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This article echos the argument I've been making for years. Namely, that the Heisman sucks and has been a joke for decades now. The writer also nails it, in my opinion, that Charles Woodson over Peyton Manning was the biggest Heisman robbery ever.
Let's face it: The best player usually doesn't win the award. It's more about politics and ratings than rewarding achievement, and most fans know that by now.
What do you think of this list? Are these the biggest Heisman rip-offs ever? If it were expanded to a top 10 or top 15 instead of just a top 4, who else should be on there?
At the top of my list is an individual who is not listed here.
He came in fifth in the voting for the 1956 Heisman award.
Ahead of him was Paul Hornung, Johnny Majors, Tommy McDonald, and Jerry Tubbs.
For over two decades he held the NFL record for total yards gained until Franco Harris broke it in 1984.
He, along with Johnny Unitas and Vince Lombardi were the men primarily responsible for transforming America from a baseball watching nation to a football watching nation.
He played 9 seasons in the NFL and did not miss a game due to injury. Not one.
Eight of those nine years he led the NFL in rushing. Jim Taylor of the Green Bay Packers was the only one to come in with bigger numbers in any one year.
Until NFL Films had their "Top 100 Players In NFL History" series in 2012, he and Johnny Unitas were recognized by pretty much every sports writer and pretty much every football fan from that era as number one and two as the top players in NFL history.
In my view he will always be the best running back in NFL history. 4 of the seasons he played were 12 game seasons, the other 5 were 14 game seasons. He could have played 5 more seasons, maybe more than five, but quit because he wanted to do other things. Like being in movies. And making more money than he ever made in the NFL.
He was wronged. Coming in at 5th place in the voting? Wronged.
My parents weren't even born in '56, so I don't have the knowledge base to argue Jim Brown versus Johnny Majors, Franco Harris, etc.
I do agree that a player's NFL career doesn't matter at all when it comes to how deserving he was of the Heisman. Eric Crouch of Nebraska, who did precisely jack s--- in the NFL, was pretty deserving, in my opinion. On the other hand, Terrell Owens racked up in the NFL, but that doesn't mean he should have won the Heisman at Chattanooga.
Good points regarding Brown's NFL career having nothing to do with what he did during his last year in college and the resulting Heisman Trophy voting process.
Let's talk about 1956, as the point of my post was about the 1957 Heisman Trophy winner.
Jerry Tubbs--First off, give credit where credit is due to a voting process that recognizes the guys up front. Tubbs played center. Was a 2 time All Big-7 pick and All-American his senior year. Played for Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma. Drafted by the Chicago cardinals the next year and for some reason tried to convert him to linebacker. Duh. He wound up in Dallas and tom Landry switched him back to his center spot.
Tommy McDonald--All-American running back out of Oklahoma, rushed for 659 yards. Drafted by the Eagles, played 13 years in the NFL.
Johnny Majors--mostly noted as a great college coach, was a solid running back for Tennessee. 2 time SEC Player of the Year, All American halfback-108 carries for 549 yards. And passing? 33 for 49 for 552 yards in that year.
Let's go to Paul Hornung. He was voted the Heisman Trophy in 1957. Fine player. But his stats in my opinion come into question>>>including one big one. He is the only Heisman winner who played on a losing team. And it was a team that finished 2-8. NOW he has stats!! For total yards--rushing/passing he finished with 1337, second to John Brodie's 1642. But Notre Dame scored 130 points and allowed 280 points that season. They simply were not competitive in the least. In 1955 they were, finishing 8-2 and 9th in the AP poll. And the year after Paul Hornung left Notre Dame to play for Green Bay? They were 7-3 and 10th in the AP poll. There were several games where Notre dame just got crushed. Now 1337 yards total is fine. When did those yards accumulate? When they were a score behind in the first quarter? Or 4 scores behind in the 4th quarter? I'm not saying the stats are skewed, but stats are stats. He DID have one passing stat that finished 9th in the NCAA stats, that was interceptions. He finished 9th with 13. WTH went on in 1956? It would take some time and a lot of research to figure out what went wrong with Notre Dame. But to give the trophy based on 1337 all purpose yards, I'm sorry. There's some politics going on here.
Troy Davis, Iowa State, 1995 & 1996. At that point he was the only RB to rush for 2000+ yards in a season (did it in '95 AND '96) and NOT win the Heisman Trophy.
And that's why I said what I said about Jim Brown.>>>>>Jim Brown--1956.
Unanimous first team All-American
Rushed for 986 yards on 158 attempts (3rd in the country)
Rushed for 13 touchdowns-also had one receiving, finishing with 14 touchdowns.
Led Syracuse to the 1957 Cotton Bowl where they faced TCU. Brown scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 3 extra points. The 4th extra point was blocked. TCU hung on for a 28-27 victory.
Syracuse was 8-1 heading to that Cotton Bowl matchup with TCU. They finished 8-2. And finished 8th in the final AP Poll.
Troy Davis, Iowa State, 1995 & 1996. At that point he was the only RB to rush for 2000+ yards in a season (did it in '95 AND '96) and NOT win the Heisman Trophy.
I might put him over Wuerffel in 1996. I agree with the article that T. Frazier was the man in 1995. But Davis was probably the more deserving RB compared to George.
Troy Davis, Iowa State, 1995 & 1996. At that point he was the only RB to rush for 2000+ yards in a season (did it in '95 AND '96) and NOT win the Heisman Trophy.
I think a large part of it was the helmet he wore when he played. Had he played for Nebraska, Iowa, or Wisconsin, he would have likely won in a landslide.
And not only that, but ISU was awful when he played. They're still not very good, but the Cyclones were a special kind of awful in the 90s. IIRC, when Paul Hornung won it in the 50s, it was the only time a Heisman winner played for a team with a losing record. And of course he won it simply because he played for Notre Dame.
I think a large part of it was the helmet he wore when he played. Had he played for Nebraska, Iowa, or Wisconsin, he would have likely won in a landslide.
And not only that, but ISU was awful when he played. They're still not very good, but the Cyclones were a special kind of awful in the 90s. IIRC, when Paul Hornung won it in the 50s, it was the only time a Heisman winner played for a team with a losing record. And of course he won it simply because he played for Notre Dame.
In a way, that makes Davis' stats more impressive. He ran behind an inferior offensive line that was trying (often unsuccessfully) to block superior defenders.
Eddie George, on the other hand, played for a team that was ranked #1 or #2 for the entire season before losing to Michigan in the last game. The talent around him buttressed his performance.
Like the article suggests, the Heisman isn't about rewarding the best individual player in college football. It's about drawing big ratings and generating big hype by parading the flashiest players from the sexiest programs with the biggest fan bases.
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