SMQ: Stanford finishes runner-up in Heisman voting for sixth time in history

Bryce Love finished a distant second behind Baker Mayfield in Heisman voting. In the process, he helped Stanford football set a bittersweet record.

Coming into the 2017 Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony, two schools had finished runner-up in the Heisman voting more than any other institutions around the country. Those two schools both had finalists in the running this year. Bryce Love was in Manhattan representing Stanford, Front-runner Baker Mayfield was in New York from Oklahoma. Defending champion Lamar Jackson of Louisville was also at the Downtown Athletic Club.

As was expected from the Heisman voting this year, Mayfield won the Heisman in a landslide. Jackson finished third in his defense of the trophy, leaving Bryce Love to finish as the runner-up in voting. The defeat left Stanford with the dubious distinction of being the first team to finish runner-up in the Heisman voting for a sixth time.

The loss to Mayfield broke the tie with the Sooners for the school with the most second-place finishes in the Heisman race. On six different occasions, Stanford has finished runner-up for the most coveted individual trophy in college football. Love’s second-place finish this year marks the fifth time in the past decade that a Cardinal player has just missed out on winning the award.

While it is hardly worth boasting, Stanford can lay claim to the bittersweet honor of reaching the second rung of the Heisman ladder more than any other college football team. In the spirit of that milestone, let’s look at the schools that have had multiple runner-up finishes in the Heisman voting since the award was first handed over to Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago back in 1935.