With Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford winning the Heisman Trophy this past Saturday, the Florida Gators will automatically be the National Champions this upcoming bowl season. I make this bold prediction due to the emerging theory that winning the Heisman spells doom for the winner’s respective team in their upcoming college football postseason game. This decade itself has seen winners like Reggie Bush (costly fumble) go down to the Texas Longhorns and the Heisman runner up Vince Young in the 2005 Rose Bowl and last years’ winner Tim Tebow, was stopped in a Capital One Bowl shootout 41-35 to Michigan. Tebow failed to lead his team to victory on the Gator’s last drive by throwing four straight incompletions. Troy Smith, Ohio State’s victorious Heisman winner in 2006 also met a cruel fate with a horrible showing (4 for 14 passing, 1 interception) in the BCS Title Game that ended with a 41-14 drubbing at the hands of the Florida Gators.
It doesn’t end there either. In 2000, Heisman winner Chris Wienke saw his high powered Florida State Seminole offense get stonewalled (4 interceptions) by Oklahoma 13-2 in the Orange Bowl with only a last second safety staving off an embarrassing shutout. The following year was met with another Heisman failure where Nebraska’s quarterback Eric Crouch (5 for 15 passing) came under the storm of the Miami Hurricanes stout defense in a 37-14 blowout BCS title game loss. Again in 2003, the Heisman jinx would emerge with Jason White’s inability to achieve victory over LSU in the Sugar Bowl by going 13 for 37 passing with two interceptions. It seems that not only do the Heisman winners lose their bowl game; they also put up some pathetic statistics to go along with the lapse in victory.
Proponents of the Heisman theory feel that the never-ending post-Heisman banquet dinners and constant media attention throughout December take a toll on the winner, sapping him of any ability to concentrate on the future task at hand, winning his respective team’s bowl game. Critics of the jinx however point to the success of Heisman winners in the 1990s, with all but 1992 winner Gino Torretta failing to grasp a bowl victory (Sugar Bowl loss to Alabama). This decade has even seen 2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart (USC QB) achieve an impressive 55-19 title win over Oklahoma in the ’05 Orange Bowl. Personally, with the around the clock sports news coverage and the exponential growth of the Internet as a tool to report on college football this decade, a different beast has emerged regarding media attention over the Heisman winner than in years past. Heisman winners just can’t stem the tide of public curiosity that envelopes them after accepting the preeminent football award.
Either way you look at it, the fact is that this decade’s Heisman winners are 2-6 in their post-award bowl game, a stark contrast to the 9-1 record of the 90s. The growth in sports media and information resources has to be the culprit. So go ahead and put your money down on the Gators this upcoming January, because there is no chance of Sam Bradford avoiding the horrendous fate that has been bestowed upon glorious players of the last eight years at the Downtown Athletic Club.
3 comments:
I'm not going to call it a jinx because I just don't believe in jinxes unless its the Madden cover jinx......BUT Oklahoma may not be able to win without D. Murrey. So, I'm calling a Tebow win of the National Championship in the 2008/2009 AND the 2009/2010 seasons. Tebow will win 2 Heisman trophies and 3 National Championships (or so I hope because I HATE HATE HATE Colt McCoy and Texas).
And yes, I mean EVERY sentence I write....just so you don't have to ask Anderson if I truly believe what I resond with.
Nate, I don't know you, but i gotta say, you come up with some of the most random responses. "i don't believe in jinxes unless its the Madden cover jinx"...that record is basically on par with the heisman jinx. Current Madden cover boy Brett Favre is having an average season, but his team is on its way to 10 wins and a good shot at the playoffs, and he was selected to the Pro Bowl.
There is no CONSISTENCY to the Madden cover curse as some of the players had above average years during the season of the curse and poor seasons to follow while some suffered during the year of the cover.
Most importanly, as the article states, the "curse" or jinx of the Heisman winners has a solid backing...media storm and banquets to distract the winner and keep him out of playing-shape. There is probably minimal media attention that initially comes with the madden curse, other than the questions of if the cover-boy believes in the curse.
But, as a fellow Nebraska fan, i forgive you.
In regards to Tim Tebow, whenever he gets up into the face of his defense to supposedly "challenge" them, I can't but wonder is going on in the defensive player's minds. They have to be like, "who the blank does this guy think he is?" I just wonder if the rest of the team is tired of hearing about Mr. Superman Tebow? Personally, I don't feel the rest of the Gators would lay it all on the field for this quarterback. I find the mild mannered QBs to be more successful leaders anyhow. Joe Montana and Tom Brady for one. Sam Bradford seems to be a guy that goes about his business and doesn't get all in your face like Tebow. When I played on sports teams, I could never understand or support the overly excited individual on the team. It seemed like a move to grab attention. As for Tebow, I think its more for the cameras than for team unity.
Also, I am intrigued to see how the Heisman jinx works in this game, since both QBs have the hardware. I guess its advantage Tebow with him winning it last year. But he still will make quite a lot of banquet appearances this December.
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