The season of 2019 gave us a mark that we’ve never achieved in 40 years despite having attended 610 college football games. We didn’t even plan for for this one. Though we made an effort to see all four NCAA champions as reported previously, we stepped into it though with this effort as we did get to see three players earn the highest award in their respective divisions as the Player of the Year.
Three out of four “ain’t” bad
Three divisions award a trophy to their top player every year named after an individual honored pretentiously for playing in each of those respective levels. Division III names Offensive and Defensive Players of the year, and the prowess of this year’s award winner at that level did not appear before us in person, QB Broc Rutter of D-3 Champ North Central, but having witnessed a competitor he performed against, Muhlenberg, his team’s final result speaks volumes of his talent. In D-III, 247 teams compete making it probably the hardest to achieve with so many players involved throughout the land.
Every college football fan knows that the Heisman Trophy recognizes the top player from among the 130 programs that compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS). On the other hand, fewer fans realize that the highest award bestowed on the best player of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) consisting of 126 teams honors former Jackson State and Chicago Bear running back Walter Payton. Another former Chicago Bear player who played college ball at Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama) from 1950 to 1953, Harlon Hill, honors the Player of the Year at the Division II level. One hundred sixty-seven football teams compete at this level.
The Heisman
In the FBS, Joe Burrow, QB from LSU, led No. 1 Tigers over No. 4 Oklahoma as we attended The Peach Bowl to see their 63-28 CFP semi-final win. He passed for 493 yards and seven TDs all in the first half. The Tigers led at intermission, 49-14. He also ran for a TD in the second half. He displayed amazing accuracy. We noted one particular play that evening which made him stand out. On a third and two from his 22, under heavy pressure, Burrow rolled right. Nearing the sideline, in one motion falling out of bounds, he fired a submarine pass down field 24 yards to Terrace Marshall hitting him right in the chest for a first down. The drive resulted in his second of four TD passes to Jefferson for a 28-7 lead. That play stands out among all plays we witnessed in that performance, probably the best we’ve seen among all twenty Heisman performances we’ve seen on display over 40 years.
To dominate the 2019 Heisman voting, Burrow completed 76.3% of his passes for 5,671 yards, 60 TDs, and only six INTs. He led LSU to the CFP Championship in a win over Clemson and a 15-0 record overall. The senior, who sat on the bench at Ohio State for three years, will most likely be the top pick in the NFL in this April’s draft.
The Walter Payton Award
Freshman QB Trey Lance of North Dakota State stepped up in 2019 to not only take the Payton Award, but he led the Bison to their eighth FCS national championship in nine years while setting a modern NCAA record with a 16-0 record. We saw him lead his team in a dominating road win at Delaware Stadium where the Bison defeated the Fighting Blue Hens who finished at No. 25, 47-22.
That afternoon, Lance completed 18 of 23 passes for 195 yards and three TDs as the Bison got off to a fast start for this win. For the season, he completed 192 of 287 passes for 2,714 yards and 28 TDs. Most impressive, no foe intercepted any of his passes. He kept defenses off balance rushing for 934 yards and 13 TDs. His QB ranking for the season finished at 182.80. Lance became the first frosh to ever win the Payton Award in its 33-year history. NDSU defeated James Madison in the FCS final, 28-20.
The Harlon Hill Award
Slippery Rock senior QB Roland Reese III led the Rock to a 13-1 record. He tied a D-II record this season being responsible for 370 of his team’s points. In eleven of 14 games, he threw three TD passes or more tossing 61 in total for the season. We saw Rivers III perform to his utmost capability completing 28 for 41 passes for 302 yards, four TDs, and one INT in a 17-point come back win over Kutztown in the PSAC title game, 37-35. The victory catapulted the Rock to the No. 1 seed in Super Region One of the D-II playoffs. They fell in the national semi-final game to Minnesota State.
For the season, he completed 322 passes for The Rock, 52 for touchdowns. In voting for the Hill Award, he beat out runner-up RB Jaleel McLaughlin from Notre Dame of Ohio. We also got to see McLaughlin play against the same Kutztown team in a last second 20-17 victory on the second round of the D-2 playoffs. KU QB Collin DiGalbo was also recognized as on of the top QBs in D-II. We saw a lot of great talent at this level in 2019 in three games played at Andre Reed Stadium at Kutztown. Like the Buffalo Bill WR and Kutztown alum for whom the KU Stadium is named for, we may see some of the players from those games making it to the next level. Rivers III received an invitation to play in the Hula Bowl this past January.
