SMQ: Stanford finishes runner-up in Heisman voting for sixth time in history
By Zach Bigalke
3 runner-up finishes
- SCHOOLS (4): Army, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Purdue
- MOST HEISMAN WINS: Army, 3
- SCHOOLS THAT HAVEN’T WON (1): Purdue
- MOST TOP-3 FINISHES: Army, 5
Of the four schools that have finished runner-up in Heisman voting on three occasions, Army is both the most successful of the bunch and the least relevant in a modern sense. Largely irrelevant since the 1960s in terms of national contention, the Black Knights haven’t finished top-three in the Heisman race since Pete Dawkins won the school’s last stiffarm trophy in 1958.
After missing out on placing a player in the top three for the past six decades, fans in West Point and around the country would probably gladly settle for a runner-up bid in the near future. That isn’t the case for a place like Penn State, which thought it had a Heisman contender in 2017 with Saquon Barkley. But Barkley finished fourth in the 2017 campaign and wasn’t even invited to Manhattan on Saturday night.
State rival Pitt is another of the four teams that have thrice finished runner-up in the Heisman balloting. The Panthers can boast Tony Dorsett’s win in 1976, but that was now over four decades ago. Since then, defensive lineman Hugh Green in 1980 and receiver Larry Fitzerald in 2003 have each come in second place.
On the outside of the club of Heisman-winning schools is Purdue. The Boilermakers came close throughout the mid-to-late 1960s to landing a winner in West Lafayette. In the span of four seasons from 1966 to 1969, the Boilermakers had somebody in the top three of voting. Steve Spurrier won over Bob Griese in 1966, Leroy Keyes went third and then second in 1967 and 1968 respectively, and Mike Phipps finished behind Oklahoma’s Steve Owens in 1969.