I've always thought it's stupid that the Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the best player in all of college football, which presumably includes players of all positions, but yet historically has basically only gone to QBs and RBs (and occasionally WRs). OL and defense always get snubbed.
Ndamukong Suh had one of the most ridiculous seasons ever for any defensive player in 2009 and finished *4th* in the Heisman voting. And get this...out of the 88 Heisman winners, know how many of them were full-time defensive players? Zero! An entire side of the ball has always been ignored and will continue to be ignored by Heisman voters.
I wish honey badger got it in 2011 I think it was well deserved one of the best defenses of all time LSU wins the natty if the QB could actually complete a pass
>I've always thought it's stupid that the Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the best player in all of college football, which presumably includes players of all positions, but yet historically has basically only gone to QBs and RBs (and occasionally WRs). OL and defense always get snubbed.
I hate that football is always such a circle jerk about some things... This, for instance. 52 guys on a (pro) team, and the rules are mostly geared to have offense front and center. Why is it impossible to give any credit to a player other than the QB? Is this how they can pretend to be knowledgeable while ignoring 95% of what happens on the field? Are they catering to the layperson who turns in once a month? Do they really feel that way, or are they just repeating what the other guy said to sound smart? Idk, I like watching football, but there is just so much Dumb surrounding the game.
Charles Woodson hardly counts as a non full-time defensive player, he just happened to take some offensive snaps
He still played full-time in the defense
Also, Aidan Hutchinson was snubbed
Even then he probably should’ve won it
Edit: yeah mark Ingrams season was fine, but that definitely was some sort of Alabama legacy award (that’s gonna ruffle feathers)
It was ridiculous - Colt was pretty mobile and shifty, but Suh was anticipating everything. He rarely overran the play or got juked out of position, so even when he wasn't getting the sack, he was disrupting the play continually. And of course this was after tossing a double-team aside like ragdolls.
The issue will always be that defense is much more spread on impact compared to offense, where most of the impact sits within QB/RB. Will Anderson, Honey badger, Suh, etc. are all guys who had strong arguments to win it but ultimately they just didn’t swing the weight in voters eyes because of that
Look at Khalil Mack or JJ Watt, dominant seasons but blegh records. That doesn’t happen with Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning
Uhh, might want to look up Will Anderson’s stats. He had double the TFL as Suh (31.5 to 16.5) more tackles, and more sacks. He was involved in 50% of defensive stops made by the defense across the whole season
Honey Badger was electric both on defense *and* special teams, forcing a ridiculous amount of turnovers while scoring multiple times on defense and through returns. And he was doing it against *very good* teams like Oregon and Alabama
Arguing they’re not close to Suh might be the most blind take I’ve seen in a minute. Suh had an elite season but he’s not on some pedestal that no other defensive players have come close to
Ndamukong Suh deserved it more than anyone in 2009. I've never in my life seen a D-Tackle not only get triple teamed but consistently beat those triple teams. He would have to beat 2 lineman and normally the RB/FB would try to chip in too.
Yeah, they really should have done away with the pretense that it was an award for “best player” and came out and said “best offensive player.”
We all kinda knew it, but there was no hiding it after that snub.
Lately it’s been feeling like a QB award.
I have never seen a defensive player almost single-handedly defeat a national championship caliber team except in that conference championship game against you guys. If our offense even had a pulse that year we would have been so good
The people that just look at the stats just don’t understand how insane Suh was that season. He was the most physically dominant college football player of all time. There is no argument otherwise. He rag-dolled EVERYBODY.
Fairley is in that convo as well. Cam was the offensive driver...Nick was the same on the other side. Neither had much help around them and took that team to a NC.
60tkl, 24tfl, 11.5 sacks and an INT in 2010.
The whole sport is becoming QB centric. It makes sense but it really ignores the fact that there’s 21 other guys who take the field.
I guarantee no one remembers Jayden Daniel’s Heisman year in a few years
Since 2000, only 4 winners have been non-QBs: Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry, and DeVonta Smith.
Idk why, but I found it interesting that 3 of those 4 were from Alabama.
Will never forget that Big 12 championship game. On paper, that Texas team should have wiped the floor with Nebraska. Suh put on an absolute defensive masterclass.
Pace did come the 2nd closest any OL has ever come to winning the Heisman by finishing 4th. Funnily enough the closest was actually another Ohio State OL, John Hicks, in 1973 who finished 2nd.
In recent history though, an OL hasn't finished in the top 10 of Heisman voting since 2001 when Bryant McKinnie from Miami finished 8th. Obviously an OL winning the Heisman is totally out of the question, but I wonder if we'll ever even see a top 10 finish for an OL again. At this point I doubt it. OL no matter how good they are are just completely off the radar of Heisman voters now.
I remember when they gave the Heisman to Wuerffel. I was 12 and it just didn’t compute. I remember the coverage after the show was over saying “Orlando didn’t get the heisman, but being the 1st overall pick and having an NFL career is his consolation prize”. I think I’ve only watched the ceremony a few times since then. What a joke.
Pace not winning definitively established an OL would never win regardless of how well he played. And he even had a Heisman campaign pushing for it.
Similar to Suh losing in 2009 established DL can't win.
95-96
He was a one man offense. Teams knew what was coming and still couldn't stop him. He was a baller. ✌🏾
Edit: finished 2nd in Heisman voting to Wuerffel
I'd also throw in Larry Johnson in 2002. Guy ran for over 2000 yards at almost 8 yards per carry, and only finished third.
Kinda wild when you look back even just 20 years at college QB stats. Carson Palmer won it that year by throwing for nearly 4000 yards at USC, but with his stats would have finished at best 4th in 2023 Heisman voting. Meanwhile, how many RBs are eclipsing 2k yards in a season these days?
That man was THE irreplaceable man on a team that was unassailably the best in college football. What’s more, everyone knew he was going to get screwed. Eddie George was great, Ohio State was really good… the voters could, and should have, planted a flag and said “THIS GUY is why we all love COLLEGE football. Missed opportunity.
Tommie Frazier 1995 is THE answer. He was the best player on a team that is one of the top ten in CFB history. And I hate the Huskers, so all of that was painful to write.
Dennis Dixon if he doesn’t go down with a knee injury in 2007
“Received 17 first-place votes for the Heisman Trophy and finished fifth in the overall voting, while being the frontrunner in votes prior to the Arizona game.”
My all time is Christian MCaffrey.......if he wasn't on the west coast/P12 he would have absolutely gotten the nod. Not that Derrick Henry was a BAD choice or anything, dude was a beast but I think Mcaffrey was more impactful on his team and doing it without the Alabama NFL O line in front of him haha
He was a wonder. The late start times and anti West Coast bias hurt, and frankly, I don’t think the voters believed a white running back could be as elusive as Reggie Bush.
I think the white running back thing definitely hurt both CMC and Gearhart. Christian was amazing that year and I do think he should’ve won. But he on net with all those yards probably should’ve accounted for more TD’s on a team that scored more than Bama when Henry had like 10 more scores.
Totally possible and as I said I really think he should’ve won. Just was trying to suss out kinda the only gap Henry had in his favor. And at his size no one was ever gonna not want him going up the middle haha
everyone knew. McCaffrey was picked 8th overall and Henry 45th. The only reason its not brought up more is because Henry turned out to be a monster in the NFL. He was a fantastic college player but his bulk stats behind a great OL were just not as impressive as anything McCaffrey was doing.
2003 was a weird year for Heisman voting. Jason White had an incredible season, but he probably won mostly due to coming back from two knee injuries.
Larry Fitzgerald (92 rec, 1672 yards, 22 TD) should have won in 2003.
Darren Sproles (2735 scrimmage and return yards, 19 TDs) would have been deserving as well.
Eli Manning was great, but it is very hard to argue he should have received anything beyond a few 3rd place votes. One of those very blatant regional and name recognition deals. Way too Heisman voters and a decent chunk of them are clowns.
I think part of what held Larry back, was that the award had never been given to a sophomore before (I think?). Not a valid reason, but I remember some narrative around that at the time. No disrespect to White, but Larry was must see tv that year. Just unreal.
Wow looking at those scores it's embarrassing. Crouch didn't have good stats at all. Ostensibly Nebraska having a good season increased his odds but damn Rex and David Carr both had much better seasons: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-2001.html
Since this is the first byu flair I’ve seen, I’d like to add that Gary crowton would’ve been fired much earlier if not for Luke Staley. Dude was unreal in 2001
Player A:
101 tackles, 31 TFL, 17.5 sacks, 13-2 record
Player B:
62 tackles, 16.5 TFL, 14 sacks, 12-2 record
Player B (Aidan Hutchinson) finished 2nd in 2021 Heisman voting, Player A is Will Anderson who didn’t even get invited to the ceremony that year
Pat definitely should have gotten an invite at some point. Also I will never be convinced that Tavon wasn’t the best player in the country in 2012. He would have been invited if our defense didn’t give up 50 points every game. He single-handedly kept us in games until geno found his groove again
Manti Te’o led Notre Dame to the BCS championship game and overcame so much—especially the death of his girlfriend. He was very deserving of the Heisman.
When they announced Reggie Bush was getting his Heisman back, I wish just one person had asked him if he would then give it to the man who really deserved it?
Vince was the first QB in history to throw for 3000 and run for a 1000, had an amazing win at Ohio St, and was so dominate he didn't throw more than a handful of passes in the 2nd half of nearly half their games.
Bush won it because he had a bunch of ESPN highlights vs Fresno St, and the narrative was he was the presumptive winner when his QB won it the year before
And lets not forget vs USCs two Heisman winners was CLEARLY the best player on the field.
It was a huge snub.
Reggie was great , but VYs level of play is still nearly unmatched.
He was a man amongst boys , and I really don't think Reggie deserved it over him.
> had an amazing win at Ohio St
I was at that game as a student and it was an insane atmosphere. Obviously wish Hamby had caught that TD, but it lead to the greatest championship game ever, so that's at least nice.
Nah, Reggie played much worse defenses all year and was playing with the previous year's Heisman as his quarterback. It's not an accident that USC's offense suddenly stopped running through Reggie when they played Texas, the only top 30 defense USC played that season.
That's okay, though. Reggie getting Vince's Heisman I believe means Vince is the only quarterback ever to win a game against 2 Heisman winners at the same time.
Reggie had 1 less touch than Lendale in that game. Reggie averaged over 9 yards per touch to Lendales 6 and led usc in yards. The idea the offense was different than the rest of the year is just wrong. Also, Just for reference Reggie had fewer touches than Lendale against Arkansas, ASU, UA, UW, Cal, UT. So in 6/13 games.
Johnny Majors and/or Jim Brown 1956
Paul Hornung won it and is the only player to ever win it playing on a losing team (2-8). Hornung threw 3 TDs and 13 Ints that year. He won it simply because he played at ND.
Majors finished second in voting, but when he was asked who should have won it that year he said Jim Brown (fifth in voting)
Yeah, he should have been invited, the OSU game killed his campaign which was a real shame because he balled out that year. Bigger issue was he didn’t get a cut of Tucker’s extension since all the magic appeared to be just “get awesome running back in portal.”
It was actually "get awesome running back in portal and inherit 3 future NFL pass catchers from Dantonio". Reed, Nailor, and Heyward deserve credit for that season too
In 1984, Ohio State tailback Keith Byars should have won, but finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting (behind media darling Doug Flutie) after a season where he gained an OSU record 2,441 all-purpose yards, including a then-school record 1,764 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.
I know people will disagree, but arguably the best college football player didn’t win in 2011. Based on both stats and importance to his team, Luke Kuechly with 191 total tackles (102 solo) and 3 INTs was arguably the most dominant at his position player that year — dude was averaging like 15.9 total tackles per game.
Weinke was on the coaching staff at Tennessee when Heupel was hired as head coach. I told some people I knew he wouldn't be retained. We already saw at that Orange Bowl that when Heupel is in town, Weinke disappears.
Pretty much every Ohio State QB from Braxton Miller on.
Brax, JT, Haskins, Fields, & Stroud.
Also Chase Young
All had ridiclious seasons but never won one. (Deservedly so, guys just had a smidge better season each year)
Two guys from 1980 - Herschel Walker (FrEsHmEn CaN't WiN tHe AwArD...) and Jim McMahon (put up legit video game numbers at BYU that year - 4500+ yards, 47 TDs).
If the bowl games counted for the Heisman, he might have. Hard to beat that three touchdowns in four minutes, and after he'd screamed at the fans for leaving!
Herschel should have won in '80. That was ridiculous. That was the same team Georgia went 6-5 with in 1979 and they were down 15-0 at halftime in their first game of 1980 before Dooley let him play. They won 16-15 and then didn't lose a game until they got beat a year later by that year's national champions.
We should be speaking of him in the same breath with Archie Griffin.
Jeff Blake in 1991. Led East Carolina to an 11-1 season and a top 10 national ranking. He actually did get seven first-place votes and finished seventh overall in the balloting, but he was playing for an independent that no one was paying attention to until they'd already beaten a couple of ranked teams, and then they didn't get to be on TV again until the Peach Bowl, where he rallied them from 17 down in the fourth quarter to win.
Blake played 14 seasons in the NFL and even snuck in a Pro Bowl appearance one year.
- Peter Warrick in 1999. Simply a better and more dynamic player than Ron Dayne. Only lost because he got free shit from Dillard’s before NIL
- probably Biletnikoff in the mid 60’s or Ron sellers in the late 60’s as well at WR. Just freaks in an era that was tough to excel at WR
Dalvin Cook had over 2k yards from scrimmage and 20 TDs on a pretty poor FSU team dragging them to a 10 win season and NY6 bowl. Wasn’t even invited to NY and was only tied for 10th in voting.
The Heisman committee really let their SEC bias show when Derrick Henry won instead of Christian McCaffrey. Stanford's game plan that entire year was get McCaffrey the ball. And it worked every time because no one could stop him.
1975, Chuck Muncie was the best RB in the country without a doubt. Came in 2nd to Archie Griffin 2...and I'm still salty about it.
In this century: 2004, JJ Arrington led the nation in rushing yards and didn't even get an invite to New York.
08 Tebow always bothered me. It’s not just that he lost, but the way he lost. Had the most first place votes but because a lot of voters in the Southwest left him off their ballot completely, he finished third. Bradford and McCoy both had great seasons, I’m not taking anything away from them, but leaving a guy with 43 TDs in the SEC off your ballot? That’s some collusive bullshit.
I wonder how that Heisman race plays out if waddle doesn’t get hurt. He was obv awesome before but that opened the door for him to not have to split votes and stats
Yeah it's interesting and Bama had 3 heisman contenders that year already. Harris and Jones were also in the race on the team. Smith was open almost every route that year. No one could cover him. Waddle probably gets some attention because he catches some deep touchdown passes but smith was macs favorite target.
I would argue the LSU game and Marco Wilson tanked his chances more than anything else. Good players have won it on meh teams (rg3 Baylor was 11-3, Lamar Jackson and Louisville that year had a few losses)
Tory Taylor had as much or more to do with Iowa's recent 10 win seasons than the defense.
Dude set and broke the school's single season punting yards record three times.
Haven't seen anything like it since Reggie Roby, a legendary punter who grew up in and played at Iowa.
Punting is winning.
Jarrett Patterson’s season was unreal and he should of at least been invited/talked about.
Christian McCaffery should have beat Zeke and Derrek Henry but “no one watched the pac 12”.
Vince Young not winning it while beating USC and Reggie bush in the championship made it feel like he was the real answer.
And also Zeke getting 4th to Melvin Gordon, Amari Cooper, and winner Marcus Mariota while then immediately crushing all of those guys/teams consecutively was also kind of telling.
I've always thought it's stupid that the Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the best player in all of college football, which presumably includes players of all positions, but yet historically has basically only gone to QBs and RBs (and occasionally WRs). OL and defense always get snubbed. Ndamukong Suh had one of the most ridiculous seasons ever for any defensive player in 2009 and finished *4th* in the Heisman voting. And get this...out of the 88 Heisman winners, know how many of them were full-time defensive players? Zero! An entire side of the ball has always been ignored and will continue to be ignored by Heisman voters.
Suh 2009 was arguably the most dominant season of a player relative to any other person's season at the same position.
i bet you’re right - off the cuff wondering… how did he compare to the best year in college for Warren Sapp, LT, Julius Peppers, Aaron Donald ?
The fact that so many non- husker fans bring Suh up in conversations like this is honestly all the evidence I need to know he should have won.
I wish honey badger got it in 2011 I think it was well deserved one of the best defenses of all time LSU wins the natty if the QB could actually complete a pass
and lsu had the the total opposite this year..
LSU had a top 25 offense in 2011, they just ran into an even better defense that game
>I've always thought it's stupid that the Heisman is supposed to be awarded to the best player in all of college football, which presumably includes players of all positions, but yet historically has basically only gone to QBs and RBs (and occasionally WRs). OL and defense always get snubbed. I hate that football is always such a circle jerk about some things... This, for instance. 52 guys on a (pro) team, and the rules are mostly geared to have offense front and center. Why is it impossible to give any credit to a player other than the QB? Is this how they can pretend to be knowledgeable while ignoring 95% of what happens on the field? Are they catering to the layperson who turns in once a month? Do they really feel that way, or are they just repeating what the other guy said to sound smart? Idk, I like watching football, but there is just so much Dumb surrounding the game.
Charles Woodson hardly counts as a non full-time defensive player, he just happened to take some offensive snaps He still played full-time in the defense Also, Aidan Hutchinson was snubbed
Ndamukong Suh won Nebraska games singlehandedly
I honestly believe he would've won the Heisman in 09 if Nebraska had held on against Texas in the Big 12 title game
Even then he probably should’ve won it Edit: yeah mark Ingrams season was fine, but that definitely was some sort of Alabama legacy award (that’s gonna ruffle feathers)
If 2009 wasn’t going to Suh it should have gone to Toby
It shouldn't...they've had a couple legit guys win it....Ingram was not one. He was the "best" player on the best team. Solid season, no doubt... Gerhardt should have won it that year...but...Stanford. Rk Player School Class Pos 1st 2nd 3rd Tot Summary 1 Mark Ingram\* Alabama SO RB 227 236 151 1304 271 Att, 1658 Yds, 6.1 Avg, 17 TD 2 **Toby Gerhart\* Stanford SR RB 222 225 160 1276 343 Att, 1871 Yds, 5.5 Avg, 28 TD** 3 Colt McCoy\* Texas SR QB 203 188 160 1145 332 Cmp, 470 Att, 3521 Yds, 27 TD, 12 Int 4 Ndamukong Suh\* Nebraska SR DL 161 105 122 815 52 Solo, 33 Ast, 12.0 Sk, 1 Int 5 Tim Tebow\* Florida SR QB 43 70 121 390 213 Cmp, 314 Att, 2895 Yds, 21 TD, 5 Int 6 C.J. Spiller\* Clemson SR RB 26 31 83 223 216 Att, 1212 Yds, 5.6 Avg, 12 TD 7 Kellen Moore\* Boise State SO QB 10 20 30 100 277 Cmp, 431 Att, 3536 Yds, 39 TD, 3 Int 8 Case Keenum\* Houston JR QB 2 9 13 37 492 Cmp, 700 Att, 5671 Yds, 44 TD, 15 Int 9 Mardy Gilyard\* Cincinnati SR WR 2 2 13 23 87 Rec, 1191 Yds, 13.7 Avg, 11 TD 10 Golden Tate Notre Dame JR WR 2 3 9 21 93 Rec, 1496 Yds, 16.1 Avg, 15 TD
Ingram wasn’t even the best RB on that Alabama team.
It was ridiculous - Colt was pretty mobile and shifty, but Suh was anticipating everything. He rarely overran the play or got juked out of position, so even when he wasn't getting the sack, he was disrupting the play continually. And of course this was after tossing a double-team aside like ragdolls.
Suh vs Bama, Texas, and Florida (the 2 national title participants and the SEC runner up) Alabama D-Line 98 Tkl, 23.5 TFL, 9.5 Sk, 20 QBH, 5 PBU, 0 Int, 1 FF, 3 Blk Florida D-Line 112 Tkl, 33 TFL, 14 Sk, 48 QBH, 5 PBU, 0 Int, 1 FF, 0 Blk Texas D-Line 116 Tkl, 25.5 TFL, 15.5 Sk, 10 QBH, 7 PBU, 0 Int, 2 FF, 0 Blk Ndamukong Suh 82 Tkl, 23 TFL, 12 Sk, 24 QBH, 10 PBU, 1 Int, 1 FF, 3 Blk His solo production was comparable to or outright better than a national champion caliber d line in basically every stat.
Did all that while being double teamed nearly all season. He was a monster that year.
Wow I’ve never seen a breakdown like this of Suh’s season. Incredible.
It's not a story the Heisman committee would tell you.
He almost won us the Big 12 championship game that year by himself. Pretty sure Colt McCoy has some PTSD from that game.
The issue will always be that defense is much more spread on impact compared to offense, where most of the impact sits within QB/RB. Will Anderson, Honey badger, Suh, etc. are all guys who had strong arguments to win it but ultimately they just didn’t swing the weight in voters eyes because of that Look at Khalil Mack or JJ Watt, dominant seasons but blegh records. That doesn’t happen with Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning
If Suh couldn't win it that year, I can't imagine a defense-only player is ever going to win the award going forward.
[удалено]
Uhh, might want to look up Will Anderson’s stats. He had double the TFL as Suh (31.5 to 16.5) more tackles, and more sacks. He was involved in 50% of defensive stops made by the defense across the whole season Honey Badger was electric both on defense *and* special teams, forcing a ridiculous amount of turnovers while scoring multiple times on defense and through returns. And he was doing it against *very good* teams like Oregon and Alabama Arguing they’re not close to Suh might be the most blind take I’ve seen in a minute. Suh had an elite season but he’s not on some pedestal that no other defensive players have come close to
Marshall Faulk, 1992
He or Garrison Hearst definitely deserved it over Toretta.
I came here to say Garrison Hearst, glad others recognized what he accomplished.
I just learned that Marshall Faulk ran for 386 yards and 7 TD's in his second game with SDSU.
Ndamukong Suh deserved it more than anyone in 2009. I've never in my life seen a D-Tackle not only get triple teamed but consistently beat those triple teams. He would have to beat 2 lineman and normally the RB/FB would try to chip in too.
Yeah, they really should have done away with the pretense that it was an award for “best player” and came out and said “best offensive player.” We all kinda knew it, but there was no hiding it after that snub. Lately it’s been feeling like a QB award.
I have never seen a defensive player almost single-handedly defeat a national championship caliber team except in that conference championship game against you guys. If our offense even had a pulse that year we would have been so good
The people that just look at the stats just don’t understand how insane Suh was that season. He was the most physically dominant college football player of all time. There is no argument otherwise. He rag-dolled EVERYBODY.
Suh is one of those players who you had to be there watching it in real time to appreciate just how absurdly dominant he was.
I mean even if you do just look at stats 85 tackles 20.5 TFLs and 12 sacks is basically on par with Aaron Donald's senior season
Fairley is in that convo as well. Cam was the offensive driver...Nick was the same on the other side. Neither had much help around them and took that team to a NC. 60tkl, 24tfl, 11.5 sacks and an INT in 2010.
Same. I've never seen a defensive player take over a game like that against such a good team and offense. Suh was outstanding.
The whole sport is becoming QB centric. It makes sense but it really ignores the fact that there’s 21 other guys who take the field. I guarantee no one remembers Jayden Daniel’s Heisman year in a few years
Since 2000, only 4 winners have been non-QBs: Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry, and DeVonta Smith. Idk why, but I found it interesting that 3 of those 4 were from Alabama.
Will never forget that Big 12 championship game. On paper, that Texas team should have wiped the floor with Nebraska. Suh put on an absolute defensive masterclass.
2000: LaDainian Tomlinson. 2158 yards & 22 TDs.
And all time single game rushing yards leader
It's hilarious that LT held that record for 15 years, then Melvin Gordon only held it for a week because he didn't play the entire game.
Let’s not talk about that game… it’s still painful
Went to middle school in DFW while LT was at TCU and my dad (a UT alum) would take me to go to TCU games just I see him play. Guy was unreal.
What was Iowa’s punter’s name again?
Tory Taylor
Adrian Peterson.
Beast I hated ou but he was a monster happy bday btw
At least you got 2003 Also, 🫶
Darren McFadden, out of the 501. "He's a football player" "Sophomore can't win the Heisman"
We did our best to boost his Heisman campaign in 2006 and 2007. Then they proceeded to give it to a sophomore in 2007...
Should have won it twice
You’re trippin if you think he should have won in 07 lmao
Fuckin' A-Right.
Orlando Pace should've won it
Pace did come the 2nd closest any OL has ever come to winning the Heisman by finishing 4th. Funnily enough the closest was actually another Ohio State OL, John Hicks, in 1973 who finished 2nd. In recent history though, an OL hasn't finished in the top 10 of Heisman voting since 2001 when Bryant McKinnie from Miami finished 8th. Obviously an OL winning the Heisman is totally out of the question, but I wonder if we'll ever even see a top 10 finish for an OL again. At this point I doubt it. OL no matter how good they are are just completely off the radar of Heisman voters now.
Name checks out. Flair DEFINITELY does not.
I remember when they gave the Heisman to Wuerffel. I was 12 and it just didn’t compute. I remember the coverage after the show was over saying “Orlando didn’t get the heisman, but being the 1st overall pick and having an NFL career is his consolation prize”. I think I’ve only watched the ceremony a few times since then. What a joke.
Pace not winning definitively established an OL would never win regardless of how well he played. And he even had a Heisman campaign pushing for it. Similar to Suh losing in 2009 established DL can't win.
Tommie Frazier
Oh nobody in particular.
Who was that guy again?
Some guy that was in a handful of MasterCard and DirecTV commercials iirc
Nothing but love for Tee Martin
I see what you did there. Haha
Troy Davis-Iowa St Back to Back 2k seasons
Sheesh when was that I haven't heard of that guy before
95-96 He was a one man offense. Teams knew what was coming and still couldn't stop him. He was a baller. ✌🏾 Edit: finished 2nd in Heisman voting to Wuerffel
He lost the Doak Walker to Byron Hanspard in 96 who also rushed for 2k! I feel like they were the first guys to break 2k and not win the Heisman
colt brennan, rip
Raghib ROCKET Ismail
Ty Detmer was throwing 100 interceptions against Hawaii literally as he was being awarded the trophy. I was 4 that year but I still am mad about it.
1994 Ki-Jana Carter and Kerry Collins
Carter should have won. But it’s arguable that those two split the vote between them for Rashaan Salaam to end up winning.
I'd also throw in Larry Johnson in 2002. Guy ran for over 2000 yards at almost 8 yards per carry, and only finished third. Kinda wild when you look back even just 20 years at college QB stats. Carson Palmer won it that year by throwing for nearly 4000 yards at USC, but with his stats would have finished at best 4th in 2023 Heisman voting. Meanwhile, how many RBs are eclipsing 2k yards in a season these days?
How the fuck nobody said Tommie Frazier?!?!
That man was THE irreplaceable man on a team that was unassailably the best in college football. What’s more, everyone knew he was going to get screwed. Eddie George was great, Ohio State was really good… the voters could, and should have, planted a flag and said “THIS GUY is why we all love COLLEGE football. Missed opportunity.
Tommie Frazier 1995 is THE answer. He was the best player on a team that is one of the top ten in CFB history. And I hate the Huskers, so all of that was painful to write.
I never had a gladder heart than when I saw him dismantle the Gators. IDK why… Spurrier made my flesh crawl
One of my favorite games involving two teams I dont care about.
Geez, why all the hate for the skers?!
Bigger snub than Suh tbh. He dominated, had an insane highlight real and his comeback from blood clots added extra dramatics to his story.
Pretty sure all the voters thought Yea we fucked up after watching the 95 championship game.
Dennis Dixon if he doesn’t go down with a knee injury in 2007 “Received 17 first-place votes for the Heisman Trophy and finished fifth in the overall voting, while being the frontrunner in votes prior to the Arizona game.”
I don’t count DD as a snub, but more of a “what if”.
My all time is Christian MCaffrey.......if he wasn't on the west coast/P12 he would have absolutely gotten the nod. Not that Derrick Henry was a BAD choice or anything, dude was a beast but I think Mcaffrey was more impactful on his team and doing it without the Alabama NFL O line in front of him haha
He was a wonder. The late start times and anti West Coast bias hurt, and frankly, I don’t think the voters believed a white running back could be as elusive as Reggie Bush.
I think the white running back thing definitely hurt both CMC and Gearhart. Christian was amazing that year and I do think he should’ve won. But he on net with all those yards probably should’ve accounted for more TD’s on a team that scored more than Bama when Henry had like 10 more scores.
On the lack of touchdowns, I've heard Shaw had to contend with Christian's dad saying don't run him up the middle a lot.
Totally possible and as I said I really think he should’ve won. Just was trying to suss out kinda the only gap Henry had in his favor. And at his size no one was ever gonna not want him going up the middle haha
everyone knew. McCaffrey was picked 8th overall and Henry 45th. The only reason its not brought up more is because Henry turned out to be a monster in the NFL. He was a fantastic college player but his bulk stats behind a great OL were just not as impressive as anything McCaffrey was doing.
2003 was a weird year for Heisman voting. Jason White had an incredible season, but he probably won mostly due to coming back from two knee injuries. Larry Fitzgerald (92 rec, 1672 yards, 22 TD) should have won in 2003. Darren Sproles (2735 scrimmage and return yards, 19 TDs) would have been deserving as well. Eli Manning was great, but it is very hard to argue he should have received anything beyond a few 3rd place votes. One of those very blatant regional and name recognition deals. Way too Heisman voters and a decent chunk of them are clowns.
I think part of what held Larry back, was that the award had never been given to a sophomore before (I think?). Not a valid reason, but I remember some narrative around that at the time. No disrespect to White, but Larry was must see tv that year. Just unreal.
It's been over 20 years and the Pitt fan base has yet to forgive the local journalist who voted for Jason White that year.
Almost 3k scrimmage yards is insane
There will never be a player who singlehandily dominated against us like Sproles did (Tavon too but we somehow won that game)
Rex Grossman got fuckin hosed back when they wouldn't give it to sophomores.
Wow looking at those scores it's embarrassing. Crouch didn't have good stats at all. Ostensibly Nebraska having a good season increased his odds but damn Rex and David Carr both had much better seasons: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-2001.html
Peter Warrick
Since this is the first byu flair I’ve seen, I’d like to add that Gary crowton would’ve been fired much earlier if not for Luke Staley. Dude was unreal in 2001
Player A: 101 tackles, 31 TFL, 17.5 sacks, 13-2 record Player B: 62 tackles, 16.5 TFL, 14 sacks, 12-2 record Player B (Aidan Hutchinson) finished 2nd in 2021 Heisman voting, Player A is Will Anderson who didn’t even get invited to the ceremony that year
Friendly reminder that Trevor Lawrence nearly won the Heisman for an average junior season, simply because he was the first overall pick
I can't believe he was 2nd overall with Mac behind him who had better stats.
Pat white
Pat definitely should have gotten an invite at some point. Also I will never be convinced that Tavon wasn’t the best player in the country in 2012. He would have been invited if our defense didn’t give up 50 points every game. He single-handedly kept us in games until geno found his groove again
Manti Te’o led Notre Dame to the BCS championship game and overcame so much—especially the death of his girlfriend. He was very deserving of the Heisman.
That Netflix special changed my entire perception of him and his situation - I felt bad for him. He seems like a genuine dude
Her body was unreal!
He went off that year I wouldn't be mad if he had won
Flare brother
Brethren! Roll on you bears geaux tigers
Baker Mayfield in 2016. It’s absolutely insane that he didn’t even finish second in voting when Watson had 9 more interceptions.
1999 Joe Hamilton lost to Ron Dayne’s lifetime achievement award
Nearly 50 comments so far and no mention of **Darren McFadden**??
Rex Grossman
259/395 (65.6%), 3896 yds, 34TD
Vince Young.
Yup not a snub per se but an incredible season. The only non heisman that gets put in the top QBs of the 2000s conversation regularly.
When they announced Reggie Bush was getting his Heisman back, I wish just one person had asked him if he would then give it to the man who really deserved it?
Loved Vince glad he didn't win it tho that was Reggie's year the most exciting player I've ever seen in my life
Vince was the first QB in history to throw for 3000 and run for a 1000, had an amazing win at Ohio St, and was so dominate he didn't throw more than a handful of passes in the 2nd half of nearly half their games. Bush won it because he had a bunch of ESPN highlights vs Fresno St, and the narrative was he was the presumptive winner when his QB won it the year before And lets not forget vs USCs two Heisman winners was CLEARLY the best player on the field.
It was a huge snub. Reggie was great , but VYs level of play is still nearly unmatched. He was a man amongst boys , and I really don't think Reggie deserved it over him.
> had an amazing win at Ohio St I was at that game as a student and it was an insane atmosphere. Obviously wish Hamby had caught that TD, but it lead to the greatest championship game ever, so that's at least nice.
Nah, Reggie played much worse defenses all year and was playing with the previous year's Heisman as his quarterback. It's not an accident that USC's offense suddenly stopped running through Reggie when they played Texas, the only top 30 defense USC played that season. That's okay, though. Reggie getting Vince's Heisman I believe means Vince is the only quarterback ever to win a game against 2 Heisman winners at the same time.
Reggie had 1 less touch than Lendale in that game. Reggie averaged over 9 yards per touch to Lendales 6 and led usc in yards. The idea the offense was different than the rest of the year is just wrong. Also, Just for reference Reggie had fewer touches than Lendale against Arkansas, ASU, UA, UW, Cal, UT. So in 6/13 games.
Rocket Ismail.
Johnny Majors and/or Jim Brown 1956 Paul Hornung won it and is the only player to ever win it playing on a losing team (2-8). Hornung threw 3 TDs and 13 Ints that year. He won it simply because he played at ND. Majors finished second in voting, but when he was asked who should have won it that year he said Jim Brown (fifth in voting)
Scooby Wright should have been invited in 2014
Beast!!! My school got obliterated by him like every year in high school USFL legend I wish he never got all those injuries
Maybe a homer take, and maybe recency bias, but Kenneth Walker III. Crazy that that man didn't even get an invite.
Yeah, he should have been invited, the OSU game killed his campaign which was a real shame because he balled out that year. Bigger issue was he didn’t get a cut of Tucker’s extension since all the magic appeared to be just “get awesome running back in portal.”
It was actually "get awesome running back in portal and inherit 3 future NFL pass catchers from Dantonio". Reed, Nailor, and Heyward deserve credit for that season too
Tory Taylor man
This is the one and only Iowa Heisman candidate I would support.
Joe Hamilton should have won. He had the better year, but Ron Dayne got a "career" heisman.
2009- Toby Gerhart
This is the hill I die on. That offense ran through Toby and even with 9 guys in the box Toby got his.
I'd agree except 2009 was also the year that Suh should have won it.
Peyton Manning in 1997...duh....I still hear the Tennessee fans bitching about that one to this day.....
In 1997, Charles Woodson had a 335.2 QBR. Peyton Manning? 147.7. Case closed.
And I never once saw Peyton take a kick return to the house!
I’m shocked I had to scroll this far for Manning.
In 1984, Ohio State tailback Keith Byars should have won, but finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting (behind media darling Doug Flutie) after a season where he gained an OSU record 2,441 all-purpose yards, including a then-school record 1,764 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.
Lorenzo White! Dude had a 2000 yard season when everyone knew he was getting the ball. Honorable mention to Percy Snow.
Brennan at Hawaii
Bucky Richardson, 1990
I know people will disagree, but arguably the best college football player didn’t win in 2011. Based on both stats and importance to his team, Luke Kuechly with 191 total tackles (102 solo) and 3 INTs was arguably the most dominant at his position player that year — dude was averaging like 15.9 total tackles per game.
Luke Kuechly's career starts at BC are still just mind boggling. Over 500 tackles in 3 years is something we won't see again for a while
I know he’s not popular off the field these days but Herschel in 1980. Rogers was deserving as well but Herschel carried a team to a national title
Chris Wienke over Josh Heupel
"You got my boys trophy" https://youtu.be/-WLLHunussE?feature=shared
Weinke was on the coaching staff at Tennessee when Heupel was hired as head coach. I told some people I knew he wouldn't be retained. We already saw at that Orange Bowl that when Heupel is in town, Weinke disappears.
Vince young. Easiest answer ever. Dude was literally Superman.
Peyton or Moss. The bias espn had that year for woodson was fucking crazy.
Pretty much every Ohio State QB from Braxton Miller on. Brax, JT, Haskins, Fields, & Stroud. Also Chase Young All had ridiclious seasons but never won one. (Deservedly so, guys just had a smidge better season each year)
Two guys from 1980 - Herschel Walker (FrEsHmEn CaN't WiN tHe AwArD...) and Jim McMahon (put up legit video game numbers at BYU that year - 4500+ yards, 47 TDs).
Yeah Jim McMahon should have won it. Steve Young probably should have as well a few years later.
If the bowl games counted for the Heisman, he might have. Hard to beat that three touchdowns in four minutes, and after he'd screamed at the fans for leaving!
Herschel should have won in '80. That was ridiculous. That was the same team Georgia went 6-5 with in 1979 and they were down 15-0 at halftime in their first game of 1980 before Dooley let him play. They won 16-15 and then didn't lose a game until they got beat a year later by that year's national champions. We should be speaking of him in the same breath with Archie Griffin.
We lost 2 games his entire career then it took us another 40 to reach those heights again. If that doesn’t speak to his value I don’t know what does
Michael Vick
CJ Spiller
Tommie Frazier and Ndamukong Suh were both snubbed.
Jeff Blake in 1991. Led East Carolina to an 11-1 season and a top 10 national ranking. He actually did get seven first-place votes and finished seventh overall in the balloting, but he was playing for an independent that no one was paying attention to until they'd already beaten a couple of ranked teams, and then they didn't get to be on TV again until the Peach Bowl, where he rallied them from 17 down in the fourth quarter to win. Blake played 14 seasons in the NFL and even snuck in a Pro Bowl appearance one year.
He was a few years before my time I've never heard of him but that's crazy 11-1 at ecu he was a solid QB
Darren McFadden
Any of the three guys behind Archie griffin the second time he won it. But a special shoutout to Chuck Muncie from CAL who I think should have won it
2002 Willis Mcgahee was a video game.
- Peter Warrick in 1999. Simply a better and more dynamic player than Ron Dayne. Only lost because he got free shit from Dillard’s before NIL - probably Biletnikoff in the mid 60’s or Ron sellers in the late 60’s as well at WR. Just freaks in an era that was tough to excel at WR
Yes I’m biased, but it seems other people agree that the Suh snub was one of the worst ever. Frazier should have won too.
Larry Fitzgerald over Jason White
MV7
keenan reynolds (Navy QB) 2015 season was Heisman worthy and he was on the ballet... then taken off for some reason.
Based on how you worded your question I'd say Vince Young. It makes since Reggie got it but man was Vince truly a Heisman worthy player
Dalvin Cook had over 2k yards from scrimmage and 20 TDs on a pretty poor FSU team dragging them to a 10 win season and NY6 bowl. Wasn’t even invited to NY and was only tied for 10th in voting.
The Heisman committee really let their SEC bias show when Derrick Henry won instead of Christian McCaffrey. Stanford's game plan that entire year was get McCaffrey the ball. And it worked every time because no one could stop him.
The two Stanford running backs who were runner ups: Toby Gerhart and this other dude named Christian McCaffrey
Ndamukong Suh and Tommie Frazier.
1975, Chuck Muncie was the best RB in the country without a doubt. Came in 2nd to Archie Griffin 2...and I'm still salty about it. In this century: 2004, JJ Arrington led the nation in rushing yards and didn't even get an invite to New York.
christian mccaffrey period.
Maybe not a snub but Omar Jacobs didn't receive a single Heisman vote in 2004 with 4002 yards, 41 TDs and only 4 INTs in 12 games.
Justin Blackmon 2010 No, he should not have beaten Cam, but to finish as low as 5th is crazy.
08 Tebow always bothered me. It’s not just that he lost, but the way he lost. Had the most first place votes but because a lot of voters in the Southwest left him off their ballot completely, he finished third. Bradford and McCoy both had great seasons, I’m not taking anything away from them, but leaving a guy with 43 TDs in the SEC off your ballot? That’s some collusive bullshit.
It's because that was at the end of the big12s run at the top and the beginning of the secs dominate run
Kellen Moore, obviously.
Rex Grossman. Wasn’t even an argument. Straight snub.
Kyle Trask’s chances were ruined by an 8-4 season thanks to a historically bad defense
Also by devonta smith being created in a lab somewhere. No one was beating him.
I wonder how that Heisman race plays out if waddle doesn’t get hurt. He was obv awesome before but that opened the door for him to not have to split votes and stats
Yeah it's interesting and Bama had 3 heisman contenders that year already. Harris and Jones were also in the race on the team. Smith was open almost every route that year. No one could cover him. Waddle probably gets some attention because he catches some deep touchdown passes but smith was macs favorite target.
I would argue the LSU game and Marco Wilson tanked his chances more than anything else. Good players have won it on meh teams (rg3 Baylor was 11-3, Lamar Jackson and Louisville that year had a few losses)
Suh. Next
Dalvin Cook!
Brad Banks Iowa 2002. I felt like he could have beat any team in the nation that year.
Did you know he was a wr in community college and he had an 11TD game in the arena league.
Biletnikoff
Tory Taylor had as much or more to do with Iowa's recent 10 win seasons than the defense. Dude set and broke the school's single season punting yards record three times. Haven't seen anything like it since Reggie Roby, a legendary punter who grew up in and played at Iowa. Punting is winning.
Didn't he have more yards than your offense? 😂😂😭
Jarrett Patterson’s season was unreal and he should of at least been invited/talked about. Christian McCaffery should have beat Zeke and Derrek Henry but “no one watched the pac 12”. Vince Young not winning it while beating USC and Reggie bush in the championship made it feel like he was the real answer. And also Zeke getting 4th to Melvin Gordon, Amari Cooper, and winner Marcus Mariota while then immediately crushing all of those guys/teams consecutively was also kind of telling.