In this edition of Cardinal CounTree, Matt Vassar looks at whether race played into this year's Heisman results, like ESPN's Michael Wilbon suggested. Solomon Hughes, an athletic academic adviser at Stanford, joins this episode to talk about how sometimes minority athletes feel like they don't belong in a university setting. The guys also talk about how rampant stereotypes about athletes' classroom aptitude can make them feel like outsiders.
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Comments
There was prejudice in this year's Heisman voting
but it was towards DeShaun Watson for being a SO. He did everything for that team. Had a better season than Cam Newton, Manziel and Winston when they won the Heisman, but Watson didn’t get the hype that the SEC RBs did…nor did McCaffrey. The SEC has ESPN to promote and hype their schools and players.
By Rick75 on 12.18.15 6:48pm
It wasn't race
It was
1. East Coast Bias. Any Pac-12 player must be a Heisman hopeful before the season even starts to have any chance
2. Larry Scott’s god-awful TV contract that had Stanford playing over 50% of its games when 70%+ of Heisman voters were already asleep. Can’t vote for what you can’t see
3. SEC/ESPN cartel
4. Voting rules. Ballots should not be available until after CCGs, and votes by region should be weighted by population. West region has 25% of US population but only just over 15% of votes.
5. Voting for your guy by leaving the next best one off the ballot entirely. Over 10% of Heisman voters didn’t even have McCaffrey in their top 3. Those voters should lose their ballots.
I have stopped caring about the Heisman – or any other individual CFB award other than the Morris Award. The deck is so stacked it’s ridiculous. I call on every voter with Pac-12 ties to boycott the ceremony.
By winflop on 12.18.15 10:06pm
My calculation had McCaffrey missing from 20% of the ballots. Ridiculous.
By Cardinal-in-TX on 12.19.15 5:15am
Agree
This was a media (read: ESPN) power play coupled with East Coast bias. If Derrick Henry had been white, he still would have won. The push for McCaffrey was too little, too late. I have already seen ESPN’s build-up of the Bama-MSU semifinal, and the game’s appeal is naturally increased by featuring the Heisman winner. What a waste it would have been if that Heisman shine had been lost on the Rose Bowl, which is not part of the CFP this year. Barring unforeseen circumstances (like zero Heisman-worthy players in the top four teams), I think we will start to see a pattern of Heisman winners being members of CFP participant teams. The credibility of the award has been severely damaged.
By Jeff Tarnungus on 12.19.15 8:23am