SEC Heisman Hopefuls: The Dynasty Continues

By Ben Richardson | Dec 15, 2015

When entering the season, there was no clear Heisman candidate in the country that stood out as a lock for New York. I faintly remember the name Christian Hackenberg being thrown out there preseason, and Leonard Fournette saw a little preseason love.

Leonard Fournette burst onto the scene and by week 4 everybody and their mother had Leonard Fournette winning the Heisman. He was well on his way to chasing Nick Chubb to see who could break

Herschel Walker’s single season rushing record by more yardage this year.

Nick Chubb suffered a gruesome injury against Tennessee and Leonard Fournette was embarrassed on national television against Alabama.

We were right about one thing, though: the Heisman winner would break Herschel Walker’s SEC single season rushing record. We were just wrong when guessing who that Heisman winner would be this year.

Nov 8, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers running back Leonard Fournette (7) is grabbed by Alabama Crimson Tide defensive lineman Jarran Reed (90) during the first quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Cut to Derrick Henry October 17, 2015 versus Texas A&M.

Derrick Henry has led the attack for a highly questioned 5-1 Alabama football team. Thus far Derrick Henry had only broken 100 yards rushing in 3 of his teams 6 games, with only 1 game gaining over 150 rushing yards. To his credit, he did have 10 rushing touchdowns thru the first 6 games of the season. People had him falling down their Heisman list at an exponential rate.

Meanwhile, Leonard Fournette was garnering praise from the masses, being heralded as the best SEC running back since Herschel Walker on an undefeated LSU team.

The word on the street was Texas A&M had what it took to beat Alabama, and keep the disappointing Derrick Henry in check.

Then.

Well, not for sure. And I have no fact behind this, but I do imagine Nick Saban walked up to Lane Kiffin at some point and said “Give. Henry. The. Damn. Ball.”

And he did. He gave Henry the damn ball. He just carried it and the whole team to the promised land.

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He rushed for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns in a beat down of Texas A&M. In fact, counting the Texas A&M game, Henry went on a stretch of rushing for 200 or more yards in 4 of Alabama’s last 7 games. One of those games was a bye week for Henry as he had 9 carries for 68 yards in a 56-6 beatdown of Charleston Southern.

He even came just

Dec 5, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry (2) celebrates with running back Kenyan Drake (17) after a 2 yard touchdown against the Florida Gators during the second quarter of the 2015 SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

short of the 200 yard mark in the SEC Championship against UF by rushing for 189 yards. In Alabama’s last seven games, Henry accounted for 13 touchdowns, rushing for less than 2 only twice, and recorded a touchdown in every single game he played the entire season.

Heisman? Seems like an open and shut case. Derrick Henry broke all time great Herschel Walker’s single season SEC rushing record on the 12-1 Alabama football team that had just won the SEC title.

But, what if that season resume was put against a season that broke Barry Sanders’ single season all purpose yards record while leading his team to the PAC-12 title? Things aren’t quite as clear, and that is when most people in the SEC discovered Christian McCaffrey.

So, what record breaking season was more worthy of being awarded the Heisman?

I’m going to say that, first and foremost, I am not jealous that I did not have to make that decision. While both records were broken, neither record breaking performance is considered more impressive than the previous record holders’ respective seasons. That’s not really being nostalgic, it is fact. Barry Sanders and Herschel Walker played fewer games against stiffer competition. Nonetheless, both record-breaking seasons were amazing to witness.

So let us say that they are equal accomplishments. What sets the two a part? How did they pick a winner? Did they get it right?

Touchdowns.

That’s right, I think it simply came down to touchdowns.

Yards don’t score points.

Touchdowns score points.

Christian McCaffrey touched the ball a total of 410 times including rushing attempts, kick returns, punt returns and receptions. He only touched pay dirt 11 times. If you want, you can include his 3 pass attempts in which he completed 2 passes for 2 touchdowns. So, all in all, 413 total touches, and only 13 touchdowns. That is not

Dec 5, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (5) reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Southern California Trojans in the fourth quarter in the Pac-12 Conference football championship game at Levi

going to make it.

But Ben the yards, the yards make up for it.

Oh they do? Ok, agree to disagree.

But chew on this: All 5 of the previous Heisman winners were quarterbacks, and 4 of those quarterbacks had more rushing touchdowns than Christian McCaffrey.

I repeat: 4 quarterbacks had more touchdowns than a guy that touched the ball 413 times in 5 different ways that all have the potential to score.

Did they get it right? I think that they did, but I know there will be plenty who disagree. Sports are an endless debate. That is part of what makes sports great. There are still those who are sore about the last guy from Stanford that made it to New York and walked away with no hardware. It also likely doesn’t help those that believe in east coast and SEC bias that he also lost to an Alabama running back. 2009 for those who are wondering.

But let’s not be petty. Instead, it is a time for congratulations.

Hats off to two great single season performances, and we look forward to doing it all over again next year!

All stats not highlighted were used from espn.com.

Next: 2015 AP All-SEC Team Announced

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