Notre Dame And Heisman Voting At Quarterback
Just in case you missed it … the Heisman Trophy was awarded this Tuesday to Alabama senior wide receiver DeVonta Smith. He was a landslide winner over Clemson junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the projected No. 1 pick in this coming NFL Draft, doubling the first-place vote total, 447-222.
Notre Dame faithful saw plenty of both in the past month: Lawrence in the 34-10 loss to the Tigers in the ACC Championship Dec. 19, and Smith in the 31-14 defeat in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl Jan. 1.
Understandably overshadowed was the ninth-place finish of Notre Dame fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book with 38 points, among them five first-place ballots.
He was not far behind two signal-callers projected to join Lawrence as first-round picks this spring: No. 7 Justin Fields (Ohio State) with 48 points and five first-place votes like Book, and No. 8 Zach Wilson (BYU) with 42 points and three-first place ballots.
Smith was an exception this year, but the Heisman is awarded more times than not to a quarterback whose team is vying for the national title, or one who is putting up ungodly stats, if not both. Seventeen of the 20 winners from 2000-19 were quarterbacks.
Book’s placement might have reaffirmed a popular notion that “Notre Dame quarterbacks are automatically top candidates to win the Heisman.”
That might have been true decades ago, but it has become one of college football’s top myths the past 50 years. A Notre Dame quarterback might be listed in the preseason, maybe just out of habit, but it’s not been actual reality the past half-century that he is a viable contender at the end of the season.
Book became only the fourth different Notre Dame quarterback since 1971 to even make the top 10. He joined national championship signal-callers Tom Clements (No. 4 in 1974) and Tony Rice (No. 4 in 1989), along with Brady Quinn in 2005 (No. 4) and 2006 (No. 3).
With dual-threats Clements and Rice, it was neither about glittering stats (Clements had eight touchdown passes and 11 interceptions as a senior, while Rice had two touchdown tosses and nine interceptions his senior year), nor whether they were NFL-level quarterbacks, because neither was drafted.
Far more significant was their leadership and clutch play that guided Notre Dame to national titles in 1973 and 1988, respectively, as juniors. Thus, in their senior years they were automatic candidates on teams that were in the hunt for a repeat before losing the final regular-season game of the season in 1974 and 1989.
They then both ended their careers with wins over 11-0 and No. 1-ranked opponents in the Orange Bowl — yet another example of amazing coincidences through the years.
The starting quarterback at Notre Dame often is referred to as the most glamorous and publicity-laden position in college football — yet seldom since 1971 has he been in the top 10 of the Heisman voting, never mind a bona fide top-three candidate. Those who didn’t even place among the top 10 during this time included:
• Joe Montana, the preseason favorite in 1978 after leading the march to the 1977 national title. An 0-2 start prevented him from even being in the top 10.
• Four-year starters Steve Beuerlein (1983-86) and Ron Powlus (1994-97). Beuerlein would play 15 years in the NFL, where he would have 102 starts and make a Pro Bowl. After just one college game, Powlus was infamously projected to win not just one but two Heismans by ESPN’s Pope of College Football, Beano Cook.
• Rick Mirer, the No. 2 pick in the 1993 NFL Draft who helped lead a 10-1-1 season as a senior — although in fairness, Irish running back Reggie Brooks did finish No. 5 in the voting that year.
• Kevin McDougal, the all-time pass-efficiency leader at Notre Dame, who in 1993 steered a No. 2 finish that included a victory over No. 1 Florida State.
• Jimmy Clausen, advertised as “the LeBron James of high school football,” who turned pro after his junior season and was a second-round pick. A 6-6 record didn't help.
Fifty years ago, it would have been unfathomable for a Notre Dame team to finish the regular season unbeaten as it did in 2012 and 2018, yet the starting quarterbacks in those years, Everett Golson and Book, were not even in the top 10 in the balloting. This year, Book did sneak in at No. 9.
In the 22-year period from 1943‑64, the Irish had four Heisman Trophy winners at the position: Angelo Bertelli (1943), John Lujack (1947), Paul Hornung (1956) and John Huarte (1964).
The late Hornung was on a 2-8 team when he won it, which reinforced popular belief about bias toward Notre Dame quarterbacks. But in the days of playing both offense and defense, Hornung actually won it as an “athlete” more than as a quarterback, plus he kicked and punted.
Five others from 1949-70 finished in the top five: Bob Williams, Ralph Guglielmi, Terry Hanratty and Joe Theismann (No. 2 in 1970), whose last name famously was changed in pronunciation to rhyme with Heisman.
For the record, SportsBetting.com already has Wisconsin graduate transfer quarterback Jack Coan, the projected Notre Dame starter in 2021, 13th among quarterbacks in the Heisman odds at 75/1. The top four signal-callers are Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler (7/1), Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei (9/1), Georgia’s JT Daniels (11/1) and Alabama’s Bryce Young (13/1).
Current Notre Dame sophomore running back Kyren Williams is at No. 18 overall (100/1).
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