THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 10, 1994 TAG: 9410100169
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
When people say that the Heisman Trophy race is wide open, what they really mean is that the best candidates have been set back by injuries or already have jumped to the NFL.
The current Heisman hustle isn't like last year's, when Florida State's Charlie Ward, the most celebrated player on the nation's No. 1 team, was an obvious pick.
This is more like the year Gino Torretta won the Heisman.
Heisman handicapping tugs at me because, for another season, I am one of 920 Americans who is entrusted with a vote.
Kind of scary, don't you think? I do.
The Heisman goes to the undergraduate who is judged to be ``the outstanding college football player of the United States.''
Unless he's a defensive player. Or an offensive lineman. Or doesn't play on TV.
On occasion, I've cast a protest vote, writing in the name of a great linebacker or blocker. Officials at New York's Downtown Athletic Club allowed me to participate the next season, anyway. Who says they don't have a sense of humor?
In theory, the Heisman electorate should see every serious candidate perform. Not only is this a fantasy, it denies the existence of public relations machines.
A couple weeks ago, Sports Illustrated suggested that we hand the Heisman to Steve McNair, the big quarterback talent from little Alcorn State.
The national publicity should help McNair's chances, unless people recall that this is the same magazine that picked Arizona as its No. 1 team.
McNair should not automatically be disqualified because he is SI's choice or because he would be the first I-AA player to carry off the 25-pound bronze bauble. He is, after all, about to become the NCAA leader in career total offense.
Saturday, McNair threw for 328 yards against Texas Southern. But another leading quarterback contender, Georgia's Eric Zeier, also threw for 328 yards, and he did it against Clemson in only three quarters of a big-league game.
Still in the picture, too, are Florida quarterback Terry Dean and running backs Napoleon Kaufman of Washington and, if he can bounce back from a dislocated thumb, Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State.
For the time being, the top candidates are just names and reputations to most of us. This could be one of those years when no selection is well received.
Not that anyone should make too big a fuss over the winner, whoever he is. The Heisman does not hold the same magic it once did. In the '90s, it seems to have lost relevance, not surprising in the wake of years in which Torretta, Ty Detmer and Andre Ware were the picks.
With each season, the Heisman becomes more of an anachronism. Today, Football America is fixated on the NFL's top draft pick. And on the first quarterback taken. That these prized selections are rarely the Heisman winner doesn't help the award's credibility.
My own ambivalence toward the Heisman may have begun a few years ago when I was sent my first ballot. I've never been sure how attending this week's Virginia Tech-East Carolina game, for example, qualifies me to judge the talents of athletes playing the same day in Florida, Mississippi and Michigan.
When the time comes, I'll emerge from a thicket of hype and highlights to cast another ballot. I'm glad to do it, and yet uncomfortable with any award that would have me as a voter. by CNB