Saturday the lowa State community will be cramming for finals or watching the ISU-lowa basketball game, or for most, both.

However, there is something else occurring on Saturday — the handing out of the Heisman Trophy. The talk in the news is that Troy Davis may not win the perennial award. So why aren’t the writers and previous Heisman winners going gaga over Troy’s performance this year? Probably because they have not reflected on the season.

It was a season that started off with a good laugh and a canceled subscription to the Des Moines Register after the newspaper placed Sedrick Shaw’s picture next to the Heisman Trophy in its Aug. 25 college football preview.

When the season ended, the real Heisman Trophy candidate had run for his second consecutive NCAA rushing title.

Should Troy deserve all the credit? Don’t forget the Cyclone coaching staff for an imaginative, no frills offense that could showcase No. 28 and still have room for a passing game.

What’s more is the ISU offensive line, all of whom should be given Lombardi Awards after playing against some of the most unforgiving defensive fronts in college football. Davis himself praised his offensive line on the “Dan McCarney Show” after the Texas A&M game.

In what a handful of fans termed a defensive “Holocaust” this year, there were solid individual performances that helped to keep many football games close. So close, that many Cyclone fans who bought tickets to the Wyoming game and other barn burner games should be entitled purple hearts and hazardous duty pay.

Still, it was a 1-7 opening season record in the Big 12 … in any other conference we’d be a contender for a bowl game. This is what the Heisman voters have missed, a season not reflected by a 2-9 overall record. I challenge those same voters to pick a better all-around athlete and team leader than T.D. Could Danny Wuerffel block those third down blitz packages thrown at ISU while Doxzon was looking for a receiver? No. Would Orlando Pace have the stamina to carry the ball 30-40 times a game? Puh-lease. These are the questions the Heisman voters should have thought about before the Thursday submittal date.

Colorado linebacker Matt Russell said it best in an article in Sports Illustrated: “You have to grab hold of his jersey or anything you can find, then wait for your friends to get there.”

Find a television set at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Whether Troy wins or not, reflect on the season.

Joe Smith

Iowa State Alum, ’96