re: Who do you think was one of the best football players Not to win the Heisman?

I wouldn't say Derrick Thomas was robbed because of who won it that year, but he's still the best pressure LB ever in college football.

Jerry Stovall. He just played too soon after Cannon.

Joe Namath and Ken Stabler

It’s still amazing that Bryant didn’t have a heisman winner at Alabama. But politics played a major role in that playing out.

Archie Manning in 1970. Any objective college football fan will agree.

Peyton Manning in 1997. ESPN absolutely showed how powerful the press is.

I can't believe Joe Namath didn't win it.

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I never saw him play, but Dad always talked about how Johnny Majors got screwed when Hornung won it on a ND team that went 2-8.

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It wouldn't surprise me if ND is responsible for a lot of Heisman trophies going to less deserving folks.

Notre Dame Heisman winners:
1943 - Angelo Bartelli
1947 - Johnny Lujack
1949 - Leon Hart
1953 - Johnny Lattner
1956 - Paul Hornung
1964 - John Huarte
1987 - Tim Brown


Finding stats on all players from some of those older ones are rough, but ND would routinely have 3 players in the voting (usually a #3 or #4, then taking up the final slot as well at #9/#10).

1953 - One could definitely make the argument for Paul Giel, who finished as the UPI PotY, AP Back of the Year, and ended up in the CFB HoF

1956 - Jim Brown (Syracuse) and Tommy McDonald (Oklahoma) all had significantly better numbers than both Horung and Majors. Majors finished second in voting, with a statline of 108 Att, 549 Yds, 5.1 Avg, 7 TD, but McDonald had 119 Att, 853 Yds, 7.2 Avg, 12 TD. Jim Brown finished 5th in voting with 158 Att, 986 Yds, 6.2 Avg, 13 TD.

1964 - Jerry Rhome definitely got shafted. John Huarte finished with 114 Cmp, 205 Att, 2062 Yds, 16 TD, 11 In, but Rhome (Tulsa) came in second with 224 Cmp, 326 Att, 2870 Yds, 32 TD, 4 Int. It's crazy when you see that Notre Dame End Jack Snow finished 5th with 60 Rec, 1114 Yds, 18.6 Avg, 9 TD - basically accounting for over half of Huarte's completions, yards and TDs.

Tim Brown was definitely deserving. Lots of great players the year he won, but I don't think he "robbed" anyone.

P Manning and D McFadden

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Archie Manning in 1970. Any objective college football fan will agree.

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Politics still at play. Same thing with Namath and Stabler. Other regions were generally not voting for any players on southern teams in that era. Particularly in states like Alabama and Mississippi. For obvious reasons. However, Spurrier did win in 1966 and Sullivan in 1971.

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I never saw him play, but Dad always talked about how Johnny Majors got screwed when Hornung won it on a ND team that went 2-8.

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Jim Brown is the one who got screwed that year. He didn't win it for obvious reasons.

Yep. Vince Young. Obviously I'm a bit biased.
One thing I didn't know is that when it was stripped from Reggie Bush, Vince Young declined it.

He choked in his last regular season game. He had a tremendous year, but the critics couldn't get past that game at Kyle.