Thoughts: Past Heisman Winners

[Lkr]

I was pondering a post on a forum the other day when I saw people discussing the current situation of the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback competition for the first 4 games. Something that struck my eye was how some were disappointed that Leftwhich was injured and Dennis Dixon was getting the nod, some even pleading for Charlie Batch to start. Last season, Dixon had a good outing against rival and defensively strong Baltimore in a Steelers loss. He wasn't the most accurate QB, but he was decent, and had the team in a position to win the game. It was also his first career start. However, this leads me on a whole new path: the 2007 Heisman Trophy Race. How quickly fans forget what happened.

 

In 2007, the USC Trojans started the season as pre-season #1. After an early season loss to Stanford, this opened up the national championship picture and the Pac 10 title picture. USC faced Oregon a few weeks later, #5 at the time, led by quarterback Dennis Dixon. A win by Oregon not only made Dixon the frontrunner for the Heisman trophy, but put them in position to make the national championship game despite having 1 loss already(eventual champion LSU had 2). A win against #6 Arizona State made Dennis Dixon a lock to win the award. However, the next week, Dixon suffered a season ending ACL injury. This not only ended his chance at winning the award, but led to sophomore QB Tim Tebow winning the award. Now another question comes up: Would Tebow have ever won a Heisman award if Dixon had never been injured? Sure he had a stellar 2008 campaign, but Sam Bradford could be seen as having a better season. But then you can argue that Tebow was more effective in 2008, and I would agree. I personally believe he would have won it in 2008 if he had not won it in 2007, as well as I believe the reason for Bradford winning in 2008 was because voters were hesitant to have a repeat winner. Either way, Tebow might not be a college football legend without the unfortunate downfall of Dennis Dixon.

 

Something else that speaks to this same train of thought is Mack Brown's recent comments about the 2005 Heisman Trophy. Brown stated that if Bush's Heisman is to be taken away, then it should be given to Vince Young. As said best by Lee Corso, not so fast my friend! There is one glaring issue with this: If Reggie Bush is stripped of the title, then the prospect of giving it to someone else is too much. After USC's flat out destruction of rival #11 UCLA, USC was seen as by far the best team in the country, and possibly the greatest offensive team of all time. If Reggie Bush was ineligible at the time, most of his votes(and let's remember, he DOMINATED the voting for the award), would be going to his teammate and the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, Matt Leinart. Leinart won the award in 2004 and had better stats in 2005. However, then the problem comes down to voters - would they have been hesitant to give someone a repeat of the award? If someone else was to be given the award if it is indeed stripped from Bush, you can't have a re-vote either. The problem with this is that after the Rose Bowl, no one would vote for Leinart or Bush, and the Heisman is a regular season award(much live MVP awards in pro sports). It is just much easier for Bush to keep his award or to have it stripped and not given to anyone for the 2005 season.

 

That's all I have to say about that. What are your thoughts on the subject?

[SRT Spidey]

such bull[expletive] if they take the heisman away from bush..he was one of the best running backs to come out of USC. such a shame

[Lkr]

such bull[expletive] if they take the heisman away from bush..he was one of the best running backs to come out of USC. such a shame

He was ineligible to play, therefore he has 0 yards and 0 attempts

[fish7718]

Regarding what you said about Dennis Dixon, I loved him in college he was a fast QB but he also had an arm and could really sling the ball. That being said 90% of the QB's who look good as college QB's and rely on scrambling (Troy Smith, Michael Robinson,Pat White) Don't pan out in the NFL. Now I agree Dixon was taller than Smith and had a better arm than all 3 of them but he was still coming of ACL surgery and was a long shot to be a good QB in the NFL in the first place. I agree he deserves his shot but I think the Steelers fans probably just want to go the safest route they can until they get Rothlisberger and thats taking the devil you do know in Batch as opposed to the devil you don't in Dixon.

[BasX]

Batch can't stay healthy and has shown nothing in the past 2 years in pre-season or training camp to warrant people wanting him to start. I'm starting to think Steeler fans are moving away from Dixon because of visions of Slash from the past, because I see no reason for Batch to even be considered. The athlete at the QB position who can make plays with his arm and his legs. I was iffy on the Leftwich/Dixon thing because i felt Leftwich would work well with Wallace on the deep ball. Like was pointed out on NFL Network, this Bruce Arians written all over it and that makes me very uncomfortable.

Edited September 6, 2010 by BasX

[Flash]

Don't take away Bush's Heisman. I don't agree with that at all. And its a shame that Dixon went down because you're right, Tebow wouldn't be the legend he is today.