Heisman Trophy

After being drafted in the fifth round by the Ravens last weekend, Troy Smith knows he has to quiet the critics who say he won't make it as a pro quarterback. When his NFL career informally began yesterday at the team's rookie minicamp, Smith learned of another hurdle to overcome - history. Few Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks survive in the NFL, much less thrive. Such flops as Danny Wuerffel (1996), Chris Weinke (2000), Eric Crouch (2001) and Jason White (2003) - all of whom are out of the league - have proved that the best player in college football often struggles at the next level.

Should Reggie Bush have to surrender his Heisman Trophy if, as stated in a Yahoo.com report, the former Southern California running back and his family accepted gifts, cash and other benefits totaling more than $100,000 from two marketing agents? And does this better explain why he kept asking me to hold it for him? Frank Robinson was voted No. 4 on ESPN Classic's Top 20 list of most underrated athletes, a neat trick when you're the only major league player named Most Valuable Player in both leagues.

LOS ANGELES -- This was nearly a month ago, in the raucous moments after the Southern California football team had finished its perfect regular season with a 66-19 demolition of cross-town rival UCLA and Reggie Bush had put the finishing touches on his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign. As the junior tailback stepped onto the top rung of a ladder to lead the school's band in a rousing rendition of the USC fight song, Lamar Griffin stood a few feet away, recalling the moment when this road to becoming the best college football player in the country began for his 22-year-old stepson.

The Heisman Trophy competition is a three-man race - just as it's been all season. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart of Southern California will be back in New York on Saturday, along with Texas quarterback Vince Young, when the Heisman Trophy is awarded. The Downtown Athletic Club, which hands out college football's most prestigious individual award, invited yesterday only those three players to the presentation ceremony. Last season, five players attended the Heisman ceremony, and Leinart won it. Since 1999, either four or five finalists have been invited to New York.

He's not being mentioned for the Heisman Trophy and barely has received attention for any of the awards that go to the nation's best quarterbacks. For the first five weeks of the 2005 season, Penn State's Michael Robinson wasn't even considered the best offensive player on his own team. In fact, when freshman wide receiver Derrick Williams broke his arm during a last-second loss against Michigan on Oct. 15 in Ann Arbor, most figured that the Nittany Lions would have to win with their defense.

The fallout from Tennessee's three-game losing streak that culminated with last week's 16-15 defeat to South Carolina and led to the demotion of offensive coordinator Randy Sanders could bring a familiar face back to Neyland Stadium. David Cutcliffe, who held the position during Peyton Manning's career as a Vol, is now back in Knoxville after being fired last year at Mississippi. Cutcliffe will certainly be a popular choice, but will he be the best choice? Why not Norm Chow? Nothing against Cutcliffe, but Chow should be Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer's first call.

Glenn Davis, the Heisman Trophy-winning "Mr. Outside" on Army's national championship football teams of the mid-1940s, died yesterday, his son Ralph told the Los Angeles Times. Davis was 80. Davis, recognized as one of the finest all-around athletes to come out of southern California, died of complications from prostate cancer at his home in La Quinta, Calif. A 5-foot-9, 170-pound halfback, Davis teamed with fullback Felix "Doc" Blanchard, "Mr. Inside," when the U.S. Military Academy was a college football power during and just after World War II. Army, going undefeated, won national titles in 1944 and '45, then finished a close second to Notre Dame after those teams had played to a 0-0 tie at Yankee Stadium in 1946.

MIAMI - Any debate about this season's college football national championship ended quickly last night at Pro Player Stadium. Amid a flurry of Oklahoma turnovers and Southern California touchdowns in the second quarter of the Orange Bowl, the season-long filibuster on the BCS rankings suddenly became a moot point. Or, for the top-ranked Trojans, lots of points. Turning a bunch of bumbles and two fumbles by the second-ranked Sooners into nearly immediate scores, USC (13-0) embarrassed Oklahoma by taking a 28-point halftime lead and cruising to a 55-19 victory before 77,912 fans.

MIAMI - They come from different parts of the country, throw with different arms and have taken different paths to tomorrow's Bowl Championship Series national title game in the Orange Bowl at Pro Player Stadium. Oklahoma quarterback Jason White and his Southern California counterpart, Matt Leinart, share one significant achievement that has become something of an albatross for many in the same position. A year ago, White became the latest Heisman Trophy winner to fail in his quest to win a national title game that season, joining a list that includes Miami's Gino Torretta and Vinny Testaverde, Florida State's Chris Weinke and Nebraska's Eric Crouch.

NEW YORK - College football has a new leading man. Matt Leinart was already the envy of the Southern California campus. With an unassuming personality and boyish good looks, Leinart became a star in Tinsel Town while leading the Trojans to a share of the national championship last season and a No. 1 ranking they held from start to finish this season. Last year, he replaced a quarterback who had won the Heisman Trophy. Now he has his own. Leinart, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior, was announced as the winner of the 70th annual Heisman Trophy last night in New York.