Lowest Rated Hesiman Ever.
- Thread starter kingfarouk13
- Start date
I watched, a real uneven production. Things they must have thought would work didn't. Lamar Jackson seemed genuine, so that was the highlight for me.
O J Simpson won the Heisman -- an artifact in the civil settlement after he got away with murder in the criminal trial. That thought comes to my head every time I hear of the award. That's probably true of a lot of people who were shocked at what occurred, so it doesn't surprise me that the allure of the trophy has dwindled. There's that and the obvious political nature of the voting. I think all of the other awards have also had a dilution effect.
It seems to be kinda' like the Miss America pageant - - - you know they still have it, but no one cares
Two different seasons finally turned me off for good from the Heisman. 1994 when the talking heads said that anyone who rushes for 2,000 yards should win the Heisman and Salaam beat out Kijana Carter. Then in 2002 when Larry Johnson ran for 2,000 yards these same people argued that he shouldn't get it because the team had three losses. That's when I realized it was all about ESPN.
I think the Heisman suffered by the winner essentially having the award locked up in September (no real suspense in who would win) and the winner's school not being one of the traditional powers. If Lamar Jackson played for Alabama or even if Louisville was in the playoff, I think more people would have tuned in.
What exactly is the "obvious political nature of the voting?"
Probably not but when they start a Pre-Heisman show and then the Show itself you know someone was hoping for bofo ratings.
Its on them (ESPN/ABC) not the award itself.
It does seem that when they decide early who is the favorite that is who wins regardless - while I think Jackson deserves it he was awful his last few games and of course someone from a team that doesn't win enough has virtually no shot along with anyone form PSU - Cappy will probable be our one and only.
I didn't watch it but it wasn't because of any of the things you cited. INMO, none of those reasons have anything to do with the ratings or the perception of the award in general.
Pretty much agree with this. Also its time a true defensive player wins the award and I mean a true defensive player not someone who also takes snaps on the offense.
I flipped it on for a minute or two. Way WAY over produced. It was really just a tribute show to a ton of people. Just a bunch of BS between a ton of commercials. It all comes dow to two minutes when they announce the award and give the kid a minute to speak his mind. As usual, they ruined a good thing.
Great point about LJ. I had to look it up (14 years ago???) - Carson Palmer won. Ok, I kind of get that - but #2 was Brad Banks, of Iowa. LJ has one of the greatest seasons for a RB ever, and he was third. I still remember the talking heads doing slips and twists, trying to argue that his best games were against weak competition.
As for '94, Kijana and Kerry split the vote - both top 5, as I recall.
It just seems to me that every time Penn State or a player for Penn State is in the conversation for anything the "rules" change.
I'm not sure if you're aware, but Texas RB D'Onta Foreman had over 2k yards this year as well and did not win. He wasn't even a finalist and finished 8th in the voting. Not everything is a PSU conspiracy.
While the Heisman race didn't do them any favors for ratings, I see no point to a 30-60 min show to hand out one award. The age of the internet has made crap like this pointless. I can find out in 5 seconds who won after it happens, then go on with my day. I'd imagine the ratings drop has a lot less to do with the release of Heisman ballots as the article suggests and a lot more to do with millennials not watching the nonsense, as well as the huge number of subscribers that ESPN is losing due to cord cutting.
Yes I follow college football so I was "aware" and while not everything is a PSU conspiracy there certainly is enough "oddities" out there involving PSU since oh say ....1969 that yea it makes me question some things.
The 2K thing kind of stopped being an automatic when LJ hit it...just like the conference champion being heavily weighted toward getting into the playoffs stopped when Penn State won the conference. We always seem to be the first to get the new rule change applied. If you don't think there's a bias against Penn State then I suggest you check the history of the league.
All those award now exist simply to create hype for an ESPN show. The Heisman goes to "the most outstanding player", the Walter Camp Award goes to "the player of the year" and the Maxwell Award goes to the "best all-around player". The same player doesn't always win all them so what's the difference? The Hypeman gets the most ink because it's been around much longer and everyone has heard of it. Here's another example of how dumb they are. It's not unusual for a player to win one of the two defensive player of the year awards (yeah two, Bendarik and Nagurski) yet not win the award given to the best player at his specific position.
