For the first time since 1981, the Heisman trophy was won by a player who plays in the West Coast. That year it was USC's Marcus Allen. This year it is anoter Trojan, quarterback Carson Palmer, who continues a strong tradition of winners and becomes the first USC signal caller to take home the hardware. Some will say McGahee and Dorsey (teammates and Miami) split voters, but in reality neither was all that deserving. Miami's schedule looked a lot tougher before the season started, and playing against the #19 schedule he trailed Palmer (who played the #1 schedule) in TDs, yards and passer rating, with a draw in interceptions. McGahee is too young to win and voters always hold underclassmen to a higher standard.

Banks had a nice passer rating (166.1) thanks to only 4 interceptions, but trailed big time in yardage and played only the #49 schedule (out of 100 some odd teams) which killed his chances. Larry Johnson also benefited from an easy ride, playing half the time against teams who are home for the holidays. In those games his average rushing was a robust 231.8 including 4 trips past 250 yards. In games against contenders? Try 105.7, and if he had faced a Palmer-like schedule he would be looking at around 1,500 yards. Nine other running backs had that many yards.

So finally the voters got it right, and this time the winner might actually do something in the NFL, unlike the last 3 winners who have stunk. Preceding that, 3 of 4 winners were big time (Ricky Williams, Charles Woodson, Eddie George) in the NFL and the other (Danny Wuerffel) is at least still finding the field. Of the 1989-1994 group, only kick returner Desmond Howard and perennial backup quarterback Ty Detmer have done much. 1987 winner Tim Brown just passed 1,000 career receptions (3rd all time) and 1986 winner Vinny Testaverde ranks 9th all-time in passing yardage. Oh yeah, that 1988 winner (Barry Sanders) was pretty good before retiring prematurely. The player who won the longest ago who is still active would be San Diego backup QB Doug Flutie, who took it home in 1984. If you draw the line at him and take the last 18 players, I'd say 50% made a significant impact in the NFL. So there you have it Mr. Palmer, you've got a 50/50 shot.