So, Who Was Better in 2005, Reggie Bush or Vince Young?

We know that USC has handed back its copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman to the NCAA.

Now Texas fans want the copy for their god, Vince Young. After all, it was Vince Young who destroyed USC's defense in the national championship game, who beat Ohio State in the Horseshoe, and performed miracles week in, week out for the Longhorns in their title-winning season.

So we at the VFA want to ask this major, major question: Who deserved the Heisman?

Of course, it would easy to say that Young deserves the Heisman. After all, Reggie Bush was 'indicted' by the NCAA for taking money 'n' stuff from Nick Saban's 'pimps' (Gosh we wish we'd waited a day so that we could quote Saban for our article for Sky Sports.com on this). ESPN's Gene "I've got the hardest journalism name to spell for the PR guys" Wojciechowski says in his article that 'Vince' was cheated out of his Heisman trophy because of Bush's antics.

So, who would you vote for—retroactively, of course?

STATS

Whatever Reggie Bush may have done off the field, Reggie Bush—statistically—was incredible for the Trojans. You can't really argue with well over 2,000 all-purpose yards, 18 touchdowns, and one assist.

But then again, so was Young. He threw for 3,036 yards and 26 touchdowns for the Longhorns. He RUSHED for 993 yards and 12 TDs.

EDGE: Surprisingly, Young (Young 1, Bush 0)

SCHEDULE

While Reggie Bush was "turning around" games for USC against chokejobs Arizona State (we were at that game) and giving a push to Matt Leinart at Notre Dame, Vince Young rescued his team's season against Ohio State, and later at Oklahoma State.

The guy was incredible.

Mind you, you could argue that if Bush had been allowed to pass, then he might have done a good job at that too. But he was busy running the ball and returning kicks...

EDGE: For the push, we'll give it to Reggie (Bush 1, Young 1) 

TALENT

There is no argument for the fact that BOTH players were the most talented guys Texas and USC had ever seen. That's why BOTH were tremendous in the Texas-USC game, and the fact that Young came out on top—and Bush made a stupid lateral decision—may have been some karma coming to Bush camp after Reggie's win in NYC.

Reggie Bush—at times—was a ghost when he was at USC. No one could catch the guy when he was in flight. But then again, trying to deal with 6'5" Vince Young on the ground wasn't too easy either—he ran for nearly 1,000 yards in both his QB seasons as a Longhorn. Vince Young had a better arm, but Bush had pretty good legs, too.

VERDICT: EQUAL (Bush 1 1/2, Young 1 1/2)

MEDIA HYPE

Reggie Bush could really do no wrong as a player at USC. ESPN loved him, Trojans loved him, the world loved him. Everyone knew that Bush was not going to give another year to USC. On the other hand, Vince Young stayed under the radar, continually putting up good games and letting his actions—not his mouth, do the talking.

EDGE: Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen, Reggie Bush has charisma (Bush 2 1/2, Young 1 1/2)

WINNING

Let's forget that Bush's wins have been "retroactively" destroyed by Camp Trojan, and reflect on a damned good year. Apart from Notre Dame, Bush played well against teams that were OK, if not brilliant. Young managed to win in the Horseshoe (AND the National Championship Game, but that would be after the 2005 Heisman ceremony, so it doesn't count).

EDGE: Vince Young. Horseshoe points go a long way. (Young 2 1/2, Bush 2 1/2)

With the votes tied....we'll go to video.

Reggie's video:



Vince's video:



The choice, ladies and gentlemen, is yours.

(P.S. I'm going with the original winner - Bush)