NCAA Football: 25 Heisman Trophy finalists who should have won in hindsight
By John Scimeca
As an Oklahoma transfer quarterback who originally began his college playing career at Weber State of the FCS level, Josh Heupel shows that big-time quarterbacks were still changing schools two decades ago to find a place where they might succeed. (And you thought Baker Mayfield was the trailblazer to Norman, Oklahoma!)
In 2000, Heupel led an OU team that shocked many in a national championship run, throwing for 3,606 yards and 20 touchdowns. It was only the second season for a little-known former Florida defensive coordinator named Bob Stoops at OU. The culminating point was a 13-2 Orange Bowl victory against Florida State that clinched a 13-0 season and a national title.
Heupel led the Sooners to five wins against the top 12 teams in the country, according to the final 2000 AP Poll: then-No. 1 Nebraska, Kansas State (twice, including the Big 12 Championship Game), Texas, and Florida State.
His senior leadership and moxie were just as important as his playmaking in close wins, such as the 27-24 victory for the Big 12 title against Kansas State and the 12-7 defeat of in-state rival Oklahoma State at the end of the regular season.
Heupel, despite winning the AP College Football Player of the Year, finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2000 to Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke.
The Seminoles’ signal-caller was a 28-year-old who had played minor league baseball for five seasons out of high school. His numbers were gaudier, but so was his offensive supporting cast — he threw long balls to wide receiver Anquan Boldin and handed off to running back Travis Minor, both of whom would go on to play in the NFL.
Heupel’s success in rallying the often-underrated Sooners to several key wins en route to an undefeated season was overlooked by Heisman voters, but his team got the last laugh in the 2000 National Championship game.