Heisman Trophy Ceremony Live Blog
Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 04:35PM Heisman Pundit's also doing a live blog from the actual ceremony. I got a text from him a while back, I'll let him tell the story if he wishes, but... he's a funny guy.
Kari Chisholm of StiffArmTrophy.com also sent me an email about his final projection. Needless to say Troy Smith is a landslide and will challenge Reggie Bush for the biggest Heisman landslide in history. He also projects Darren McFadden narrowly edging Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn for third place.
Our projection shows that Troy Smith will be the single biggest winner ever; besting Reggie Bush's 91.8% of the total vote in 2005. Our final numbers show Troy Smith picking up 2603 points - that's 94.0% of the 2772 possible.
The only responsible method for comparing Heisman Trophy wins across multiple years is to compare the winner to the total possible points (number of voters times three.)
In short, "How close did this winner come to a unanimous #1 selection?"
The top ten winners of all time:
YEAR VOTERS MAX | PTS PCT WINNER
2005 923 2769 | 2541 91.8% Reggie Bush
1998 921 2763 | 2355 85.2% Ricky Williams
1993 919 2757 | 2310 83.8% Charlie Ward
1968 1200 3600 | 2903 80.6% O.J. Simpson
1991 917 2751 | 2077 75.5% Desmond Howard
1976 1048 3144 | 2357 75.0% Tony Dorsett
1999 922 2766 | 2042 73.8% Ron Dayne
1984 1050 3150 | 2240 71.1% Doug Flutie
1986 1050 3150 | 2213 70.3% Vinny Testaverde
1997 921 2763 | 1815 65.7% Charles Woodson
There ya go. More to come in a few minutes.
7:44 p.m. (Eastern) - If you want to ask HP a question, let me know and I'll try and text it to him (keep it real short).
7:50 p.m. - Quoth Deadspin: 'Hopefully, pictures of Troy Smith freaking some young lady at an after-party will be on Deadspin by Monday afternoon'
7:52 p.m. - Because I'm curious about these things, I asked HP his attire since it's a black tie affair. He says he's in a suit. Oki doki.
7:59 p.m. - ESPN just showed their top 10 college football plays of the year. I saw eight of them live, including one in person. Not bad. And yes, I watch a lot lot lot of games each weekend.
8:02 p.m. - ESPN's intro is a bit hokey, but the Heisman still stirs something within me. There's also video of the three finalists walking into the ceremony... Darren McFadden has a few inches on Troy Smith.
8:03 p.m. - 25 former Heisman winners in the house. Methinks Reggie Bush has some business to tend to tomorrow, which is too bad.
Chris Fowler: "Arkansas has never had anyone finish higher than eigth place" I did not know that.
8:05 p.m. - Chris Fowler bugs me sometimes, but he does a great job as emcee.
Bonnie Bernstein's today's "sideline" reporter? Eh. Give us Thursday night gal Erin Andrews. Bonnie looks like a China doll she's so pale.
8:13 p.m. - Fowler notes that all the candidates are east coast guys this year. I noticed the other night that the Big 12 doesn't really have a candidate, either. If Colt McCoy had been a little more healthy maybe that changes.
Nice writing tonight for these video packages. Troy Smith's "spirals are tightly spun". Smith Troy, you're the man!
8:18 p.m. - From HP's Live Blog: Linda Cohn is doing a little Darren McFadden on air promotion on ESPN. "He'll be something to see in the NFL" she informs us. I'm thinking the best runs we'll get to see out of him will come at Arkansas.
8:21 p.m. - Fowler just called Paul Horning "carousing"
8:23 p.m. - ESPN's chosen theme/motif for Brady Quinn: scholar/good guy.
8:28 p.m. - Yet another one from HP's Live Blog: If Brady Quinn doesn't win the Heisman, it'll be because his haircut made voters think he was an SEC quarterback. Or maybe they thought he was that guy from My So Called Life.
8:31 p.m. - Heh. Fowler to Marcus Allen, "you look daisy fresh"
8:32 p.m. - Darren McFadden at Ground Zero: "I was in eigth grade when this happened"
Heh, his mom had to tell him to stop buying shoes as he enjoys the NYC shopping scene.
8:41 p.m. - Great piece on Troy Smith. All the things he's battled, his highs and his lows. The B.R.I.C.K. program to change his direction in life. Getting his degree.
His football transformation has been impressive as well, emerging from a throw-in recruit to starting quarterback, getting past the booster scandal and leading his team the last two seasons.
8:45 p.m. - Kind words from coach Jim Tressel. "I've learned that humility comes before honor".
Two good entries from HP: 'Troy Smith is definitely a great story. People wonder how the Heisman could go to a kid whose had such problems. But, Troy Smith is all about overcoming those problems and, ultimately, redemption.'
Yup. And... 'This is about as close to the Heisman as Ted Ginn will ever get... as sad as that is for him.'
8:47 p.m. - His mother had to calm him down/cool his anger as a youth by having him write down on pieces of paper "I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm not mad." Heh.
8:53 p.m. - Greetings to my visitors from BrendanLoy.com. An Irish Trojan, he knows a thing or two or 14 about Heisman trophies.
As always, it's great to see the past winners on stage. USC winner Charles White is rocking the all white suit... interesting.
8:55 p.m. - Of little suspense, the winner is Ohio State senior quarterback Troy Smith. Congratulations, Troy, from College Football Resource!
8:57 p.m. - Heh. Like Matt Leinart, he says his heart is pounding. He's human like the rest of us. Thanks God, coach Jim Tressel ('he put the ball in my hand and let me know he had trust in me to be his quarterback to lead The Ohio State University'). Thanks his dad, mother, sister. Ted Ginn Sr., a handful of his teammates, particularly the offensive line. Brady Quinn, Darren McFadden. Says he's in awe watching those guys play. Thanks his foster family. An anecdote from when he was being recruited, sitting in the recruiting office and someone telling him one day he could be tOSU's quarterback. Thanks the Heisman Trophy Trust.
9:00 p.m. - That's all she wrote. I'll have the results up when ESPN releases them.
Fowler: Troy Smith has highest percentage of first place voters ever, surpassing Reggie Bush last year. Steve Slaton finishes fourth, Mike Hart fifth, Colt Brennan sixth.
Heisman
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