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Thursday, November 01, 2001

The Heisman Trophy, which has become the most prestigious individual award in sports, again is in danger of being presented to an undeserving winner. Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch has emerged as a leading, if not the leading, candidate, mostly because some of the electorate do not understand the voting criteria.

Too many voters view the award as going to the Most Valuable Player of college football. That's not so, according to the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City, which presents the Heisman.

According to the DAC, the award goes to the "most outstanding" football player. It has nothing to do with a player's value to his team. It has everything to do with his accomplishments on the field.

This misinterpretation of the voting criteria has led to a strong candidacy for Crouch, whose value to his team can't be questioned. He's integral to the success of one of the best teams in the country.

But his actual accomplishments pale beside many of his competitors.

How can Crouch be the most outstanding player in the country when his strength is his all-around game -- passing and running -- and he ranks 49th in the country in total offense? He's 39th in rushing and nowhere to be found among the leading passers.

Crouch is only fourth in the Big 12 conference in total offense.

All of the attention Crouch is receiving is because of what Nebraska has done, not what he's done.

Even people who should know better are championing his case.

The Sporting News called Crouch the leading candidate. Dennis Dodd of Sportsline.com, who covers college football as well as anyone, listed Crouch as his No. 1 choice this week.

Dodd said, "Just remember, the Huskers are not No. 1 in the BCS without him."

That's true, but it has nothing to do with the Heisman criteria.

There are more deserving candidates than Crouch, and they play for teams just as good or almost as good as Nebraska.

Travis Stephens of Tennessee and DeShaun Foster of UCLA play for top 10 teams and are third and fourth, respectively, in the country in rushing.

But it's at quarterback where the real candidates are found, and none brings better credentials than Rex Grossman of Florida.

Like Crouch, Grossman plays for an outstanding team. The Gators are fourth in the country in the latest Associated Press rankings, two places behind Nebraska. If their teams are relatively similar, their accomplishments are not.

Grossman has passed for 2,636 yards, which is 750 more yards than Crouch's passing and running totals, although he's played in two fewer games than Crouch.

Grossman leads the nation in total offense and passing efficiency. His passing rating of 184.8, is 12 points higher than his nearest competitor. He has thrown for 24 touchdowns, also the best in the nation.

If not Grossman, then Ken Dorsey of Miami or Foster of UCLA.

But not Crouch, not a player who's a candidate because of what his team has done, not what he has done.

This certainly wouldn't be the first time Heisman voters were fooled. In one of the more memorable Heisman mistakes, Notre Dame's Tim Brown won the award in 1987 with statistics that were a joke.

There's no questioning Brown's excellence as a player, but he didn't have the proper credentials in his senior year when he won the award. In that season, he rushed 34 times for 144 yards -- 12 yards a game. He caught 39 passes, less than four a game, for 846 yards. He returned 23 kickoffs for a 19.7-yard average and 34 punts for an 11.8-yard average.

He was 15th in the nation in punt returns, the only category in which he finished in the top 50.

It was a light year for candidates, no doubt. Gordie Lockbaum, a two-way player from Holy Cross, finished third. But runnerup Don McPherson of Syracuse was more deserving and fifth-place finisher Craig Heyward of Pitt, the incomparable Ironhead, was the most deserving player.

Ironhead's rushing total, a brilliant 1,791 yards, was just 62 yards short of Brown's combined total for rushing, receiving, punt-returning and kick-returning.

It was a miscarriage of football justice. Here's hoping something similar won't happen again this season.

Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.

Thursday, November 01, 2001