Bradford and Bush Prove the Heisman Curse

For the last four years, there have been fantastic athletes who have won the biggest award in college football, the Heisman Trophy. Some athletes range from the likes of Reggie Bush, Troy Smith, Tim Tebow, and Sam Bradford.
 
All four are unquestionably great athletes, but there is a flaw with these four men. All of these athletes have been on teams that have lost their bowl games after earning the Heisman Trophy, some losses worse than others. In each game, their performances were mediocre at best.

It started in 2005, when running back Reggie Bush stunned the country with his speed and athleticism. He won voters over and beat Vince Young to the platform for the most prestigious award in college sports.

His team, the USC Trojans, were set to take on Vince Young and his Texas Longhorns for the National Championship. Many people could argue that Young deserved it, and he, a quarterback, outplayed Bush with 118 more rushing yards.

Young rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns, while throwing for 267 yards. Bush rushed for 82 yards and received for only 95. Texas eventually won the game 41-38, putting a cloud over Bush’s head.

The next year, quarterback Troy Smith outshined the competition, as his Ohio State team was undefeated and highly favored to win it all. With running back Adrian Peterson out for the year with an injury, Smith won the Heisman Trophy in one of the biggest landslides in the history of the award.

He, like Bush, led his team to a National Championship. The Florida Gators were the only team to get in the way of Smith's perfect season and they did in a huge way. The injury to Smith's biggest offensive target, Ted Ginn Jr., was only one of many things to happen in the disastrous game, as Smith and the Buckeyes were squashed 41-14. Smith was only 4-for-14 with 35 yards passing in the game.

In 2007, Gators quarterback Tim Tebow went into the record books, rushing and passing for 20 touchdowns each in the same season. He also became the first underclassman to win the Heisman in the history of the award.

While the Gators weren't the greatest team in 2007, they still made it to a bowl game against Michigan. Unlike the last two train wrecks, Tebow didn't do as bad in his bowl game, yet he wasn’t himself. Against the Wolverines, he didn't throw any interceptions and threw for 154 yards.

He also added 57 yards on ground, scoring on the ground once and through the air three times. But everything he did had no effect on the Wolverines as they defeated the Gators, 41-35.

The latest athlete to get bit with the Heisman bug is Sam Bradford. Bradford was a surprise winner beating Colt McCoy and Tebow, who hoped to win the award for the second season in a row. Bradford’s success was because he led the number one scoring offense in the nation at Oklahoma.

At the end of the season, Bradford went up against Tebow again, but this time it was in the National Championship. Bradford was pretty efficient but threw two interceptions, which sealed the deal for the Gators as they won their second championship in three years, 24-14.

These four players are perfect examples of Heisman Trophy winners that have won the best award in college football and have brought their team nearly all the way every season. For some reason, they can never take that last step.

What is going on with them after they receive the trophy? Could they get worn out with all the pictures they take or is that the Heisman Trophy is so heavy that it makes the players weak? It could be that the players getting bigheaded and think they are the best.

This is becoming a curse for everyone involved.

Thankfully, I have a solution. I think that the Heisman Trophy should be held until after the season is over to keep the competitiveness in college football alive during these big games.