Each season the Heisman Trophy Trust awards college football's "Most Outstanding Player" the Heisman Memorial Trophy.
In pro sports, talk of MVP Awards usually begin around the mid-way point of the season, usually on barely-listenable AM talk radio shows in towns like Deland, FL.
With the Heisman Trophy, this is far from the case. Heisman chatter begins months before the season begins and get nationwide attention from major media outlets of all medium.
Universities have been known to spend 6 figures promoting their athletes. The most (in)famous case was the University of Oregon's 2001 purchase of a monster billboard in NYC to plaster a super-sized photo of QB Joey Harrington.
A Heisman trophy can result in huge financial benefits for the school of the winner, the stakes are high.
****Side Note: Harrington did not win the Heisman, but did get drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft to be the face of the Detroit Lions. How has that worked out?***
In 2008, the three finalists for the Heisman were Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow.
They are the quarterbacks for the teams ranked 1, 2, and 3 by the AP and BCS.
There are 66 BCS Conference teams (including Notre Dame). Each team has 22 starters.
That's 1450 (approx) college football first team players in BCS conferences
Consider all else equal, the odds that the Quarterbacks on the top 3 teams to be the 3 "Most Outstanding Players" in college football is (approx) 311 million to 1!!!
2008 is not an aberration, there is a consistent pattern that has emerged over this decade. Any honest look at this pattern, something you will never hear from anyone at the deeply financially invested empire that is ESPN/ABC (owned by Disney Corp.), shows the true criteria for the Heisman Trophy goes something like "Feel-Good Quarterback from top 5 team."
Let's examine the winners since 2000.
Listings below include: year, player name, position, school, and AP national ranking at time of award.
Keep in mind, the award, according to its mission statement, is supposed to go to "The Most Outstanding Player" in college football. Position and team success are never mentioned!
2008 Sam Bradford QB Oklahoma 2
2007 Tim Tebow QB Florida 9
2006 Troy Smith QB Ohio St 1
2005 Reggie Bush RB USC 1
2004 Matt Leinart QB USC 1
2003 Jason White QB Oklahoma 3
2002 Carson Palmer QB USC 5
2001 Eric Crouch QB Nebraska 4
2000 Chris Weinke QB Florida St 3
a few quick stats about college football's 'Most Outstanding Player' over the past 9 years
8 of 9 were quarterbacks
9 of 9 came from teams ranked in the top 10, 8 of 9 from teams in the top 5
the 1 non-quarterback was a running back on the number 1 team and from the school that was two-time defending national champions
I will grant the Heisman says nothing about how a player will fare in the NFL, but certainly it can be expected the 'Most Outstanding Player' in CFB would be at least a contributor at the next level.
Palmer (at least until his knee injury in January '06) and Bush have been solid if not excellent professionals.
Eric Crouch and Jason White were Canadian Football League or Arena Football League (Bon Voyage AFL!) material at best.
Chris Weinke was ushered out of the NFL after a few uninspiring years in Carolina and San Francisco (2 wins out of 20 career starts).
Troy Smith will likely never ascend above back up, a spot that Matt Leinart has appeared to settle into as well (though he may get another shot).
Tim Tebow will likely return to Gainesville in '09 or be a second day draft choice this spring if he does skip his senior year.
Scouts do like the NFL potential of Sam Bradford, we will see.
Going back to 1992 allows us to include NFL bust quarterbacks Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel and Gino Torretta- all of whom played for teams ranked in the top 3 at the time of their Trophy.
In the few days since Bradford's win, sports writers have cried foul over either Tebow or McCoy's misfortune with the Heisman voters.
No one calls for Alabama Offensive Tackle Andre Smith or USC LB Rey Maualuga.
Clearly, it is impossible to be CFB's 'Most Outstanding Player' if you play offensive line or any position on defense.
I'm obviously the first guy to say that championships are won with great defenses and an offensive line that can control the line of scrimmage.
McCoy!!! No, Bradford!!! It's got to be Tebow- he waves his arms to the crowd and gets dirt on his face!!!
What a total joke. Rename the award what it is.
"Feel Good Quarterback from Top 5 Team"
Fight On,
Nate
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Not to mention that when Bush got his award... Matt Leinart already had one.
ReplyDeleteSo the exception was easier to allow.
Nice stuff Schaps, this is solid blogging.
Here is the break-down of the 73 winners, by position (thanks ESPN.com TMQ). 43 RBs 25 QBs, 4 WR 1 CB. One defensive player in 73 years, outstanding! Ironically, Heisman was an OL (center/tackle) and by today's standards, ineligible from winning the award. Cheers to the best RB/QB and PR oombo in college (though I hope SC wins a few more).
ReplyDeleteDefensive players get shafted both in pay and in respect from the media. None of that shit matters though when they blindside the QB heisman winner and break all his ribs! Can we get a "RedZone Channel" (I've been hangin at Pleus' lately) for the Defense? We could call it the third down channel.
ReplyDeleteBush is not a solid pro, he's mediocre, so that actually further supports your argument.
ReplyDeleteClearly this problem is getting worse, as ESPN now insulates itself with comments like "no one can argue with these selections." Um, no, I guess not at your network they can't.
thanks for all the comments guys and gal- way to go Melissa, dropping some serious CFB knowledge on the boys, obviously well researched!
ReplyDeleteTiernan, the RedZone channel is a ploy for fantasy football nerds, who define sunday success based on where or not their running backs get the touchdowns. Right on that defensive players don't get the love.
Big Bro, not ready to call Bush mediocre, he changes defenses game plans with his speed, and usually wins at least a game each year with returns. For sure ESPN analysts know who pay their salaries and aren't foolish enough to rip the man.
Good point about Bush following Leinart Sand n Water, in '05 Leinart would've won if he hadn't in '04, same with Tebow this year.
"least credible award" says alot considering the turkey leg thing that John Madden gives out on thanksgiving. I bet most of those drumsticks go to qb's and running backs also. probably more difficult to find those stats.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point leroy, but madden actually does a pretty good job of giving his awards to linemen and defensive players.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone find this information?