College football: Ranking every Heisman Trophy winner
By Brad Weiss
83. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Gino Torretta, Miami Hurricanes football
During his time as the starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes, Gino Torretta became synonymous with winning. In fact, heading into the 1993 Sugar Bowl against Alabama, he had never lost a game as the team’s starting quarterback, sporting a perfect 26-0 record. The Crimson Tide would make Torretta’s final game in a Hurricanes uniform a bad one, intercepting him three times, and throttling Miami.
The loss was a capper to a solid 1992 campaign for Torretta, who threw for over 3,000 yards and 19 touchdowns, finishing with only seven interceptions in all. Leading Miami to a perfect regular season, and following up a tremendous 1991 campaign, Torretta was able to secure the Heisman Trophy despite the fact that many felt it should have gone to San Diego State star running back Marshall Faulk.
Some even feel Garrison Hearst should have been the winner, but Torretta’s history and the fact that he was solid all season long led him to be the second Miami quarterback to take home the award, which was one of many that he won during his final season on campus. Overall, Torretta won the Heisman, Maxwell, Davey O’Brien, Unitas, and Walter Camp awards. He would go on to be a seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
82. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame football
When Paul Hornung played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, he was known as “The Golden Boy,” thanks to his flowing blonde locks. On the field, he was an absolute terror on both sides of the ball, serving as a do-everything player for the Irish, leading them in nearly every statistical category on offense, and some on defense.
Widely considered the greatest Notre Dame Football player of all-time, Hornung was a deserving Heisman Trophy finalist during the 1956 college football season, but many feel that the award went to the wrong person. Sure, Hornung led the Irish in many categories, including passing yards, rushing yards, punt and kick returns, and scoring, all while being the punter and an elite safety, but the record and his statistics just were not there in terms of the national landscape.
The Irish finished the 1956 college football season with a 2-8 record, as Hornung became the first player in Heisman history, and now the only player from a school with a losing record to take home the award. In addition, he finished with a 3-to-13 touchdown to interception ratio and had he not played for Notre Dame, many believe Johnny Majors would have been the deserved winner of the Heisman that season.
81. Ranking every Heisman Trophy Winner: Jason White, Oklahoma Sooners football
Jason White arrived in Norman to play for the Oklahoma Sooners as a local product, and the man who was supposed to be the next big-time quarterback at the school. White did eventually become a big-time quarterback at Oklahoma, but not before multiple torn ACLs, and a comeback that at some points seemed impossible.
After tearing his ACL in both 2001 and 2002, White stepped into the starting role for the 2003 college football season and put together an incredible campaign for the Sooners. Operating exclusively out of the shotgun due to his knee injuries, White carved up Big 12 defenses to the tune of being the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
White would also go on to win the Heisman Trophy that season, though some believe the award should have gone to Pitt’s Larry Fitzgerald, who was basically a human video game during the 2003 campaign. Still, White threw for over 3,700 yards and 40 touchdowns in his first season as a starter, but the Sooners would lose in the Big 12 title game to Kansas, and then the BCS title game to LSU. There are many experts who feel this is the biggest snub in Heisman history.