What’s So Special About the Heisman Trophy, Anyway?

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The New York Sun

What’s so special about the Heisman Trophy? The greatest of modern football writers, Dan Jenkins, wrote that John W. Heisman’s biggest contribution to college football was “the invention of the center snap.” No small thing, to be sure, but nothing in a class with the achievements of Walter Camp, who practically invented football, without which there would have been no need for the center snap.


So why the Heisman? The only reason I can see is that it got there first. The Heisman, which polls over 900 media people and former winners, debuted in 1935, while the Walter Camp Player of the Year, which asks all Division 1-A coaches and sports information directors to decide who is the “college football player of the year,” was first awarded two years later. That’s about the only edge for the Heisman, as far as I can see.


The Heisman, which will be handed out Saturday in Manhattan, is the most over-hyped award in sports, at least if you consider hype a maximum of talk and a minimum of analysis. The Downtown Athletic Club, from which the Heisman originates, stubbornly and steadfastly refuses to define who the award should go to beyond the vague “outstanding football player in the country.” What exactly does “outstanding” mean?


This year, it’s a foregone conclusion that the trophy is going to Southern California’s Reggie Bush, who by any standards is one heck of a football player (1658 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns as well as 34 receptions for 415 yards). But Bush plays in the same backfield as quarterback Matt Leinart, last year’s winner. Is there any doubt that Bush, who’s averaging an amazing nine yards a carry, benefited hugely from playing alongside one of the nations’ best passers? Who could focus on stopping Bush with Leinart capable of throwing a touchdown anywhere on the field?


For that matter, are either Bush or Leinart more “outstanding” than any of USC’s jackhammer-like offensive linemen? Most notably Taitusi Lutui, whom some regard as the best offensive lineman in the nation. It’s just a thought, but how many yards might Texas quarterback Vince Young have accumulated had he another Heisman candidate or winner in the backfield? Well, as it stands, nearly all of Young’s passing statistics are as good as Leinart’s (2769 yards and an average of 9.7 yards a throw to Leinart’s 8.8). Young has run for almost as many yards this year as Bush did last year (Bush had 908 yards and six TDs last season; this year,Young has rushed for 850 yards and nine scores.) And Young’s team has won as many games against as tough a schedule as Bush’s and scored a few more points along the way.


So why isn’t Young the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy? For that matter, why isn’t Lutui? Why is he any less outstanding than Bush, Leinart, Young, or any other ball handler? How much do Bush, Leinart, Young, or any other runner or passer who’s up for the Heisman owe to their blockers?


Such questions are, of course, impossible to quantify, but why is the question seldom even addressed? In the case of this year’s USC candidates, it ought to be mentioned that the Trojans’ fullback, LenDale White, averages 6.7 yards per carry, an amazing number for a fullback and even more amazing when you consider that 15 of his 21 touchdown runs have been two yards or less. Much has been made of the fact that Bush has averaged nearly nine yards per rush. Fullbacks on very good teams usually get four to five yards a pop; when your fullback is averaging nearly seven, your tailback ought to get at least eight.


We all know why the award almost invariably goes to a runner or passer: They’re the ones with the stats. This is also true of the Walter Camp Award, though the Camp Foundation usually makes more of an effort to diversify its finalists. This year, Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk is in the company of Leinart, Bush, Young, and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. What’s irritating about the Heisman is the way everyone pretends all players at all positions are in equal competition. That is essentially what makes the Heisman different from all the other awards given to players at other positions.


There’s the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best wide receiver, the John Mackey Award for the best tight end, the Jim Thorpe Award for the best defensive back, and even the Ray Guy Award for the nation’s top punter. There’s the Bronko Nagurski Award for the nation’s outstanding defensive player (which went to Louisville’s Elvis Dumervil on Monday), which is pretty much in competition with the Maxwell Football Club’s Chuck Bednarik Award, which also, in theory, goes to the best defensive player.


These are not to be confused with the Outland Trophy for the nation’s best interior offensive or defensive lineman, though that is often confused with the Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award for the college lineman who “best exemplifies the discipline of Vince Lombardi.”


If, as football coaches have always told us, a back is only as good as his blockers, then why aren’t linemen accorded something of the same status as ball handlers? And if, as we’ve always been told, “offense sells tickets but defense wins games,” then why are defensive players relegated to the level of second-class citizens when the trophies are handed out? Why not acknowledge what we all know to be true, namely that the Heisman is going to go to a runner or passer? And when it is presented, why don’t they have the awards for players at the other positions handed out at the same time so they can all share the glory?


And while we’re reforming these awards, why not call for some common sense standards to be applied to the Heisman? Shouldn’t some effort be made to determine whether the candidates’ stats were compiled against worthy opposition? In other words, did a quarterback really need to throw five TD passes in a 51-3 win?


And why do all these awards organizations pretend that bowl games don’t exist? Every Heisman candidate gets to play in a bowl game, often against the best team he’s faced all season. Voting should be put off until after the New Year to take the final games into consideration. If Young throws for 400 yards and beats USC for the BCS title, and Bush is held to 70 yards in the losing effort, are we supposed to pretend that the game wouldn’t have affected our judgment about who was the better player?



Mr. Barra is the author of “The Last Coach: A Life of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.”


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