Collegefootballfan.com records 22nd Heisman sighting

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We only attended three college games during the horrible, covid-19 year of 2020. However, with the announcement of WR Devonta Smith of Alabama as the 2020 Heisman Trophy Winner, Collegefootballfan.com now lays claim to recording Smith as the 22nd such award winner we’ve seen in our 41 years of attending college football games. As a matter of fact, Devonta’s performance in the CFP semi-final at 2018 Orange Bowl featured one of the best performances displayed among all 22 winners we’ve seen.

Devonta Smith (6) on the end of a 50-yard reception from Tua Tagovailoa on their first play against Oklahoma in The Orange Bowl in 2018.

Tidal Wave

No. 1 Alabama got out to a quick lead against the No. 4 Sooners as QB Tua Tagovailoa completed his first nine passes on the way to a 45-34 win, but the final score doesn’t indicate the early and complete dominance of The Tide who led 21-0 after one period of play, and led 31-10 at halftime. Smith enjoyed a prolific evening snagging six tosses for 104 yards and one TD. We came away from this contest knowing we had watched the 2018 Heisman winner, Kyler Murray, perform at QB for the Sooners. Little could we imagine, especially with several QBs at the top of the watch list this season, that we had seen two winners compete that evening.

Smith hauls in Tagovailoa’s fourth TD pass of the CFP game from ten yards out.

With Smith’s achievement of the most famous individual awards in all of sports, Collegefootballfan.com has seen the last five Heisman Award winners all play in person. Add to that that in 2019, we also saw the top player in the FCS and in Division II also perform. We watched QB Trey Lance of North Dakota State lead his national champion Bison past Delaware, and attended an exciting victory led by QB Roland Reese III of Slippery Rock past Kutztown for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship. We’ve seen the best of the best these past few years.

Post script

Tagovailoa, the Heisman runner-up to Murray in 2018, finished the victory completing 24 of 27 passes for 318 yards and four TDs. Despite their dominating performance over Oklahoma that evening, the top-ranked Tide got rolled back by Clemson in the championship game, 44-16. The Crimson Tide goes for the title again this Monday evening against 7-0 Ohio State. Devonta Smith will not be opting out.

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