College Football: Post Season Awards Don't Always Add Up

What is the perfect ending to a college football season dominated by upsets? How about crowning the first underclassmen in the Heisman’s storied history. Tim Tebow becomes the first sophomore to ever have his named etched on the bronze stiff arm, but does the mythical image created by the media really live up to what the trophy has historically represented?

The issue becomes whether or not the media has influenced the award to the point where it no longer holds the same prestige. The media has undoubtedly placed the Heisman in a league of its own in terms of prestige, but how do the other top honors predict its winner?

Breakdown of Top Honors in College Football:

Tier 1:
The Heisman Memorial Trophy: Awarded to Nation’s Most Outstanding Player (Dates back to 1935)
Voting: United States is split into six regions each of which contains 145 media votes. Each previous winner also has votes as well as one going to the public. Every ballot works on a point system assigning 3 points for first, 2 for second, 1 for third.

Tier 2:
Maxwell Award: Awarded to College Football’s Player of the Year (Dates back to 1937)
Voting; All members of the Maxwell Football Club have the right to place their vote for this and many other awards. What does that mean? For $35 a year or $750 for life you too can vote.

Walter Camp Award: Awarded to College Football’s Player of the Year (Dates back to 1967)
Voting: Done by what appears to be an exclusive group of 20 members that oversee the foundation and thus become eligible to vote. A small $25,000 dollar annual fee is all you’ll need for this privilege.

Tier 3:
Doak Walker Award: Awarded to Nation’s Top Running Back (Dates back to 1990)
Voting: Run by SMU. Ten semifinalist are voted on by the the SMU Athletic Forum Board of Directors who send that list to a National Selection Committee for the Award the cast votes for three finalists and then again for a winner. This panel is made up for Media and former All Americans and All Pro players. You can see the list here

Davey O’Brien Award: Awarded to Nation’s Best Quarterback (Dates back to 1981)
Voting: A selection of Media personalities and past winners. New this year is the addition of the fan vote which takes the public’s top three picks into the semi finals and adds 5% to their total votes during the voting for finalists and the winner.
Selection Committee List

Now that we’ve run down the awards lets take at some history of the winners and how the other four awards influence who wins the Heisman.

Three Resumes to Keep in Mind:
Tebow is the first underclassmen to ever win the Heisman. He played on a team that went 9-4 and landed 16th in USA Today Poll, 13th in the AP poll, and 12th in the BCS standings. He currently has two more years of eligibility left and has made numerous comments about graduating being the most important thing to him and his family… inferring he won’t leave early.

Tebow also won the Maxwell and O’Brien Awards.

Archie Griffin is the only player to ever win the Heisman twice (1974 & 75). 1974 saw them as co-champions of the Big Ten while in 1975 they won outright. Both years they lost in the Rose Bowl ending with records of 10-2 and 11-1 respectively.

Grffin won the Walter Camp both years and the Maxwell in 75.

Darren McFadden became only the second player in Heisman history to be named runner up twice without winning the award. Glenn Davis took second honors in 1944 and 45 before winning it in 46, however, with McFadden declaring for the draft that stat is solidified. He also becomes the second player to ever win the Doak Walker Award Twice ( 2006 and 07). Ricky Williams did it (1997 and 98) before adding the Heisman to his resume later on in 1998.

McFadden’s total: Walter Camp 07, Doak Walker 06 and 07, no Heisman.

What does this mean?
Starting at 1990 from the conception of the Doak Walker Award the Breakdown looks like this:

1990-2007 (18 Seasons)
13 players winning the Walter Camp Award won the Heisman

7 players had won the Doak and the Walter Camp. Five of those players went on to win the Heisman ( McFadden becomes the 2nd player not to)
• Larry Johnson was the first without winning the Heisman even though he brought home the Walter Camp, Doak Walker, and the Maxwell.

9 Players have won both the Maxwell and the O’Brien: Five went on to win the Heisman. Jason White won both in 04’ but won his Heisman in 03’ with just an O’Brien.

Like I had written in a previous article,the Heisman is inconsistent. At one point or another the talent portrayed by these athletes was rewarded. Slighting McFadden in this years Heisman race was worse than what Larry Johnson endured in 2002 in which he didn’t even finish second in the Heisman race. This is during the same year that he took home the other three most prestigious awards (Brad Banks takes the O’Brien and Runner Up position to Carson Palmer for the Heisman). It comes down to the issue that first the media won’t let him win it because he is a sophomore, the next you tell me that it was because his team wasn’t good enough. Arkansas finished with an 8-5 record, 3rd in SEC West with a conference record of 4-4 and lost in the Cotton Bowl to Missouri who finished fourth in the AP Poll. Instead you are going to give it to a sophomore whose team went 9-4 and sat third in SEC East with a 5-3 record. To top it off Florida with Tebow behind the helm lost in the Capital One Bowl to a Michigan team who was 18th in the final AP vote.

McFadden Deserved the Heisman. Take nothing away from a stellar individual effort from Tebow but were we ready to put him in place to join Griffin as the only two time winner, or God Forbid let him stand a top as a three time winner solidifying the mythical stature the media has created for him.

4Real Out....
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It's Heisman Day

It's Saturday everyone and that means today is the day that we find out if Tim Tebow is the first ever underclassman to win the Heisman, or if Colt Brennan can pull it off after a semi-soft schedule. Maybe McFadden will pull it off after finishing second in voting last year despite the 4 losses for the "Hogs" this year and the 43 yard performance against Auburn or perhaps Chase Daniel whose numbers are incredible was a major catalyst in bringing Mizzou into the title picture but he couldn't get past Oklahoma (his numbers are comparable to Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, who could get by Oklahoma). Either way the whole season this has been debated, ad nauseum and tonight it will be decided. Will the winner display it at a local eatery, travel with it every weekend, sell it to pay off bills, all of which have been done before with this storied trophy for the best player in College Football. One thing to consider, is the Heisman really worth it. Let's look at some of the past winners post Heisman successes.

In the first 20 years many chose to pursue military service, continued education, and entering the job market over playing in one of the struggling leagues available. Of the first 20 winners there was only a total of 53 seasons of football played, and not all in the NFL. Leon Hart (8), Alan Ameche (6), Doak Walker (6) and Howard "Hopalong" Cassidy (9) account for 29 of those seasons. Ameche among the most notable of these professionals following his collegiate career playing in 4 Pro Bowls, Doak Walker the other, who appeared in 5 Pro Bowls and is also the first Heisman Winner in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The next 10 years led to more NFL appearances and success with 65 total seasons played between them with the most notable of that decade coming in the form of the second Heisman Winner to eventually make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Paul Hornung. Hornung played in 9 NFL seasons with 2 Pro Bowl Appearances and 1 MVP. Also during this period Roger Staubach won the award and was the 3rd Heisman winner in the Hall. Staubach played in 4 Super Bowls, won 2, and the Super Bowl VI MVP as well as appearing in 6 Pro Bowls. After the successes of a few of the Heisman winners people started to expect more out of a Heisman winner once entering the NFL. Unfortunately during that period of time there was another first. Terry Baker (1962), considered by many to be the first real NFL bust of a Heisman winner.

In the next 10 years there was only 9 winners due to the legendary Archie Griffin, the only two time winner who had an average statistical NFL career in 7 seasons. Also during this period was Orenthal James Simpson, more commonly known as O.J. He won the Hesiman for his slicing (down the field) and slashing (of opposing defenders) at USC and not in Brentwood. He was the 4th Heisman Winner in the Hall (though technically He and Staubach tied to be the first and Hornung and Walker tied for third due to the timing of elections into the Hall). There was also Jim Plunkett during this period who was the Rookie of the Year and then after a few down seasons was the Comeback Player of the year during a 16 year career. And the last notable of this time being 1966 Winner QB Steve Spurrier before he was the Ol' Ball Coach. His NFL numbers a forgettable 40 TDs and 60 INTs in 10 seasons.

The folllowing decade was a little bit more promising leading to the professional careers of Tony Dorsett (Hall of Famer and 4 Pro Bowls in 12 seasons) and Earl Campbell (Hall of Famer, Rookie of the Year, and 3 time Player of the Year in 8 seasons). This decade also led to Charles White who played 9 seasons with 1 Pro Bowl but more importantly was 3 - 0 in his 3 appearances on America Gladiators. This decade gave us Marcus Allen (1x MVP, 6x Pro Bowler, and wrapped up a Hall of Fame Career after winning the 1993 comeback player of the year) and Herschel Walker. Walker is considered by many to be one of the best college football players of all time and also one of the biggest disappointments in Professional Football. After playing a few years in the stepchild USFL he had a lengthy but un-miraculous professional career. Even being made fun of annually in Minnesota for the trade the Vikings made that led to 9 picks for Dallas which in turn led to Emmit Smith and turned the team around with a solid nucleus of role players added through the drafts. There was Doug Flutie who played 21 seasons and had his own cereal, but only played 12 of his 21 seasons in the NFL, averaging less than 7.5 games per season during that period. Flutie was also the first person to be shorter than the trophy, a high distinction. Lastly was Bo Jackson who was probably the best college football player and could have been a great pro had he not put off football for baseball his first couple years and had a plastic hip his last year in the NFL. Of his high marks though are his unbeatable appearance in TECMO Super Bowl and the ProStars cartoon where He, Michael Jordon, and Wayne Gretzky solved Crimes.


The nest 20 years of winners were led off by Vinny Testaverde, Tim Brown and Barry Sanders (Hall of Fame) that made people once again think the Heisman could lead to a succeessful career the likes of Allen or Simpson. Unfortunately during this period the opposite was more common after the careers of Andre Ware (almost no NFL game play), Ty Detmer (definition of career back-up), Gino Torretta (5 teams in 4 years, careers stats 5/16 for 41 yds, 1 INT and 1 32 yd touchdown), Charlie Ward (NBA), Rashan Salaam (mention his name in Chicago I dare you), Danny Wuerffel, Ricky Marley errr Williams, Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch (the face of the future All-American Football League), and Jason White (retired before taking a snap).

In total 8 Heisman Winners have entered the NFL Hall of Fame, 20 have been to multiple Pro Bowls/AFL/CFL All-Star games, 5 have won 5 MVP, 1 CFL MVP and 1 USFL MVP, 3 Comeback Players of the Year, and one three time American Gladiator winner. What the will future hold for today's young men remains to be seen but with America Gladiators coming back on TV I can only hope someone challenges Charles White's 3-0 record.
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