Quinn doesn't get an invite

[dbldomer]

Bush, Leinart, Young only three Heisman invitees
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- The Heisman Trophy competition is a three-man race -- just as it's been all season.
Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart of Southern California will be back in New York on Saturday, along with Texas quarterback Vince Young, when the Heisman Trophy is awarded to the nation's best college football player.
The Downtown Athletic Club, which hands out the sport's most prestigious individual award, invited Wednesday only those three players to the presentation ceremony.
Last season, five players attended the Heisman ceremony and Leinart won it. Since 1999, either four or five finalists have been invited to New York.
Bush, Leinart and Young have been the front-runners since the preseason, and they've been jockeying for position all year.
The two USC stars said they were proud to be returning to the ceremony.
"It was a a great experience last year, seeing Matt win it," said Bush, who finished fifth in the 2004 voting.
Leinart said, "It's a great honor to be invited as a Heisman finalist again. I look forward to returning to New York with Reggie, and congratulations to Vince Young as well."
Bush emerged as the favorite in the past three weeks with two enormous games. The 200-pound speedster had 513 all-purpose yards in a 50-42 victory over Fresno State and he rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a 66-19 victory over UCLA, which completed a perfect regular season for the Trojans (12-0).
Bush, who finished fifth in the Heisman voting last season to earn a trip to Manhattan, has rushed for a career-high 1,658 yards, averaging 8.9 per carry, and scored 18 touchdowns.
The junior would be the first running back to win the award since Ron Dayne in 1999. The last five winners have been quarterbacks.
Leinart is having an even better season this year than last, when he became the sixth USC player to win the Heisman, and second Trojans quarterback in three years.
Carson Palmer won as a senior in 2002. Four USC tailbacks have won the Heisman -- Mike Garrett (1965), O.J. Simpson ('68), Charles White ('79) and Marcus Allen ('81).
Leinart passed up a chance to become the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft to return to USC for his senior year, and threw for 3,450 yards and 27 touchdowns. His most memorable moments came at the end of one of his most inconsistent games.
With USC trailing at Notre Dame 31-28 and 1:32 left in the game, Leinart audibled to a risky fade pattern on fourth-and-9 from his own 26 and threw a perfect pass to Dwayne Jarrett. The completion covered 61 yards.
Soon after, Leinart spun into the end zone with help from a Bush push to score the winning touchdown with 3 seconds left.
The left-hander is 37-1 in three years as a starter and could become the second player to win two Heismans, joining Ohio State running back Archie Griffin, who won in 1974 and '75.
Young, the best running quarterback in the country, became an effective passer this season, throwing for 2,769 yards and 26 touchdowns. He's led the Longhorns (12-0) to a perfect regular season and Big 12 title.
The junior vaulted to the front of the Heisman race just two weeks into the season, when he led Texas to a 25-22 victory at Ohio State, tossing the winning score with less than three minutes left.
About a month later, Texas found itself trailing at halftime 28-9 to Oklahoma State when Young took over. His 80-yard touchdown run sparked a comeback and was part of a record-setting game for Young.
He piled up 506 total yards, a Texas record, and became just the second QB in major college history to run and pass for more than 230 in the same game.
Young would be Texas' third Heisman winner, joining running backs Ricky Williams ('98) and Earl Campbell ('77).
The three finalists will meet in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4 with the national title on the line.
Last season, four of the five finalists played in the Bowl Championship Series national title game when USC defeated Oklahoma for the Trojans' second straight crown.
Sooners tailback Adrian Peterson was the runner-up to Leinart last season, and 2003 Heisman winner Jason White of Oklahoma was third.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2251643

 

[BGIF]

Bush emerged as the favorite in the past three weeks with two enormous games. The 200-pound speedster had 513 all-purpose yards in a 50-42 victory over Fresno State and he rushed for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a 66-19 victory over UCLA,

After those two games it's a wonder they sprung for 3 tickets.

 

[nayers]

anti-ND bias...i hate the media, BQ's #'s are way better than ML, and VY

 

[iloveirish_12]

Bull crap BQ has better numbers than both the two QB.

 

[irishnd31]

What a freakin joke. BQ threw for more yards and more touchdowns than Twinkle Toes Leinart. Hell, if Brady doesn't get the invite, then why in the heck does Leinart get to go?

 

[jiggafini19]

Good.

He can focus on Ohio State.

It would be a waste of time for him to be there anyway since it will be a Trojan lovefest and nothing but Rose Bowl hype.

 

[Domer95]

Good.
He can focus on Ohio State.
It would be a waste of time for him to be there anyway since it will be a Trojan lovefest and nothing but Rose Bowl hype.

Jigga,
Correct on all accounts. And ESPN will cover ad infinitum from now until then.

BTW, was Steve Superior the only Heisman voter as well???????????

 

[irishnd31]

Fellas, I agree, but I would have liked to have seen Brady get invited because I feel he earned the right to be there. I just hope he doesn't get down on himself or get disappointed in the fact that he was not invited and take great pride in the fact that he deserves to be there and should have gotten a seat on that stage.

 

[NDgettysburg]

It would be a waste of time for him to be there anyway since it will be a Trojan lovefest and nothing but Rose Bowl hype.

True....but the conspiracist in me believes that it was nothing more than a snub at ND who for the first time in ages had a legitimate contender for the award.

Hope he takes out his anger (if he has any...which might surprise me) on OSU!

 

[BigIrish]

meh...it is what it is. brady quinn can read, and he knew he was firmly entrenched at #4 in the voting by the mid-point of the season. i doubt he cares much about missing an opportunity to go watch the DAC remind him of that fact.

quinn position at #4 in the voting is rather admirable, imo. obviously, since he wasn't part of the media's heisman storyline at the beginning of the year, he's not going to be in serious contention for the award. but his ascension to the #4 spot in the voting represents the media's (albeit relectant) acceptance of a player whose rise to stardom in the college football world is a result of merit rather than hype. granted, young, bush and leinhart are all great players in the college game, but they had the heisman spotlight on them even before the season started.

brady's play on the field forced the voters to place him in the same field as as the preordained three. in my mind, that's no less an accomplishment than winning the heisman.

 

[ACCIrish]

Although it would of been nice for him to go and i know he deserves it. Theres no way he would of won this year but i bet he'll give them hell next year!

 

[absoluteirish59]

Fellas, I agree, but I would have liked to have seen Brady get invited because I feel he earned the right to be there. I just hope he doesn't get down on himself or get disappointed in the fact that he was not invited and take great pride in the fact that he deserves to be there and should have gotten a seat on that stage.

Thats exactly what i was going to say. Why don't they just invite bush. Everyone knows he is gonna get it. Brady should be their over leinhart. Vince is a beast, and i'm glad they still invited him so i can still pray that a USC player won't win.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Although it would of been nice for him to go and i know he deserves it. Theres no way he would of won this year but i bet he'll give them hell next year!

I just don't get that. They invite guys EVERY FRICKIN YEAR who have no chance at winning it, why is this year different? Did ANYONE think Alex Smith was winning it last year? No. Brady really got hosed in this deal.

 

[luckoftheirish8503]

All the award is anymore is a popularity contest.

 

[jiggafini19]

If I were voting today, I go Young, Bush, Quinn in that order.

Bush goes down, so what. They have Leinert and LenDale White.

Texas loses Young, ND loses Quinn they are both screwed.

 

[domerfor life]

What I don't understand is that in years past they invite 5 guys with two having absolutely no chance of winning it. Why didn't Brady at least get an invite? His numbers were better. Well, that's how the hype machine (ESPN) works. They pumped up those three guys from before the start of the season, so maybe that's who most of the voters focused on. I pray that Brady gets angry and takes it out on OSU. Maybe Charlie will use that as motivation. That's bullcrap though. Matt Leinart is good, but have you seen that guy run? I hope he has a good O-line next year. He will get killed trying to scramble. Brady's numbers were better than his and Brady meant more to his team. If Matt struggled, he could just give the ball to Bush and White. If Brady struggled, the whole offense struggled.

 

[domerfor life]

Check out this link guys: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/gene_menez/12/06/heisman.watch/index.html

Read why he didn't move Brady into his No. 3 spot. It's a joke.

 

[jiggafini19]

Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun Times voted Bush, Young and Brett Basanez of Northwestern third.

Goooooo!!

 

[irishnd31]

Check out this link guys: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/gene_menez/12/06/heisman.watch/index.html
Read why he didn't move Brady into his No. 3 spot. It's a joke.

That Gene is a real cut up.
Makes absolutely no sense. Made bigger plays against better teams this year? What bigger plays? They blew everybody out this year due in large part to Leinart's supporting cast. Every big game or close game that I saw USC play in this year, it was Bush bailing Leinart's a$$ out of trouble or White gaining huge yards on the ground to put Leinart in position to win a game.
Leinart had one huge play in the last 2:00 of the ND game and it was a perfect pass to the WR who ran the ball down the sideline to AGAIN put Leinart in position to win the game. There were no heroics there. It was one good pass and the teammates did the rest. Leinart made it into the endzone, yeah. If I had 200 lbs of Reggie Bush in my a$$ pushing, I would have scored too. Am I a Heisman finalist? NO. Look at the numbers of Quinn and Leinart and tell me who deserves to be there.

And the ballroom dancing line was a real gut buster. This dude is a tool and he needs to leave the joke telling to Larry the Cable Guy. GIT ER DONE!!!!

 

[Irish Legend]

VINCE YOUNG and the Longhorns have not played anyone but Ohio State!!! Vince is overrated! Unfortunately we'll have to see USC tie ND's 11 NC's while watching VY panic and throw at least two INT's!!

 

[domerfor life]

My thoughts exactly. Better teams? Did they not beat everybody handily except for a couple of teams? Fresno State played them close, but that doesn't make them a good team. The two subsequent loses by Fresno State supports that. Leinart has a bad game, USC wins 66-19. Quinn has a bad half we beat Stanford by 1 touchdown. Nuff said.

 

[irishnd31]

My thoughts exactly. Better teams? Did they not beat everybody handily except for a couple of teams? Fresno State played them close, but that doesn't make them a good team. The two subsequent loses by Fresno State supports that. Leinart has a bad game, USC wins 66-19. Quinn has a bad half we beat Stanford by 1 touchdown. Nuff said.

And in that Fresno game, who won that game for USC? It sure as hell wasn't ballroom dancing / Brian Boitanno (aka The BadBoy of Skating) wanna be Leinart. That was the game that secured the Heisman for Bush.

 

[jiggafini19]

Vince Young made great strides between 2004 and 2005. I believe he'll be an even better passer in 2006, but he isn't NFL caliber the way Quinn and Omar Jacobs are....yet.

Winning big games means everything in this award. If they gave it out based on stats, the Red Raider QB would win it every year.

Bush, Young, Quinn, Leinert and Mike Robinson were all worthy to be on hand Saturday because they won games, performed well each week and played on quality teams.

 

[absoluteirish59]

VINCE YOUNG and the Longhorns have not played anyone but Ohio State!!! Vince is overrated! Unfortunately we'll have to see USC tie ND's 11 NC's while watching VY panic and throw at least two INT's!!

I don't know about that. Vince is a beast. Besides bush he is the biggest playmaker in the land. He has really improved from last year. It's not like USC has a great defense. I'm not saying he is gonna have a great game but i think it definetily could happen.

 

[domerfor life]

And in that Fresno game, who won that game for USC? It sure as hell wasn't ballroom dancing / Brian Boitanno (aka The BadBoy of Skating) wanna be Leinart. That was the game that secured the Heisman for Bush.

they won many of their games because of Bush and White. Bush won the Fresno State game for them. If they don't have Reggie Bush, they lose at least...at least three games this year. He's that good. He would make any Top 10 team a title contender. He'll make a bad NFL franchise respectable ala Barry Sanders. I hope he has an O-line in front of him though when he gets into the pros.

 

[jiggafini19]

they won many of their games because of Bush and White. Bush won the Fresno State game for them. If they don't have Reggie Bush, they lose at least...at least three games this year. He's that good. He would make any Top 10 team a title contender. He'll make a bad NFL franchise respectable ala Barry Sanders. I hope he has an O-line in front of him though when he gets into the pros.

Their running attack has saved their ass this year on more than one occasion.

Don't forget, Leinart has Smith, Jarrett and Byrd, too.

NFL types think highly of him, but I like Cutler and Jacobs a lot better. Leinart helped himself by coming back and taking ballroom dance/watch film all day.