This year’s version of the race for college football’s most prestigious individual award was a fascinating one indeed. Over the course of the season, we witnessed a healthy mix of preseason favorites and out-of-nowhere upstarts make their case to be considered. In the end, it appears for the most part that the former group have compiled the most convincing body of work.
The three finalists, announced on Monday, include Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon, and Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper. It’s not often that you get the three main skill positions on the offensive side of the ball represented the way we have it this year. Each player had their moments to impress the voters and did so when it mattered most, while others had their chances to shine but ended up voting themselves off the show.
When you think about it, the season long quest to win the Heisman Trophy has striking similarities to those reality shows which have become so ubiquitous on network and cable television. Most of us are familiar with programs such as American Idol, The Voice, or Hell’s Kitchen among many others, where prospective talents have their chances each week to either kill it on stage with an epic musical performance or put together a stellar dinner service without Gordon Ramsay chewing them out because of undercooked scallops. Each week is an audition in and of itself, with the best moving along while others seeing their dreams put to rest for the time being.
Before we get to the finalists and how they looked in their final audition for the Heisman Trophy, it might make sense to look back on those prospective players who had their shots at different points during the season but ended up not making the final cut for varying reasons.
There was Dak Prescott, who led Mississippi State to unprecedented heights in program history including its first ever number one ranking before the Bulldogs dropped a few games late in the season and the junior quarterback turned in some less than stellar games.
You had redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett of Ohio State, thrust into the spotlight after Braxton Miller’s shoulder injury in preseason camp, turn in most likely the second most impressive season for a quarterback in the country before his own injury against Michigan took away his opportunity to make it a freshman Heisman trifecta over the past three years.
UCLA’s Brett Hundley was one of those preseason darlings who quickly fell out of favor, worked his way back into dark horse territory, then completely crashed out in the Bruins season finale against Stanford.
With the year of the running back a prominent theme in Big Ten play, two speedsters besides Gordon in Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah and Indiana’s Tevin Coleman looked to crash the Heisman party. Abdullah injured his knee against Purdue and was never quite the same, while Coleman joined Gordon as the only 2,000 yard rushers in the country. His team’s 4-8 record is ultimately what prevented him from making an appearance in New York on Saturday.
Then there was Trevone Boykin, whose candidacy in many ways mirrored the Playoff aspirations of his TCU Horned Frogs team. The numbers were certainly there to warrant inclusion, but for whatever reason it just didn’t happen.
Now, onto the finalists. I referred to the whole concept of an audition and how each game functions as such. Well, much like the final show of the year is each contestant’s biggest opportunity to either get signed to that lucrative recording contract or become executive chef at a luxurious Las Vegas hotel, the season finale is oftentimes the last chance for those Heisman hopefuls to wrap up the award. In all three finalists’ case, that last opportunity came in their respective conference’s championship game. So how did they do?
Marcus Mariota
The Oregon signal caller was the first one up last Friday in the Pac-12 title game as his Ducks had the opportunity to solidify their spot in the CFP and enact revenge on an Arizona team that handed them their only loss on the year. Needless to say, just about everything went Oregon’s way in this game and Mariota saved his best performance, both this season and arguably for his entire college career, for last. He accounted for five total touchdowns, including three on the ground, and threw for 313 yards in a 51-13 beatdown of the Wildcats that was not as close as the score indicated.
I know the Heisman Trophy isn’t a career achievement award but check out these final stats in three years since we’re assuming (aren’t you?) he’s going pro after this season. Passing-wise, he’s thrown for 10,125 yards, 101 touchdowns and…wait for this one, it’s nuts…12 interceptions…in three years. I know NFL versus college is like apples and oranges but Geno Smith has thrown 12 interceptions already this year in 13 games.
If you’re a fan of those musical reality shows, Mariota sang the lights out of a song last Friday, got a standing O and all the judges reserved the highest of verbal accolades to describe it. If he concocted a dish on that crazy cooking show, Ramsay took a bite and by doing so sent his tastebuds on a journey to culinary heaven.
Amari Cooper
Cooper’s Crimson Tide were expected to romp against Missouri in the SEC championship game and that’s pretty much what took place even though the Tigers put up a valiant fight in the third quarter. That said, a 21-13 game heading into the final stanza quickly got away from Mizzou as Bama would double their point output in the fourth, cruising to a 42-13 win and locking up the top seed in the CFP where Ohio State beckons in the Sugar Bowl.
The junior wideout from Miami wasn’t exactly lights out in Atlanta, even getting upstaged by teammate DeAndrew White who caught a mere four passes yet finished with 101 yards and a touchdown reception while Cooper had three times as many receptions yet managed only 83 yards and not a single trip to the end zone. It’s a far cry from the 224 yards and three touchdown grabs Cooper managed against hated rival Auburn the week before which marked the second time this season he reached that yardage total.
His final audition performance is akin to the guy/gal who turns in multiple standout musical performances in the shows leading up to the big finale, only to have their stage presence and overall persona just not show up when it needs to. Cooper can make his entrees sizzle, but unfortunately as a wide receiver he’s just not the flavor of the day. The last wideout to win the Heisman Trophy was Desmond Howard 23 years ago and besides him only two other players who lined up at the position, Tim Brown of Notre Dame and Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska, took home the award.
Melvin Gordon
Before conference championship week got underway, there seemed to be a precarious dichotomy between Gordon and Mariota’s Heisman worthiness. Though Mariota was still considered the frontrunner, it was believed Gordon could lay claim to the Heisman if he turned in a performance remotely reminiscent of his record-breaking 408 yard breakout against Nebraska when his Wisconsin team took on Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
Even before the Badger back took the field, Mariota did his part in controlling his own destiny as we’ve already discussed. Regardless of that, absolutely nothing went well for Gordon in Indianapolis as the Buckeyes turned in perhaps the most comprehensive trouncing in conference title game history with a 59-0 massacre. Gordon averaged nearly eight yards per carry all year but was held to just 2.9 against OSU and finished the game with a paltry 76 yards and obviously no touchdowns given the final score.
I’m inclined to pin Gordon’s forgettable performance to the inspired play of Ohio State’s defense more than anything. This was a unit playing for the memory of their fallen defensive lineman Kosta Karageorge, whose funeral they attended on Wednesday, and clearly their play indicated a singularly united drive to leave it all on the field for him.
I hate to bring up stupid reality shows in the wake of what I just discussed, but it has to be said that Gordon, like the previously discussed Cooper, turned in praiseworthy performances week in and week out until it really mattered. When the limelight was as brilliantly shimmering as possible, he got blinded by its unwavering glow.
To put it all in perspective, Mariota’s performance was just too convincing to enable the other two young men who’ve survived to this stage to put any damper on his ambitions to add the big one to an already extensive trophy case that after Thursday’s awards announcements includes the Davey O’Brien Award (best quarterback) and Maxwell Award (most outstanding college football player). When all is set and done, it’s hard to argue against the case for Mariota and the general consensus seems to be that his name will be printed on the card which will emerge from that envelope when the 2014 winner of the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is announced.
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