The "Red River" Shootout for the Heisman

Last year it could have been anyone’s trophy, well except for one.  And ironically the one player who had no shot of winning it was that of this year’s no. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, or otherwise known as Alex Smith.  As for the others the race could have come to a coin toss it was thought to have been so close.  To start off, the winner of the previous Heisman Trophy was back in contention along with his young superstar teammate.  And on the other side were also two teammates in the running for the most coveted award in all of college football as far as player recognition goes.  The two teams represented by the four players, respectively, were Oklahoma and Southern California.  Oh yeah, and the University of Utah was also there too.  But in the end USC’s quarterback Matt Leinart was the player left standing.  And for the naysayers who believed that there should have been another winner Leinart proved them all wrong by having the “game of his life” in the 2005 Orange Bowl which gave his team, USC Trojans, the national championship. All that is now in the past, and it is almost for certain who will be the upcoming hopefuls for the 2005 Heisman Trophy.  Three of them are returning from last year’s race: Matt Leinart, Adrian Peterson, and Reggie Bush.  The other hopeful is that in Vincent Young of Texas.  Young helped prove his case in last year towards the end of the season, which for surely put him in this year’s early running.  However, two could probably be counted out due to recent history.  Last year, Jason White’s presence in the race proved how hard it is for a previous winner to repeat.  Also, with recent teammates such as Jason White and Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma both sharing the spotlight for the Heisman, teammates in the end usually end up splitting votes with one another from a specific region, thus results in each of the teammates voting each other out of the competition.  More than likely, this eliminates the two players from Southern Cal, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.  So now it is down to two players both from the Big XII Conference, Adrian Peterson and Vince Young.  On October 8th the players’ respective schools will face off against each other in the annual “Red River Shootout”.  With the recent history of the series, it looks like Adrian has an early lead on Mr. Young.

There are many from last year who say that Adrian Peterson should have become the first freshman ever to win the award.  And there are also some who say that Jason White should have been the second player ever to repeat as the Heisman winner ever since Archie Griffin of Ohio State.  Yet, in the end USC seemed to get everything including the Heisman and the national championship, while Oklahoma came up short in New York at the Heisman Trophy presentation, and in Miami when the Sooners would have loved to come up short in the Orange Bowl after receiving a beatdown from who else, USC.

Now to the players…      

Not many people knew what had hit them when they saw Adrian Peterson for the very first time on that bright September day against Bowling Green.  It being Peterson’s first football game, as a collegiate athlete, didn’t faze him one bit.  It was the complete opposite-Peterson was playing as if it were his last game as a Sooner.  Peterson looked as though he were a prototype of Bo Jackson and Tony Dorsett.  He had a body the size of a linebacker, while at the same time had the speed of a wide receiver.  Peterson was the size of a school bus that could cut corners like a European sports car.

In his first collegiate outing, Peterson averaged 6.3 yards per carry against Bowling Green not having one bit of experience to lean on-the only thing seemed to be his god given ability.  For his next eight games, Peterson’s worst game was against Texas A&M with a total of 101 yards against the Aggies, and this is after he had to play most of the second half in a sling to prevent it from falling off from a hit he had taken against an Aggie opponent earlier in the game.  It was something you would have thought only Superman could pull off.  

By being the missing piece the Sooners had been looking for, for quite some time, Peterson for the season gained a total of 1925 yards while only a freshman.  Imagine what Peterson could do if he steadily improves all the way throughout his junior year?  

South of Norman, Oklahoma in Austin, Texas, Vince Young proved to the entire university that he was the new kid on the block.  For some reason Young’s coach, Mack Brown, faced one of the greatest dilemmas in the world which should never had occurred in the wake of trying to decide the quarterback he should start, Vince Young or Chance Mock.

The 6’5, 230 pound quarterback proved this year that possibly he could be the second coming of Michael Vick, considering that it sounds funny since Vick only left college a few seasons ago.  Young balanced his talents extremely well this season considering that a) Young had only 770 more passing yards than rushing and b) Young had 14 rushing touchdowns compared to only 12 passing touchdowns.

Young was the second leading rusher on his team next to Cedric Benson, this year’s no. 4 pick in the NFL Draft.

If there is one thing that the junior quarterback must work on, it is his decision making that at sometimes can seem a little shaky.  While having 12 passing touchdowns, Young also had 11 interceptions to go along with them.  Against the Longhorns’ instate rival Texas A&M, Young was at the goal line and decided to dive over a pile of Texas bred players in an attempt to score a touchdown for his team when all of a sudden, an Aggie out of nowhere slapped the ball loose right out of Young’s hand, and in a split second, took it 99 yards the other way for a touchdown just before halftime.  In the NFL, those decisions won’t cut it.  

Also, if Young is to be remembered, he’ll have to show up against the Longhorns’ bitter rival, the Oklahoma Sooners.  In this year’s 12-0 loss to the Sooners, Young was anything but spectacular with statistics that include 8-23 passing for a grand total of 86 yards.  You think that will get it done against Oklahoma’s smothering defense year after year?

However, it must be noted that Young gave all Longhorn fans across the country all the hope they could wish for with his memorable performance in the Rose Bowl.  Against Michigan, Young was point on in both passing and rushing the ball.  With stats of 16-28 passing, and 21 rushing attempts that equals out to a total of 192 rushing yards will, stats like those will win a quarterback the Heisman Trophy any day.  Young’s 372 total yards of offense surely put him as one of the early candidates for the 2005 Heisman.          

With both Oklahoma’s and Texas’s star players competing for the most coveted player award, an added tension will surely be added to the already competitive and fierce college football rivalry.  Oklahoma has owned the Longhorns the past few seasons, which will no doubted work in Peterson’s favor.  However, it’s not just all about performance.  Sure a player must perform superbly throughout the entire college football season, but it is also about marketing.  Which university will be willing to spend more bucks in trying to help their respective player get noticed, like both Peterson and Young don’t need any more attention?  The two though will get their fare share of airtime, when both square off against each other on October 8th.  

Instead of “Showdown Saturday”, maybe it would appropriate this year to call it “Heisman Saturday”.