Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel now belongs to a brotherhood like no other. He is now a Heisman trophy quarterback. I'm sure everyone knew that barring a major catastrophe, the trophy was his. And that brings about another one of those uncomfortable truths of college football.
Traditionally, an offensive player is traditionally the favourite to win the trophy. Manti Te'o was actually the best candidate, because his play elevated the Fighting Irish to finally vie for the national championship for the first time since the BCS system was brought in.
But apparently Johnny Football's story was the one that won the day. A freshman winning the Heisman for the first time ever was more important than a senior having the best season of his career, finally realizing the dream that every Notre Dame football player has. It comes down to the fact that offense has more sex appeal than the defense. But what wins championships? Defense, of course.
Forget the fact that Manti Te'o was a spark plug that challenged others on his team to rise to the occasion. Forget the fact that it was his leadership and play that others played under and in some cases ascended to his level. He was an inspiration to his team and to the program as a whole. It is because of him that others will follow and aspire to play like he did. Isn't that the true embodiment of the sport?
One thing is for sure. Not only did the votes forget about Manti's performance, they forgot about the youthful indiscretions committed by Johnny Football. They fell for the hype and in the end, they were more interested in a news headline than they were about maintaining the integrity of the sport. Furthermore, Texas A&M has proven that their decision to join the SEC was a good one. These don't bode well for the future of college football.
College football has been consistently behind the times and can barely find the way forward. One can only hope that at some point progress can be made at a faster pace. Penn State's indiscretions, the Cam Newton incident, Ohio State and USC sanctions and a half-assed four-team playoff system have shown that the NCAA still has quite a ways to go to clean up their biggest cash-cow in all of collegiate sport.
One can only hope that changes for the better will come sooner rather than later.
