The 2005 Heisman Trophy has been in the headlines the past few months, even though the voting was finished some 50 months ago.
However, the fact that Reggie Bush was ruled ineligible for his Heisman Trophy year has brought up a major question:
What do we do with the 2005 Heisman Trophy?
I said before in a previous article long before Reggie Bush returned the Heisman Trophy this line:
“At the end of the day, did Reggie Bush really lose? Probably not. Did Vince Young really win? Maybe a little. What’s done is done, and like the Baseball Hall of Fame, an asterisk or a website page won’t undo the memory we have of Bush holding the Heisman Trophy.”
And I stand by that point. At the time, Bush was no guarantee to give back his Heisman and Vince Young gave no inkling that he cared if he received the award.
However, coach Mack Brown of Texas has come out many times in saying that not only does he believe that Reggie Bush doesn’t deserve the award, but that his former player, Vince Young, completely deserves it.
And why not.
Young was the 2nd leading vote getter. And while he lost by a surprisingly wide margin, he was still no question the 2nd best player in college football.
However, you can make a very valid argument that he’s probably the 2nd or 3rd best player in college football the past 10-15 years, with only potentially Tim Tebow and the aforementioned Bush ahead of him.
Maybe the best, but most unlikely, move is to have a “revote”, similar to how the NFL revoted for Defensive Rookie of the Year for Brian Cushing, except, this time, Bush isn’t on the ballot. It’s somewhat unfair, though, because odds are most of the voters won’t look back too hard at that season as they cast their votes. But it would be interesting to see if Young, the 2nd leading vote getter, wins, or if the Reggie Bush USC votes would go to Matt Leinart, who would have been the 2nd player all time to win the trophy twice.
In the end, it’s unlikely that Young will get the award I believe he deserves, if for no other reason that it would set a dangerous precedent. However, it’s important to recognize that at the very least, Bush and Young were the top two finishers, and Bush was ineligible. I guess we’ll have to live with that.
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