Stanford’s sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey has been the nation’s best player this year and should have won the 2015 Heisman Trophy Award.
McCaffrey, along with Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Clemson’s DeShaun Watson, was one of three finalists for the award.
Henry came away the winner of college football’s most prestigious award as the nation’s best player. He did so after rushing for 1,986 yards, a Southeastern Conference (SEC) record.
McCaffrey finished second, and Watson finished third. McCaffrey should have won, and here’s why.
The Stanford tailback does much more for his team than any of the other finalists can claim to do for theirs.
McCaffrey broke the NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a season with 3,535. The previous record was held by Barry Sanders.
McCaffrey has rushed for 1,847 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s also grabbed 41 passes for 540 yards and four scores. Not only does he make things happen as a tailback or splitting out wide, but McCaffrey also returns kicks and punts for the Cardinal. He’s totaled more than 1,000 yards on his kickoff returns, and of his 36 returns, he took one 98 yards for a touchdown.
He’s also thrown two touchdown passes this year.
Not only is it relevant to acknowledge how McCaffrey can pick up yardage in a variety of ways and that he has successfully done so over the entirety of the season, but he has found success despite being Stanford’s only real option on offense. Opposing defenses can, and do, key in on the sophomore, and he has been able to make plays despite this.
McCaffrey has also stepped up when it has mattered most.
He has tallied over 100 yards in all but one game this year. In the team’s biggest game of the year, the Pac-12 championship, McCaffrey put up 200 yards on the ground and 100 receiving. The team went on to win against a more talented University of Southern California team, 41-22.
Despite all of his success, McCaffrey didn’t win the Heisman.
College football is broken. There is still an unwarranted and unsupported stigma that the SEC is the strongest conference in the NCAA. With that, Henry won the award, with many citing that his success came again the tough teams he faced within his conference.
Henry’s SEC record for rushing yards, along with his 23 touchdowns, are impressive, but should conference records outweigh NCAA records?
It’s safe to assume that the majority of the 120 teams in Division 1 football would take a guy like McCaffrey, who can collect the yards he did with a very weak supporting cast, over a guy like Henry, who rushed for nearly 2,000 yards behind one of the nation’s strongest offensive lines.
There’s a reason Alabama puts out a first-round NFL running back each year. Their skills and abilities are exaggerated by playing behind five 300-pound linemen each season. While Stanford has had its fair share of solid running backs itself, McCaffrey is the first to be able to gain yards and score in the many ways he has.
Furthermore, something should be said for players who attend universities that focus more on academics.
Stanford is one of the nation’s most prominent academic universities. When he’s not breaking tackles or carrying his team on his back, McCaffrey is working through the rigorous aspects that come with attending Stanford. That’s not to question the intelligence of Henry or Watson, but the top tier academic programs aren’t known for lessening athletes’ workloads.
The fact that McCaffrey can find success on and off the field is more impressive than any statistics. That should count for something.
The Heisman trophy no longer goes to the most deserving player. Instead, it goes to the most popular SEC player.
