The Heisman Trophy

[klunderbunker]

In 11 days, college football will select the winner of the Heisman Trophy, which is sort of a combination of the MVP and Best Player award. This thread is two parts. First of all, who do you like for the heisman? My take is that I think it should go to Tim Tebow. WIthout him, where would Florida be? No one from the big 12 is a one man wrecking crew like this guy is. He is the epitome of a leader, and once he's gone, Florida will slip a lot.

Part two-Is the Heisman meaningful anymore? From the stories and reports that I've heard, the Heisman winner was the man in college football and there was a big fanfare about the winner. In the last ten years, people like Eric Crouch, Jason White, Troy Smith, and Ron Dayne have won it. These guys are now forgettable at best. With Tebow winning last year, and the USC guys winning a few years back, has the Heisman regained the notority it once had?

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Assuming Oklahoma wins the Big 12 championship game and goes to the National Championship Im pretty sure its gonna be Sam Bradford. If Oklahoma loses and Texas ends up going then it will be McCoy. Its the same old story every year and that is it goes to the QB on one of the teams playing for the National championship(assuming he put up decent stats). With the exception of Reggie Bush I believe every winner this decade has fit that description. If you're not a QB it takes a phenomonal performance to win. Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne won because they broke the rushing records, Reggie Bush won because his stats were out of this world and the QB on his team won the year before so I think voters were reluctant to give it to him again.

To answer your question about it regaining its notorioty I think aslong as the voters continue to give it to the top QB on the best team there are going to be many NFL busts like Jason White, Eric Crouch and Troy Smith. The reason being is that many of these college QBs that put up these great stats do it because of the system they are in. For example Crouch ran an option at Nebraska, he put up great numbers there but no NFL team runs options so he was worthless in the pros. If you notice most of the non QB winners the past 20 years have turned out to be decent or great pros. Here's that list

Tim Brown
Barry Sanders
Desmond Howard
Rashaan Salaam
Eddie George
Charles Woodson
Ricky Williams
Ron Dayne
Reggie Bush

Really the only true bust on that list is Salaam. Dayne wasnt great but he wasnt the bust that some of the QBs have been like Toretta, White, Wuerfell, Crouch just to name a few. Also Im not calling Ricky Williams a bust because even though he didnt live up to his potential it wasnt because of his skill on the field but because of what he did off the field. His on the field performance was pretty solid. You can also make a case for Desmond Howard being a bust but he was a Superbowl MVP and one of the most dangerous return men in the late 90s so he did do somethings right.

 

[Starchild]

I think the Heisman race is pretty much sewn up, but as we have seen (particularly this year and last year) anything can happen. It basically boils down to the Big 12 and SEC championship games. If Oklahoma wins, Bradford wins the Heisman. However, I fully expect Mizzou to keep it competitive for awhile at least after just coming off that close loss to rival Kansas, and having nothing to lose but everything to gain..if they win, they go to a BCS game. I am actually hoping they win because from what I've seen, Bradford isn't the best in the country.
Now, if his stats aren't that great and OU loses then that opens the door for Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow. Even though he's not playing in a conference title game, McCoy is still a solid #2 though. Tebow would have to have games like he has in the last 7 since the Ole Miss game (check out his post-game press conference..he and the Florida team have lived up to everything he said following the loss). Tebow is far behind those two in stats right now, so the only way he wins is to absolutely astound everyone. I'd like to see him win to see I was around when someone won 2 (and maybe 3 if he returns next season). I also don't think this is outside the realm of possibility..having watched Bama and Florida on tv numerous times and seeing both of them in person this year, I think Florida will walk all over Bama and beat them by AT LEAST 2-3 touchdowns.

As for the prestige of the Heisman, I think it's pretty good right now. I do think that they hadn't got it right since Carson Palmer before last year but the guys they gave it to were mostly good. Jason White was the first in the group. He proved that he didn't deserve it in the Sugar Bowl against LSU..now he actually only one by 100 votes are so ahead of the rightful winner, Larry Fitzgerald who proved in just his sophomore year that he was one of the best receivers in college football history. In 2004, it went to Leinart but I thought should have gone to Reggie Bush. In 2005, Bush won it after an unbelievable season but I still think Vince Young should have gotten it that year. The biggest problem of all was 2006 when Troy Smith won it. He had a good season, but Darren McFadden was clearly the best player in the country. It can be argued that Arkansas didn't win as much as Ohio State, but Tebow won it the next year with Florida having 3 losses which is equal to that of the 2006 Arkansas team. Again they got it spot on last year..Tebow showed that he is an absolute freak of nature and basically just a running back that can throw very well. A couple of these guys haven't been given enogh chance in the NFL yet or in Tebow's case didn't get there yet but I definitely think my picks will pan out better than the winners themselves