Mark WiedmerI didn’t vote for Louisville’s Lamar Jackson to win the Heisman Trophy he won Saturday night over Clemson’s Deshaun Watson. That doesn’t mean he absolutely shouldn’t have won it.
When you become just the third player in FBS history to throw for at least 30 touchdowns and run for 20 and the first two to do that – Florida’s Tim Tebow and Auburn’s Cam Newton – both won the little bronze statue, you probably deserve to join the fraternity.
And after accounting for 18 touchdowns in the Cardinals’ first three games, the trophy clearly was Jackson’s to lose. There hadn’t been a bigger favorite to win a popularity contest this year this side of Hillary Clinton, though we also know how that came out.
And for a time, it appeared as if Watson might indeed catch him. He got my vote and he got it for all the reasons I think someone should win the award. He carried his team to a better finish by playing his best when it mattered most.
While Jackson pretty much coasted to the trophy off a September to remember – including that leap over a Syracuse player that just might be the most replayed moment of the 2016 regular season – Watson saved his best for last.
After a shocking home loss to Pitt threatened to deny the Tigers a return spot to the College Football Playoff, Watson made sure they’d get back there. He totaled three touchdowns against Wake and passed for six against South Carolina. In the ACC title game against Virginia Tech, he totaled five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing).
All of that helped Clemson earn a No. 2 seed in the playoff and a New Year’s Eve date in the Fiesta Bowl opposite Ohio State.
Now contrast that with Jackson’s finish, which included losses in his last two games against Houston and at home against Kentucky.
No Heisman winner since Tim Brown in 1987 had lost his last two games heading into the ceremony. And Brown played for Notre Dame, which is as close to untouchable when it comes to Heisman hype and preferential treatment. Just ask Tennessee’s Johnny Majors, who lost to ND’s Paul Hornung in 1956, despite the Vols winning the SEC championship and the Fighting Irish finishing 2-8.
Beyond that, Jackson didn’t perform all that well in his final two games, getting buried at Houston before coughing up three second-half turnovers – including a game-changing fumble 11 yards from a touchdown against Kentucky that led to the Wildcats’ winning field goal – in a three-point loss to Big Blue.
Call me old-fashioned or naive, but shouldn’t the Heisman be as much about big wins as big numbers?
Isn’t it Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier kicking a 40-yard field goal to beat Auburn – not a touchdown pass, a field goal – on his way to the 1966 Heisman 50 years ago?
Isn’t it Auburn’s Pat Sullivan throwing for four touchdowns at Georgia in 1971 after the Bulldogs fans tried to keep the visiting Tigers up all night by honking their car horns outside Auburn’s Athens hotel?
Isn’t it Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary to Gerald Phelan to shock Miami in 1984, though the ballots already had been mailed back to Heisman headquarters by then?
Isn’t it Newton’s season-long life preserver for Auburn’s amazing 2010 national championship season?
Isn’t it Derrick Henry’s stretch run a year ago, when he galloped for 210 yards (LSU), 204 yards (Mississippi State) and 271 yards (at Auburn) in his final three regular-season SEC games to not only carry Alabama to its 16th national championship, but also cart home the Heisman?
And if it isn’t, shouldn’t it be?
Do I think Jackson is the most dangerous player in college football today? Yes. Do I think his professional future is as bright as the Cardinal red tuxedo sport coat he wore to Saturday night’s cermony? Yes. Do I think he’ll win next year’s Heisman if healthy? Yes.
But Watson seems nearly as gifted, but with more big-game cred to back it up.
Don’t misunderstand. Jackson’s a great story. He lost his father to a car accident and his grandmother the same day as a young boy. His tough, strong mother Felicia Jones asked him not to cry and he didn’t. She preached her “Super 8” values to him every day: God, prayer, faith, family, education, sacrifice, character, discipline.
Her tough love and his titanic talent have combined to make him the youngest Heisman winner ever – 19 years, 337 days – by five days over 2013 winner Jameis Winston.
And he certainly said all the right things in victory.
He told his mother that he loved her. He said of his fellow Louisville Cardinals, “For my teammates, this award is for all of us.”
He even thanked U of L athletic director Tom Jurich and his wife Terrilynn, which brought tears to her eyes.
But something Watson said also hit home more than most years, perhaps because this was the biggest voting gap between Watson’s second-place finish and third-place finisher Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma since 1953.
Said Watson – who also won his head-to-head meeting with Jackson both on the scoreboard (42-36) and in the stats (five total touchdowns to three) – before the ceremony: “All the hard work I put in doesn’t get recognized as much as others.”
No offense to Jackson and all who voted for him, but it would be hard to argue that this morning. Yet come time to pick a playoff team, the Tigers got noticed more than the Cards. It might not have won Watson the Heisman, but it means his teammates still have a chance to win something a whole lot bigger before this season is over.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com