Tonight there are three worthy candidates hoping to flash
the pose in New York and win the Heisman trophy. But there’s no drama leading up to the
announcement because yet again everyone seems to know who it’s going to be.
Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper and Wisconsin running
back Melvin Gordon both had phenomenal seasons for their respective schools yet
the consensus belief is that Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota is going to run
away with the award.
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| Andy Manis/Associated Press Gordon's best game of the season was his 408-yard effort on November 15 against Nebraska in which he did not play in the fourth quarter. |
It would be nice to have some suspense building up to the
decision but there’s a quarterback bias that seems to win out every year, which
ruins the fun deciding who’s going to be college football’s most outstanding
player. Since 1956, Barry Sanders, Kevin
Smith and Marcus Allen are the only three running backs to run for more yards
in a single season than Gordon’s 2,336 this season.
I know it’s hard to argue with the season Mariota had
throwing 38 touchdowns and two interceptions but it would be nice if voters
valued each position equally and didn’t favor the quarterback.
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| Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated Darren McFadden had two outstanding seasons at Arkansas but fell just short of the Heisman in both 2006 and 2007. |
Darren McFadden was a two-time Heisman runner up at Arkansas
falling just short in 2006 and 2007 to Troy Smith and Tim Tebow
respectively. Mcfadden set the Arkansas
single season rushing record in 2006 with 1,647 yards on the ground only to
break that record in 2007 with 1,830 rushing yards. The Razorbacks became trendsetters in
McFadden’s time there as they started running the wildcat offense with McFadden
as the centerpiece and the wildcat soon made its way into the NFL. Yet,
McFadden never made his way up to the
podium to give a Heisman speech.
Adrian Peterson totaled 1,925 rushing yards his freshman
year at Oklahoma but fell short to Matt Leinart in the 2004 Heisman race. In 2003, Larry Fitzgerald had 1,672 receiving
yards for Pittsburgh and a jaw-dropping 22 touchdowns but it was Oklahoma
quarterback Jason White that won the Heisman trophy. Larry Johnson eclipsed 2,000 yards on the
ground for Penn State in 2003, averaged 7.7 yards per carry, and scored 20
touchdowns and all that got him was a third place finish behind Iowa
quarterback Brad Banks and Southern California’s Carson Palmer.
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| Matt Slocum/Associated Press Adrian Peterson burst onto the scene as a freshman running for close to 2,000 yards at Oklahoma but had no Heisman to show for it. |
Since 2000, the Heisman has favored quarterbacks and it’s
not fair. Ron Dayne, Ricky Williams,
Charles Woodson, Eddie Geroge, Rashaan Salaam, and Desmond Howard all won the
award as non-quarterbacks in the 90s and there have been many more legendary
running backs that have won the award, so what’s caused the change?
I’m not trying to argue against Mariota because that’s
really hard to do but more than anything else it baffles my mind how Gordon can
rush for the fourth most yards in a single season in college football history
and not even be considered. Let’s not
forget Cooper and 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns. If it weren’t for him who knows how many
losses Alabama would have in a loaded SEC West.
Entering this season 12 of the last 14 Heisman winners have
been quarterbacks and that’s if you count Reggie Bush as one of the two
non-quarterbacks who ended up vacating his Heisman. With all signs indicating Mariota will make
that 13 of the last 15 who knows when the next time a Heisman winner will not
be a quarterback. Your guess is as good
as mine.
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