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Heisman update
By Shawn Krest
Even though December’s Sports & Leisure Magazine made the final Heisman trophy decision, college football stubbornly insists on playing more games. As a result, there have been a few changes.
The biggest change is in the status of USC quarterback Carson Palmer. We predicted that he would lose the regular season finale against Notre Dame—not a stretch, since he’s gone Chris Simms in big games throughout his career. Much to our surprise, he led Southern Cal’s offense to a 44-13 drubbing of the Irish. It may have secured him a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist, displacing the fading Seneca Wallace.
Penn State running back Larry Johnson reached the 2000 yard mark on the strength of some phenomenal late-season rushing performances. He topped 200 yards in a game four times in the last six weeks (including 327 against Indiana). The numbers, along with the soft spot in voters’ hearts for everything Joe Pa, boosts him in the rankings, but not into the top four. The big numbers are impressive, but the little numbers—68, 78, and 66 yards in losses to Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State—tell a more complete story.
The final four, then is as follows: Palmer is in at number four. Maurice Clarett of Ohio State holds on to the three spot, and the two Miami stars are one-two.
Any question on the order that quarterback Ken Dorsey and running back Willis McGahee should have been resolved by the team itself. Miami’s official position, echoed by coach Larry Coker, the offensive line, even the team’s radio play-by-play man, is that Dorsey is the man. "He is the best player in college football this year," said Coker after the Syracuse win. As long as the Canes handle Virginia Tech, Dorsey should get the title.
Should the Hokies pull the upset, well, that’s why they call this the Heisman update.
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Election day: One Heisman ballot
By Shawn Krest
"Wide open." You can’t get too far into any award handicapping article without coming across that phrase. Too often, what that phrase means is, "we don’t like the leader." Back before Barry Bonds was head and shoulders above everyone else, his personality resulted in plenty of "wide open" National League MVP races.
After tracking this season’s race for the Heisman Trophy from day one, however, Sports & Leisure Magazine has a slightly different phrase.
"Open and shut."
The preseason leader was on top for a reason, and that reason never changed. All the bells, whistles, smoke and mirrors in the world wouldn’t unseat him. It makes for boring "Heisman Update" articles in the Sunday paper, but that’s no reason to rob the most deserving candidate of his trophy. Unless he’s Barry Bonds, of course.
Not in the top ten: Chris Simms, Texas; Philip Rivers, NC State; Dave Ragone, Louisville; Rex Grossman, Florida; Charles Rogers, Michigan State. All were among the leaders at some point, and all had spectacular flame-outs. Simms and Grossman lost their biggest games of the year and looked bad doing so. Each added another loss, for good measure. Ragone and Rivers never made it to their big showdowns, both losing before playing Florida State (though we predicted Ragone’s upset of FSU back in "The Big Football Issue"). Rogers was spectacular, but couldn’t overcome his team’s disastrous season.
In reverse order, here are the ten best college players in 2002.
10. Carson Palmer, USC quarterback. This was written prior to his biggest game of the year—against Notre Dame. Obviously, we’re guessing it didn’t go well.
9. Onterrio Smith, Oregon running back: Late season injury curtailed his season.
8. Jason Gesser, Washington State quarterback: Unless you bought the pay-per-view package, the Notre Dame game will probably be the first time you see any of the players in the bottom of the top ten. College football’s television schedule in Western New York is about as dependable as sunrise. Wisconsin’s on at noon. At 3:30 is Penn State on one channel and an orange team (Florida or Tennessee) on the other. LSU is on at night. And, of course, BYU is on Thursday. I have a pretty high tolerance for over-exposure. I watch Portland vs. the Lakers every time TNT shows it (which is almost as often as "The Breakfast Club"). I’d just like to see some Pac 10 and Big 12 football once in awhile.
7. Chris Brown, Colorado running back: He has a shot at 2000 yards and already has a 300 yard game and a 200 yard game this season. He’s a running back putting up quarterback yardage
6. Byron Leftwich, Marshall quarterback: An early season favorite who’s weak schedule and losses in tv games hurt his candidacy. Someone else will get the trophy, but Leftwich will get his in the NFL.
5. Eli Manning, Mississippi quarterback: We really wanted to invite him to New York as one of the top four, just to prove a point. Everyone complains about the slick Heisman campaigns that schools run touting their players. Here’s a guy that opted out of the big Heisman push. The result? He’s been virtually ignored. The Heisman should be based on production. Having said that, eight interceptions in four straight late-season losses keep him home.
And the four we’d invite to New York City are:
4. Seneca Wallace, Iowa State quarterback: Perhaps the most exciting player in college football. Still, the numbers aren’t good. 14 touchdowns (the Pac 10 quarterbacks at the bottom of the list have 24 each), 14 interceptions. He’s also been sacked 15 times, which is a lot for a running quarterback. Virtually all of his numbers are down from last season.
3. Maurice Clarett, Ohio State running back: Yes he’s hurt. Yes he’s only a freshman. But yes, he’s the best player on one of the last two undefeateds. Unlike the big names outside the top ten, he came to play in the biggest games. He hung 230 yards and two touchdowns on Washington State (their only defeat of the year). He also put up 133 in a close win over Wisconsin (which was probably shown on ESPN at noon). Bring him to New York so he’ll know where to go to pick up next year’s Heisman.
2. Willis McGahee, Miami running back: He also came to play in the biggest games—200 yards against Florida, a touchdown in the FSU comeback, and 150 yards against Tennessee. His biggest drawback is that a teammate will be taking most of his votes. Also, the big argument that is made against Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey—he only succeeds because of the system—can also be applied to McGahee. McGahee was third on the depth chart before Clinton Portis went pro and Frank Gore hurt his knee. You can just plug anyone in and they’ll produce.
And our vote for this year’s Heisman winner goes to…
1. Ken Dorsey, Miami quarterback: We say the same thing every month. All he does is win. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, until everyone else starts losing. Ask Notre Dame. Ask Georgia. Ask Oklahoma. Sure he’s a system quarterback. All Miami quarterbacks put up big numbers. Most of them also show they have pretty good talent at the next level too. Alex Rodriguez lost this year’s American League MVP because he played on a bad team. Dorsey shouldn’t lose the Heisman because he plays on a good one.
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