…that Andre Ware of Houston took home the Heisman.

His win was an interesting marker in the history of the trophy.  For starters, he was the last player from the fabled Southwestern Conference to capture the Heisman.  He was also the last player to successfuly wow voters based solely on crazy stats produced by an unorthodox system (in his case, the run ‘n shoot).  He was the only player to win the Heisman despite his team being on probation and banned from television.  And he was the first black quarterback to win the trophy.

He threw for 4,699 yards and 46 touchdowns that year, numbers since eclipsed or met by many a college quarterback, including fellow Cougar Case Keenum last season.  None of them have really sniffed the Heisman.  He was also aided by one of the weakest Heisman races EVER, as the runner up was Indiana’s Anthony Thompson (my pick at the time).  This story from the LA Times reflects the dilemma for voters back then.

In my mind, he is the last Heisman winner to lack a truly coherent rationale for taking home the award.  There have been winners since then who may not have been the most deserving, but they could still make a valid case based on team success or individual career accomplishment.  Ware’s team, however, won just nine games and lost to the two best teams it played.  He threw for a ton of yards, but so did his successor, David Klingler.  He’d have no shot at the Heisman in this era, unless he could flourish in the spread for an elite team.  His subsequent failure in the NFL didn’t help his cause much, either.  There’s no doubt he was a talent, but I think Heisman voters are much more wary now of quarterbacks from gimmick offenses who put up outlandish stats.  That’s why Texas Tech quarterbacks bear such a heavy burden.  They have Ware to thank for that.