have some real criteria and hold the sports writers accountable for actually doing real research and applying the criteria.
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