The best performances of the past 25 Heisman Trophy winners

The best performances of the past 25 Heisman Trophy winners: 17. Carson Palmer

It’s been a long time since USC was considered relevant in the National Championship scene. We’ll see if the recent hire of Lincoln Riley will change that notion. But for now, USC simply continues to fall deeper into irrelevance.

We won’t sit here and act like the Trojans were world-beaters for the majority of Carson Palmer’s time there. That said, they were terrific in 2002. USC ended the year with a record of 11-2 and Palmer was a huge reason why. He locked up the Heisman award after throwing for 3,942 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 10 picks.

His best game of that season was ridiculous. With number 14 Oregon coming up on their schedule, USC had already suffered two losses and Palmer was steaming mad as he was ready to turn things around. Boy did he ever. He destroyed the Ducks, throwing for 448 yards while completing 73.8% of his passes. In terms of his touchdown passes, it was target practice for Palmer. He ended the game with five touchdown scores against only one pick.

The Trojans would go on to win that game and failed to lose for the rest of the year.