Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Heisman gets it right for once

OU's Sam Bradford was named the winner of the 2008 Heisman Trophy Saturday, beating out Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tim Tebow. To be honest, I thought it was going to go to Tebow again. Thankfully, it didn't. We don't need to give Gary Danielson any more fuel for when he broadcasts Gator games next year. It's already unbearable to listen to Danielson verbally blow Tebow. If the golden boy had added a second Heisman before his senior season, it would have been unwatchable.

Because I'm biased toward people from Oklahoma and biased against any and all things pertaining to the state of Texas, I believe the Heisman should have gone to Bradford and not McCoy. However, the Heisman doesn't always go to the most-deserving player. Sometimes it's almost a career award. Here's my opinion on who should have won each trophy since 1990.

2008: Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Deserving: Bradford.

2007: Tim Tebow, Florida
Deserving: Darren McFadden, Arkansas. McFadden was the best player in the country, but was on an average team.

2006: Troy Smith, Ohio State
Deserving: Steve Slaton, West Virginia. Smith was the quarterback of the best team in the country, but wasn't spectacular. Slaton was.

2005: Reggie Bush, USC
Deserving: Vince Young, Texas. Young had maybe the best season by a quarterback of all time. If the vote had been after the Rose Bowl, it might have been a different story.

2004: Matt Leinart, USC
Deserving: Adrian Peterson, Oklahoma. Peterson is the best college running back I've ever seen.

2003: Jason White, Oklahoma
Deserving: White. Larry Fitzgerald was only in the running because that's who ESPN wanted to win the award. Eli Manning was more deserving than Fitzgerald.

2002: Carson Palmer, USC
Deserving: Brad Banks, Iowa. Banks came out of nowhere, which is why he didn't win. The fact the vote was relatively close tells you the kind of year Banks had.

2001: Eric Crouch, Nebraska
Deserving: Sex Cannon, Florida. The Rexstacy had better numbers.

2000: Chris Weinke, Florida State
Deserving: Josh Heupel, Oklahoma. Weinke got it as a career award.

1999: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin
Deserving: Michael Vick, Virginia Tech. Another career winner. Vick had the most spectacular freshman season in the sport's history.

1998: Ricky Williams, Texas
Deserving: Williams.

1997: Charles Woodson, Michigan
Deserving: Peyton Manning, Tennessee. Yes, it can be argued that it would have been a career award for Manning, but I still think got robbed.

1996: Danny Wuerffel, Florida
Deserving: Wuerffel.

1995: Eddie George, Ohio State
Deserving: Tommie Frazier, Nebraska. The '95 Nebraska team was the best in college football history (I won't listen to arguments otherwise) and Frazier had the best year for an option quarterback.

1994: Rashaan Salaam, Colorado
Deserving: Salaam.

1993: Charlie Ward, Florida State
Deserving: Ward.

1992: Gino Toretta, Miami
Deserving: Marshall Faulk, San Diego State. Worst Heisman winner in history?

1991: Desmond Howard, Michigan
Deserving: Will Furrer, Virginia Tech. Overlooked by everyone. Conspiracy theories abound.

1990: Ty Detmer, BYU
Deserving: Will Furrer, Virginia Tech. The original screw-job. How it didn't go to Furrer I'll never know.

3 comments:

Winfield Featherston said...

1999: No way. Joe Hamilton deserved the Heisman that year.

MadJay said...

No WAY did Sam Bradford deserve the trophy. Colt McCoy or Michael Crabtree both have a legitimate claim and if either of them would have won, the award would still have had a little merit.

me said...

Sorry, Eli deserved it over White in 03. And fatboy Ron Dayne getting it over Vick is the worst screwjob in the history of the Hypesman.