COMMENTARY

By Jim Litke

updated 9:56 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2005

Jim Litke

The second after the announcement was made, Vince Young should have shaken Reggie Bush’s hand heartily, smiled broadly, and then fled Saturday night’s black-tie gala in Times Square like the USC defense was already hot on his trail. All the while murmuring, “Thank you, thank you” under his breath.

Other than tearing a rotator cuff in a bowl game, or blowing out an ACL, few things augur worse for a player’s NFL career than winning the Heisman Trophy. Check it out:

There have been 70 winners since University of Chicago running back Jay Berwanger took home the first one in 1935, and using both hands, you could total up the number who went on to become truly great pros.

Twenty-three of those winners have been quarterbacks — Young’s position at Texas — including the last five in a row. But for reasons nobody has ever suitably explained, your thumb and index finger are enough to count the exceptional ones — Roger Staubach (Navy, 1963) and Jim Plunkett (Stanford, 1970). The trend may be changing — we’ll explain why below — but at the moment, there are enough failed NFL quarterbacks with Heismans sitting on a shelf back home to open up a licensed pawn shop.

“As far as the NFL does, the Heisman means you were a great college player. Period,” San Diego Chargers general manager A.J. Smith said over the phone Thursday.

That’s it?

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“Pretty much,” Smith said. “It gets you noticed, but the evaluation process is the same for every player, on a case-by-case basis: ’Does he have the physical skills? How quick does he learn? What’s his work ethic? How much of it can he take to the next level.’

“And believe me,” he added, “the NFL is a different level.”

We bring this up as consolation for Young, who finished second in the balloting to Bush, USC’s all-purpose back.

Young tried to give his candidacy a boost in recent days, as though his numbers weren’t compelling enough. They are. He threw for 2,769 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, ran for a team-high 850 yards and nine more TDs, all the while orchestrating an offense that scored 50 or more points seven times. His pass efficiency rating is 168.6, the best in the nation.

And he did all that, Young pointed out, despite sitting on the bench for the second half of quite a few blowouts.

Heisman Trophy winners by school 7: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Southern California 5: Oklahoma 3: Army, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska 2: Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Navy, Texas, Wisconsin, Yale 1: Boston College, BYU, Chicago, Colorado, Houston, Iowa, LSU, Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Princeton, SMU, South Carolina, Stanford, Syracuse, Texas A&M, TCU, UCLA

But USC was no slouch on offense, and Bush had to share his touches with quarterback and 2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart, fellow running back LenDale White and a corps of receivers that could segue into the NFL tomorrow. He put up similarly eye-popping stats — 187 rushes for 1,658 yards and 15 touchdowns; 31 receptions for 383 yards and 2 more touchdowns; 18 punt returns for 179 yards and one touchdown; 23 kickoff returns for 391 yards — and he did it from just about every spot on the field.

Bush might not have sat out as long as Young did. But to suggest that a significant chunk of those yards were collected during mop-up time is unfair. The most revealing number about Southern California’s equally incredible season on offense was this: Thirteen times this season, the USC juggernaut has run up at least 20 unanswered points against opponents. And whether it was with a kick or punt return, a screen pass or a busted play, Bush was almost always the ignition coil and rarely just the taillights.

College football How does Bush rank with other 'SC stars?

Both Young and Bush have benefited from an unprecedented and continuing trend that is shaping college football. More and more, even stodgy coaches are opening up their game plans, if only to recruit kids who want to play in a pro-style offense. That’s why no teams besides the service academies and Frank Solich at Ohio, still channeling his days at Nebraska, run the option anymore.

The number of points scored and passing attempts have been skyrocketing since 1999. This season’s per-game average of 26.8 points could yet eclipse the record of 27.3 set in 2002 after the bowl games are done. The average team passed 223.3 times this season — the record, set in 2003, is 223.9 — and if Young and his counterparts sling it around furiously in the postseason, that mark could fall, too.

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Whether that means quarterbacks, especially Heisman winners, will arrive in the pros better prepared in the future is anyone’s guess. Of the last five QBs to win the award, only Carson Palmer has been a success, though Leinart could well be.

San Diego’s investment in Drew Brees, meanwhile, is paying major dividends in his fourth season, giving the Chargers the luxury to let rookie Philip Rivers study the learning curve at a leisurely pace. Few teams get that lucky with a young quarterback, let alone two, but Smith says don’t read much into that.

“It depends on the system they’ve played in, somewhat, and how well they’ve done it” the Chargers GM said. “And all the attention that comes with the Heisman is nice. But it’s always going to be about the individual.”

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