The three big things that bug me the most about the Heisman is that 1. It's strictly given as an offensive award, 2. It is a very biased award, and 3. It's only given to a player if his team wins. I have always enjoyed watching the Heisman ceremony, but it seems that the award has been given out to the winner before the ceremony even begins the past few years. I was very frustrated to see that once again, that the Heisman Committee only selected three finalists. The Finalists this year are Derrick Henry (RB, Alabama), Christian McCaffrey (RB, Stanford), and Deshaun Watson (QB, Clemson). I have always believed that their should be five finalists since that is what it always used to be. Whenever I see it narrowed down to three finalists, I can tell that they have already chosen a winner. I was very upset when they announced the three finalists this year, because they left out my favorite to win the award, Navy QB Keenan Reynolds. Many of the analysts have already awarded the Heisman to Derrick Henry, who has had an incredible season, but I just feel someone else has earned it more.
My five finalists in order would have been 1. Keenan Reynolds, 2. Christian McCaffrey, 3. Derrick Henry, 4. Deshaun Watson, and 5. Baker Mayfield. I promise that it's not just my annoyance with Bama to put Henry down that far. He is definitely one of the best backs in the nation, and definitely deserves to be a finalist. My biggest argument with Henry winning the award is that the Heisman is supposed to be for the best College player in the nation, and I don't believe he is. You could put almost any running back in the nation be hind Bama's offensive line and they would have a great season. They may not reach the stats or records that Henry has broken this season, but I promise you that they would still be running through those 4 foot wide holes from Bama's O-Line. If you're going to be the best player in the nation, I believe that you should be the most important player on your team as well. If you take out Christian McCaffrey from Stanford this year, I would bet that their record would be closer to 8-4 or 7-5 without a trip to the PAC-12 Title game. If you take Baker Mayfield out of OU, they collapse after the Texas loss and probably end up 9-3 or 8-4. My best example is Keenan Reynolds. If you were to take out the 4-year starter from the Midshipmen's option attack, I promise you that Navy wins a total of 10 games maximum over the past 4 seasons. Reynolds means more to that team than any other player means to any other team in the nation. That's not my only argument for why Reynolds should have been at least a finalists if not the winner. Reynolds has 25 total TDs on the season and over 2000 total yards. Even in their two losses, Reynolds accounted for over 500 yards of offense and 2 TDs. He also broke Montee Ball's FBS record for most rushing touchdowns in a career. Ball was at least a finalist the year he set that record! ESPN had him on the list for fan voting a couple of weeks ago, but took him off because he was receiving a majority of the votes even after their loss to Navy. I really don't see how the Heisman can be determined by the number of wins a team has. Especially when a candidate still performs at a Heisman caliber level. I know that it's underlying, but another reason that Reynolds couldn't have ever won the award, or even been a finalist in this case is because he plays football at Navy. Even though he has made Navy a dangerous opponent, he does not play for a premiere football program, and therefore cannot be considered a high enough caliber player to win such a prestigious award. I really wish that he could've won the award this year, I am very upset that he was not at least honored as a finalist. For all that he has done for College Football and what he has and will do for this country, I thought that would only be fair.
As for the three finalists, I truly believe that if I had to put together a College Football team, I would choose Christian McCaffrey as my RB. Deshaun Watson has had a great season, but I don't believe he has enough buzz to win the award. Back to the running backs, Henry is no slouch, and any coach would love to have him in their backfield, but I think that McCaffrey is more of an all around player than Henry's power back style. McCaffrey has proven to be useful in every aspect of the offensive game including kick returns, running the ball, catching passes, and even throwing the ball. In the PAC-12 Championship game he had a rushing, receiving, and passing TD. McCaffrey has broken Barry Sanders record for all-purpose yards in a season as well. I think that he should win the Heisman tonight, but we'll have to wait and see.
On Bowl Selections, I was very excited with many of the match ups. I want to send a shout out to New Mexico and Navy. They got skimped on their bowl games as they don't even get to leave their campus! I say that these kids should be rewarded with a Bowl game that allows them to travel. However, I am excited for all the bowl match-ups and I will be making predictions on each one of them. Enjoy the game today and GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY! GO BIG RED!
#CollegeFootballKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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