By Kyle Golik
Larry Fitzgerald
Jason White was the conductor of a mighty Sooners offense that averaged 43 points per game, and weapons like Kejuan Jones, Mark Clayton, and Brandon Jones aided White to 40 touchdowns on the season.
The difference is while White was the master conductor of the powerful Sooners offense, Larry Fitzgerald was everything for Pitt.
Fitzgerald had 92 receptions for 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns. Every week, he seemingly had a highlight every game while setting an NCAA record for most consecutive games with a touchdown with 18.
While White was impressive in his own right, he was complemented by amazing talents around him. That group orchestrated demolitions of Texas, Texas A&M, and the rest of the Big XII. Fitzgerald was individually as dominant as any receiver in NCAA history with inferior talent around him.
For me, just on the eye test alone, Fitzgerald is one of the biggest snubs of all time, and his achievements help justify that point.
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Vince Young
With Reggie Bush fighting to get his Heisman Trophy back, we need to discuss if he was deserving of it in the first place. I feel the 2005 battle between the incumbent Matt Leinart, Bush, and Texas QB Vince Young was one of the best Heisman Trophy classes of all time.
You can make a compelling case for Reggie Bush in justifying his winning of the award. Bush had 2,890 all-purpose yards on the season (1,740 rushing, 478 receiving, 493 kick return, 179 punt return) for 19 total touchdowns.
Young averaged 314.3 yards per game of total offense and 38 total touchdowns. The dual-threat quarterback had over 1,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards passing on the season.
Both Young and Bush had Heisman statements. Young had the Ohio State game, where he put up 346 total yards and two touchdowns at The Shoe. Bush had the iconic Fresno State game, where he had 513 all-purpose yards and wowed the nation.
While Young got revenge in the Rose Bowl against Bush, Young was as much his equal that season, and in the biggest moments, Texas leaned heavily on Young to pull through, and to me, that is the slight edge I give him over Bush.
Adrian Peterson
A couple of factors led to Peterson losing this Heisman to Matt Leinart.
There was a legitimate split in the vote between Peterson and the Sooners’ 2003 Heisman Trophy winner, Jason White.
The other factor was Peterson being a true freshman. At that point, Heisman voters were lukewarm at best about rewarding young underclassmen.
Peterson was limited by a shoulder injury during the Nebraska game that prevented him from getting over 100 yards against every regular season opponent.
Despite the injury, Peterson finished his freshman campaign with 1,925 yards rushing with 15 rushing touchdowns that included an NCAA freshman record with 11 100-yard rushing games.
While Southern Cal left zero doubt in the Orange Bowl who was the superior team in a 55-19 rout and limiting Peterson to under 100 yards, it was Peterson’s phenomenal freshman season that saw Oklahoma go from 146.7 yards per game in 2003 to 208.4 yards per game – a jump from 60th to 17th.
Ndamukong Suh
Alabama began its modern dynasty in 2009, powered by running back Mark Ingram. Ingram led the Alabama offense with 1,992 total yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns. Those are Heisman-worthy numbers.
But in the same season, Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh had one of the greatest defensive seasons of all time, and the eye test didn’t disappoint either.
Suh finished the season from the defensive tackle position with 85 tackles, 28 quarterback hurries, 20.5 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback sacks, ten pass breakups, three blocked kicks, and one interception.
It was Suh’s performance in the Big XII Championship Game against No. 1 Texas that gave the Huskers the near upset where he had 12 tackles (seven for losses, a school single-game record) and 4.5 sacks. Suh was the game MVP as well in the 13-12 loss.
I feel that had Nebraska upset Texas, Suh would have won the Heisman. It would have been the style point he needed with Heisman voters, but his season didn’t need an exclamation point. It was the most dominant season a defender had in a generation.
Charles Woodson didn’t have individually the season Suh did, and he won the Heisman.
Manti Te’o nearly got one, and he wasn’t even in the same league as Suh.
This one will forever be a head-scratcher to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxZYAiN4cXI
Christian McCaffrey
Much like the Reggie Bush/Vince Young debate, this is another great debate.
Derrick Henry was unstoppable, and Nick Saban rode the “Henry Tank” to another national championship, chewing up 2,218 yards and 28 touchdowns on the ground.
Christian McCaffrey was the all-purpose machine that led the Stanford Cardinal to a Pac-12 Championship and a win in the Rose Bowl, finishing in No. 3 in the polls.
While Henry led the nation in rushing, McCaffrey was second and was the first Stanford Cardinal running back to gain over 2,000 yards.
Additionally, it was McCaffrey who was as valuable or even more valuable to his team than Henry. While Henry primarily carried the ball on offense from the Crimson Tide backfield, McCaffrey was used in all facets by the Cardinal.
That versatility helped McCaffrey break Barry Sanders record of most all-purpose yards in a single season and finished with 3,864 yards (2,019 rushing, 645 receiving, 1,070 kick return, 130 punt return) and 15 total touchdowns scoring rushing, receiving, and returning both punts and kicks.
When you break a college football immortal’s record like McCaffrey did and possess the versatility he did, to me, it trumps the amazing single focus Henry had.
