They Got Robbed: Ranking The Biggest Heisman Snubs In College Football History
There have been many deserving players who have been robbed of the award since its inception nearly 90 years ago
The Heisman Trophy will be awarded tonight, and although the race this season lacked the same luster it has in year's past, the winner will undoubtedly be a deserving recipient.
That hasn't always been the case, though.
Plenty of college football fans are familiar with the "Heisman Snub," in which a deserving player gets passed over for any number of reasons.
Maybe the voters were getting tired of seeing a quarterback take home the award, or one of the finalists played their games on the West Coast and no one was ever awake to see them play.
Regardless, plenty of deserving players have been getting jobbed out of winning the Heisman since the award's inception nearly 90 years ago.
With the award set to be handed out later tonight, I thought it would be fun to look back on four of the most infamous snubs in the history of the Heisman Trophy.
4. Christian McCaffrey – Stanford (2015)
Everyone knows Christian McCaffrey as the do-it-all, fantasy football workhorse for the 49ers, but his college career may be even more mythical.
McCaffrey's 2015 season was an absolute joy to watch, and although the eventual Heisman winner, Alabama's Derrick Henry, had an equally impressive season on the ground, it was the all-purpose yards that should have set this Cardinal ahead of the pack.
The speedster from Stanford ended up breaking Barry Sanders' all-purpose yardage record that season, but it wasn't enough to curry favor away from Henry.
This wasn't even the first time a Stanford running back got robbed of the Heisman by an Alabama running back either, as Toby Gerhart saw the award slip through his hands and into the grasp of Mark Ingram just six years earlier.
3. Rex Grossman – Florida (2001)
Yeah, yeah. You can call me a homer all you want, but I think it should've been a different Florida quarterback besides Tim Tebow to be the first underclassman to win the Heisman.
Rex Grossman's 2001 season was elite, even by modern standards.
All in all, he threw for nearly 3,900 yards and 34 touchdowns in a time when not many players were putting up numbers like that (especially in the SEC).
He was a first-team All-American and even won AP Player of the Year, but that wasn't enough to beat out Nebraska's Eric Crouch, who had more interceptions than touchdowns (7-to-10) and, even when accounting for his gaudy rushing numbers, still didn't have as many total touchdowns as Grossman had passing TDs.
Crouch's Cornhuskers went to the national championship game that season, which helped his cause, but the Gators probably would've made it to the title game had it not been for the September 11 attacks that year getting their annual game against Tennessee moved to December.
By that time, Florida's All-American running back, Earnest Graham, had been sidelined with an ankle injury, and the Gators would go on to lose to the Vols by only two points.
What could have been…
2. Larry Fitzgerald – Pittsburgh (2003)
Whatever images you have of Larry Fitzgerald as a college wide receiver, you're probably still underselling his dominance.
Fitz was one of the most incredible receivers the college sport had ever seen up to that time, and his 2003 statline still feels like a fever dream over two decades later.
How's this for "Heisman-worthy?" 92 catches, 1,672 yards, 22 TDs.
For context, Devonta Smith's 2020 Heisman campaign was virtually identical to Fitzgerald's (117 receptions, 1,856 yards, 23 TDs), and Smith had way steeper competition to deal with for the award.
The winner in 2003? Oklahoma's Jason White.
His numbers were impressive (3,744 passing yards and 40 TDs with a 61.5% completion percentage), but Fitzgerald was a legitimate unicorn with the stats he put up that season.
I truly believe this was due to Pitt being a smaller school and voters falling in love with giving the award to a quarterback, but I digress.
Sooner fans will fight me on this one, but I think Fitz got robbed in the worst way.
1. Peyton Manning – Tennessee (1997)
From a year when a quarterback shouldn't have won the Heisman to a year when one got ROBBED, 1997 is, without a doubt, the most infamous year for the award in its illustrious history.
Peyton Manning was the golden boy of college football in the 1990s.
Aside from his lack of meaningful hardware, Manning dominated every statistical category a quarterback could while in Knoxville.
In '97, though, the SEC Championship that had eluded him was finally in his grasp. All he needed to complete his storied career as a Vol was to win the most important individual award to cap things off.
Unfortunately, the voters had other ideas, handing the Heisman over to Michigan defensive back, Charles Woodson.
In no world should Manning have lost the award to anyone that year, but especially not to a player who didn't even play on offense full-time.
Woodson led the nation in interceptions and even had a few receiving touchdowns as well as a punt return TD to boot, but he wasn't exactly Travis Hunter.
Manning's numbers were sensational, over 3,800 yards and 36 TDs at a time when most quarterbacks would need two years to compile stats like that.
His efforts won him the Maxwell Award, but weren't enough to sway Heisman voters over to his side.
You can spin it anyway you would like to, but this was highway robbery of the highest order, and that's coming from a Gator fan who wants nothing but awful things to happen to Tennessee.
Manning had a Hall of Fame career in the NFL, but I'm sure he still wonders what more he could have done to bring home the Heisman in '97.