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CBS Sports: 5 Biggest Heisman Snubs in History

Pitt never should have been that mediocre in year seven of the Harris regime.

Also, the writer misses big that Kris Wilson helped Larry out by leading the country in TD catches by a tight end. Kris got snubbed for the Mackey Award, which went to the overhyped Winslow Jr., who caught a whopping one TD pass that season to take home the trophy.

If Pitt beats ND and Toledo (how the hell did they not?) to finish 9-2 I think of those guys wins an award.
 
Not sure how anything could’ve kept Larry from winning heisman that year, but if I were to pick one thing is wouldnt be the loss to Toledo, it’d be a mediocre performance against VT at end of the year. I forget the CB’s name, but I think he went on to NFL career
 
All of those early 2000s Heisman winners were a joke.

Rex Grossman should have won it over Crouch.
Willis McGahee should have won it over Palmer.
Fitz over White.
And I would have gone Heupel over Weinke in 2000, but I think that vote was at least defensible.
 
The Toledo game didn’t have anything to do with it. Fitz was being hyped all season and I can remember many ESPN talking heads touting him weekly. The last game of the season against Miami was in prime time on ABC and he had a so-so performance in that one. If he would have lit up The U, there is no doubt he would have won the Heisman.
 
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All this does is prove once again that the Heisman rarely goes to the best player in college football for that year. Lately, it NEVER goes to the best player. So the award is irrelevant in this day and age. It's too political and based on name recognition and who the guy plays for.
 
Not sure how anything could’ve kept Larry from winning heisman that year, but if I were to pick one thing is wouldnt be the loss to Toledo, it’d be a mediocre performance against VT at end of the year. I forget the CB’s name, but I think he went on to NFL career
(s) As in plural. Local sportwriters.
 
Paul Hornung played for a team that finished 2-8 and won the Heisman Trophy

Wrong...AGAIN

Not yet Coach Majors finished second that year. And of course, Hornung deserved it way more than that schlub from Syracuse, right?
 
George Rogers over Hugh Green is another one that could have been an honorable mention. But Rogers had a terrific season and single-handedly led that team.
 
The Toledo game didn’t have anything to do with it. Fitz was being hyped all season and I can remember many ESPN talking heads touting him weekly. The last game of the season against Miami was in prime time on ABC and he had a so-so performance in that one. If he would have lit up The U, there is no doubt he would have won the Heisman.
Correct I believe he had 74 yds and a late TD in that game, but the stats weren't good and the TD came really late. It wasn't larry's fault Pitt just didn't have the talent to hang with Miami but Miami had a couple of really good DB's who doubled larry every down. Had he put up a typical 160 yds and 2 td type of performance he probably wins the heisman.
 
Nope. Pitt losing to Toledo that year likely cost Larry Fitzgerald the Heisman.
Fitz wasn’t the Head Coach or Defensive Coordinator who kept the Pitt DB’s 10 yards off the line of scrimmage while Toledo picked them apart with 5 yard passes all game. I’ve said it before but if that game was in Pittsburgh or on TV, Walt would have been fired the Monday morning after the game.
 

Rk Player School Class Pos 1st 2nd 3rd Tot Summary
1
Jason White* Oklahoma JR QB 319 204 116 1481 278 Cmp, 451 Att, 3846 Yds, 40 TD, 10 Int
2 Larry Fitzgerald* Pitt SO WR 253 233 128 1353 92 Rec, 1672 Yds, 18.2 Avg, 22 TD
3 Eli Manning* Ole Miss SR QB 95 132 161 710 275 Cmp, 441 Att, 3600 Yds, 29 TD, 10 Int
4 Chris Perry* Michigan SR RB 27 66 128 341 338 Att, 1674 Yds, 5.0 Avg, 18 TD
5 Darren Sproles* Kansas State SR RB 15 30 29 134 306 Att, 1986 Yds, 6.5 Avg, 16 TD
6 Matt Leinart* USC SO QB 5 27 58 127 255 Cmp, 402 Att, 3556 Yds, 38 TD, 9 Int
7 Philip Rivers* North Carolina State SR QB 18 20 24 118 348 Cmp, 483 Att, 4491 Yds, 34 TD, 7 Int
8 Mike Williams* USC SO WR 12 12 18 78 95 Rec, 1314 Yds, 13.8 Avg, 16 TD
9 Ben Roethlisberger* Miami (OH) JR QB 5 9 14 47 342 Cmp, 495 Att, 4486 Yds, 37 TD, 10 Int
10 B.J. Symons* Texas Tech JR QB 1 7 21 38 470 Cmp, 719 Att, 5833 Yds, 52
 
The local sports reporter who voted for a 6th year senior from the West rather than the local player, cost Fitz the Heisman.

Agree it was really stupid to vote for White, but he ended up winning by well over a hundred votes.

How did a local sports reporter’s vote cost Fitzgerald the award? That doesn’t make any sense.
 
Of course I have an obvious bias, but I'd say Vinny Testaverde over Paul Palmer belongs in the article. Virtually the same scenario as was cited for Marshall Faulk.
 
Nope. Pitt losing to Toledo that year likely cost Larry Fitzgerald the Heisman.

Toledo was 8-3 that year with 2 wins against ranked opponents.

When Ron Dayne won the Heisman in 1999, his team lost to Cincinnati, who won 3 games that season.

But... you have zero interest in anything other than trolling.
 
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Rk Player School Class Pos 1st 2nd 3rd Tot Summary
1
Jason White* Oklahoma JR QB 319 204 116 1481 278 Cmp, 451 Att, 3846 Yds, 40 TD, 10 Int
2 Larry Fitzgerald* Pitt SO WR 253 233 128 1353 92 Rec, 1672 Yds, 18.2 Avg, 22 TD
3 Eli Manning* Ole Miss SR QB 95 132 161 710 275 Cmp, 441 Att, 3600 Yds, 29 TD, 10 Int
4 Chris Perry* Michigan SR RB 27 66 128 341 338 Att, 1674 Yds, 5.0 Avg, 18 TD
5 Darren Sproles* Kansas State SR RB 15 30 29 134 306 Att, 1986 Yds, 6.5 Avg, 16 TD
6 Matt Leinart* USC SO QB 5 27 58 127 255 Cmp, 402 Att, 3556 Yds, 38 TD, 9 Int
7 Philip Rivers* North Carolina State SR QB 18 20 24 118 348 Cmp, 483 Att, 4491 Yds, 34 TD, 7 Int
8 Mike Williams* USC SO WR 12 12 18 78 95 Rec, 1314 Yds, 13.8 Avg, 16 TD
9 Ben Roethlisberger* Miami (OH) JR QB 5 9 14 47 342 Cmp, 495 Att, 4486 Yds, 37 TD, 10 Int
10 B.J. Symons* Texas Tech JR QB 1 7 21 38 470 Cmp, 719 Att, 5833 Yds, 52
White was deserving, it doesn't matter even 0% what you end up doing in the pros.
 
The year Hornung won the Heisman his passing stats were:

59-111 for 917 yds 3 tds and 13 ints.

He also had 94 rushes for 420 yds.

And people think the voters are stupid now.
That's really crazy though? ND also went 2-8! How could he have been considered a top player at all?
 
Why, The Golden Dome, of course. (Probably more of an aura back then than now.)
Exactly! I bet if you did a study of all the weeks ND has been ranked in the Top 25 in history, half of them are probably undeserved, like the first 5 weeks of some 5-7 season.
 
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In 1980, George Rogers should have finished third instead of first (behind Hugh Green and Herschel Walker.) That might be our bigger snub than Fitzgerald, especially since we saw how Rogers performed against Pitt in the Gator Bowl...Walker was also on a 12-0 Georgia team with basically identical stats to Rogers on an 8-4 team where he struggled the last two games.
 
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White was deserving,

I think that depends. If the Heisman is an MVP award he certainly has a claim, but if the Heisman goes to the best player in college football in the land he was not the leader, IMO.
 
Ha ha ha. You branch campus dummy. Wisconsin went 10-2 and won the Rose Bowl. Pitt went 7-5 and lost the Tire Bowl. Pitt’s final record that year had all but everything to do with Larry Fitzgerald not winning the Heisman

Look who's talking!

Heisman winners and their teams record:

Jay Berwanger 4-4

Steve Owens 6-4

Ty Detmer 8-3-2

Paul Hornung 2-8

"Pitt went 7-5 and lost the Tire Bowl" Pssst..... Pitt finished 8-5

Keep trying.... LOL!
 
I think that depends. If the Heisman is an MVP award he certainly has a claim, but if the Heisman goes to the best player in college football in the land he was not the leader, IMO.
Best player, like best team, is subjective, I LIKE NUMBERS, so I see 40 TD passes a lot of yards and a championship team, that can easily qualify for BEST IMO. best the way you look at it is subjective, I like objective. That said, Fitz numbers where equally deserving. But that fact that he was a better athlete and had a great NFL career shouldn't factor it.
 
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