1997 Heisman race

#6
#6
In the article theres a pic of Woodson playing with OSU players in the background. I was there. Great football experience. Ice on the bleachers, Woodson and Boston sparring on the field. Only game I've been to in the big house
 
#7
#7
The Heistman isn't awarded to the smartest student-athelete but to the best player,Peyton was a combo of both. He wuz robbed by the yankee voting block(?). :yes:
 
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#9
#9
I was shocked at first and then happy that Peyton didn't win because of how the Heisman has cursed so many players once they enter the NFL.
 
#11
#11
It didn't irk me nearly as much as it did 20 years ago. It's just frustrating to me that out of 81 Heisman winners, 80 of them have been offensive players. So you're telling me that in the last 81 years the most outstanding player has just happened to be a QB, RB, or WR 80 times?

So I won't say Woodson didn't deserve it, maybe he did. But I just hate that the time Tennessee has a poster child for the Heisman, they decide to change the script and do something they'd never done before and haven't done again since.
 
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#12
#12
BigOrangeMojo said:
Russia has nothing on meddling in elections compared to ESPN in 1997.....
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Yeah I am on the conspiracy train. The day Ohio St played Michigan and Tennessee played Kentucky. Peyton passed for over 500 yards. But as I switched over to Ohio St & Michigan. That's not was on crawler at bottom of screen. It showed Jamal lewis rushing stats. Don't let me wrong they were good stats but not holy smokes did you see that stats. The whole week was a heist.
 
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#13
#13
molsen81 said:
I was shocked at first and then happy that Peyton didn't win because of how the Heisman has cursed so many players once they enter the NFL.
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The curse must've been lifted that year cause Woodson did pretty well for himself.
 
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#15
#15
rich4pres said:
Im pretty sure that was the last Heismann trophy presentation. It hasnt been on my tv since.
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Me too, I refer to it as the Hi-Scam trophy now, nothing like winning the NC by getting to face the number 4 team in the country. Woodson as a really good player at UM but I find it highly suspicious no defensive player has ever really came close to winning in the history of the award, there have been far more deserving defensive players than him. ESPN was solely responsible for that and I still despise them for stealing it from him and have not and will not watch the award show for it since.
 
#16
#16
molsen81 said:
Yeah, we loved him in Oakland but he's one of a handful of Heisman winners to gain NFL success.
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It is a little bizarre. I know this will never happen but if they started selecting more defensive players or been offensive linemen, I think that would change.
 
#17
#17
DeepSpringsVol said:
Yeah I am on the conspiracy train. The day Ohio St played Michigan and Tennessee played Kentucky. Peyton passed for over 500 yards. But as I switched over to Ohio St & Michigan. That's not was on crawler at bottom of screen. It showed Jamal lewis rushing stats. Don't let me wrong they were good stats but not holy smokes did you see that stats. The whole week was a heist.
Click to expand...

It's not a conspiracy. ESPN lost the bidding to the prime SEC games to CBS and ESPN had a much larger financial stake in the Big 10 compared to the SEC at that time. What ESPN did was to protect their monetary interests...
 
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#18
#18
Cdywolfe said:
It didn't irk me nearly as much as it did 20 years ago. It's just frustrating to me that out of 81 Heisman winners, 80 of them have been offensive players. So you're telling me that in the last 81 years the most outstanding player has just happened to be a QB, RB, or WR 80 times?

So I won't say Woodson didn't deserve it, maybe he did. But I just hate that the time Tennessee has a poster child for the Heisman, they decide to change the script and do something they'd never done before and haven't done again since.
Click to expand...

The Heisman is the "best QB or RB on a good team" award. Purely a marketing thing, especially in more recent years. It has to go to a high profile, marketable player who touches the ball a lot and scores points.

If you go back and look, you'll see that WRs don't really win it either. Not only was Woodson the first primarily defensive player to win the award, he was also the last guy other than a QB or RB to win the award. The last WR to win it was Desmond Howard in 1991. Only 3 guys who played WR have won it ever.
 
#19
#19
BigOrangeMojo said:
It's not a conspiracy. ESPN lost the bidding to the prime SEC games to CBS and ESPN had a much larger financial stake in the Big 10 compared to the SEC at that time. What ESPN did was to protect their monetary interests...
Click to expand...

Ding ding ding.

If the '97 Heisman race were occurring today, Peyton would win it undoubtedly.
 
#20
#20
BigOrangeMojo said:
It's not a conspiracy. ESPN lost the bidding to the prime SEC games to CBS and ESPN had a much larger financial stake in the Big 10 compared to the SEC at that time. What ESPN did was to protect their monetary interests...
Click to expand...

Good info, I was not aware of this but it does make sense, I still hate them for it!!
 
#21
#21
Cdywolfe said:
The curse must've been lifted that year cause Woodson did pretty well for himself.
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Quite a crew there, really. Three out of the four '97 Heisman Trophy finalists are future hall of famers.

Ryan Leaf, who was a total bust, might also have gone on to great heights if he hadn't been such a flake.
 
#23
#23
Cdywolfe said:
It is a little bizarre. I know this will never happen but if they started selecting more defensive players or been offensive linemen, I think that would change.
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QBs and RBs every year is definitely boring.
 
#24
#24
I still remember the very game when Keith Jackson began hyping Charles Woodson for the Heisman. I suspected then and there that it was all over but the crying.
 
#25
#25
Peyton probably still could have won if he hadn’t played awful against Vandy in the final regular season game of the year.

For some reason, Vandy always gave him fits.
 
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