NCAA Football: 25 Heisman Trophy finalists who should have won in hindsight
By John Scimeca
Continuing a trend of perhaps overlooked and underrated Stanford players nearly winning the Heisman Trophy, Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck finished with the second-most votes in 2011 to Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Luck may have experienced some misfortune concerning the Heisman — he finished as the award’s runner-up in both 2010 and 2011.
Luck was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts and he lived up to the billing when healthy. He went to four Pro Bowls, threw for more than 23,000 career passing yards, and was named the 2018 NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He threw for 171 touchdowns and rushed for 14 more in his promising, but injury-riddled NFL career.
Entering the 2019 season, many seemed to see Luck and the resurgent Colts as dark horse Super Bowl contenders. But once Luck opted to retire from the game weeks before his 30th birthday, Indianapolis will have to settle for merely being a playoff contender with Jacoby Brissett as the Colts’ new starting signal-caller.
In 2011, Luck became the fourth player in history to finish as Heisman runner-up twice. He threw for 3,517 yards and 37 touchdowns while completing 71.3 percent of his passes. He also led Stanford to an 11-1 regular-season record before losing to Big 12 champion Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.
The 2011 Heisman winner, Griffin, threw for more passing yards and rushed for 700 yards as well, showing both outstanding scrambling ability and precision passing from the pocket.
While Griffin’s numbers were impressive, Luck was more poised in the biggest games, throwing for a combined 402 yards, six touchdowns, and only one interception in wins over Washington and Notre Dame. In terms of panning out in the NFL, of course, there’s no comparison — although in 2019, that’s all hindsight.