Columnist Steve Guiremand: Heisman finally full of excitement

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 13, 2002 | 10:20 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

How they voted

Here's how the three members of the Las Vegas Sun staff who have Heisman Trophy ballots voted:

Dean Juipe

Sports columnist

1. Ken Dorsey

2. Carson Palmer

3. Maurice Clarett

Steve Guiremand

Football beat writer

1. Carson Palmer

2. Brad Banks

3. Willis McGahee

Jeff Haney

Assistant metro editor

1. Larry Johnson

2. Carson Palmer

3. Willis McGahee

Normally watching the Heisman Trophy ceremony is about as exciting as watching a rerun of Maude.

You have four or five of the top college football players in the country sitting around a ballroom for about an hour as their life stories and season highlights are shown for about the 200th time. Then the guy who has been the frontrunner in the countless media Heisman surveys gets his trophy as expected and goes on to the NFL, where more times than not he turns out to be a flop.

But this year's ceremony, which airs Saturday at 5 p.m. (ESPN, Ch. 30), actually has some drama should be worth turning in for.

All five finalists -- USC quarterback Carson Palmer, Iowa quarterback Brad Banks, Penn State running back Larry Johnson and the Miami duo of quarterback Ken Dorsey and running back Willis McGahee -- have a legitimate shot at winning the coveted award in what should be the closest voting margin since Bo Jackson a 45-point win over another Iowa quarterback, Chuck Long, in 1985.

How close is it? Well, three members of the Sun -- myself, columnist Dean Juipe and assistant metro editor Jeff Haney -- have Heisman votes. And we had different players at the top of our lists.

I went with Palmer, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner who completed nearly 63 percent of his passes for 3,639 yards and 32 touchdowns with 10 interceptions, including 425 yards and four touchdowns in a season-ending 44-13 win over Notre Dame. It was the most passing yards ever allowed by the Fighting Irish.

Juipe went with Dorsey, who owns nearly every significant passing record at Miami and is an amazing 38-1 as a starter.

Haney elected to go with Johnson, who finished with 2,015 yards rushing, only the ninth player in Division 1-A history to top 2,000 yards in a season.

Others have argued for Banks, who led the nation in passing efficiency and helped lead Iowa to its first unbeaten Big Ten season since 1922 and a No. 3 national ranking, while some back McGahee, who shattered a number of school rushing records, has 10 100-yard rushing games and scored six touchdowns in the Canes' Fiesta Bowl-clinching 56-45 victory over Virginia Tech.

Any one of the five would be a worthy winner as would have Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich, who probably also should have been invited to the festivities.

It will be interesting to see how the regional voting goes.

Palmer should easily carry the West and also get his share of first-place votes in the Midwest, where his Notre Dame performance had to make a lasting impression. Banks and Johnson should do well in both the Midwest and East because of their Big Ten ties. Dorsey and McGahee should do well in the South, but a split-vote could come back to haunt them.

The winner very well could be determined by third-place votes in the four sections. Each voter picks his top three in order of preference.

Stay tuned.

Notes, quotes and anecdotes

"When they made that decision to get in the BCS, I personally felt like it was a bad move for the Rose Bowl, a bad move for the Big Ten, because what the Big Ten and Pac-10 had all these years was so special," Barnett told the Denver Post. "For them to give it up for a few bucks, I felt like at the time, was a major mistake. This year I think they got some consequences. I hope it was worth all the money that they think they got out of it." ...