So, the other day, I found myself going down a rabbit hole thinking about Saquon Barkley and his time at Penn State. Specifically, the whole Heisman thing. It always kinda bugged me, you know? How does a guy that electric not walk away with the trophy?
I decided, okay, let me actually do something about this instead of just wondering. My little “practice” for the weekend was basically becoming a Saquon Heisman detective. I wasn’t trying to write a thesis or anything, just wanted to satisfy my own curiosity, dig through the memories and the stats again.
My Process: Digging In
First thing I did was pull up old highlights. Man, those runs. The jump cuts, the hurdles, the pure speed. It really takes you back. Watched that Rose Bowl game again – insane performance even in a loss. Then the Iowa game winner. Just spectacular stuff.
- I spent a good chunk of Saturday just watching clips. Seriously, hours.
- Then I started looking at the actual 2017 season week by week. Where did the hype come from? Where did it maybe fade?
- I tried remembering the narrative back then. He was the clear frontrunner for a while, right?
What I Found (or Remembered)
The Good Stuff: Early in that 2017 season, he was unstoppable. He wasn’t just running; he was catching passes, returning kicks. He felt like the entire offense sometimes. That stretch early on? Pure Heisman material. No doubt in my mind.
The Not-So-Good Stuff: Then I got to the games later in the season. Ohio State was a heartbreaker, but he still had that opening kickoff return TD. But then, against Michigan State and Rutgers… the rushing yards weren’t really there. The team lost a couple of key games. And that’s where it gets tricky with the Heisman.
It kinda hit me as I was looking through it all. The Heisman often goes to the best player on one of the very top teams, usually a QB. Baker Mayfield was having a crazy year, leading Oklahoma to the playoff. Lamar Jackson had won it the year before with amazing stats, even if his team wasn’t elite, but Baker’s team was elite that year.
My thinking went like this:
- Saquon had the talent. Unquestionably.
- He had huge moments. Definitely.
- But the team faded slightly down the stretch.
- And a QB on a top playoff team was putting up monster numbers.
My Takeaway
So, my little weekend project confirmed what I kinda suspected. Saquon was absolutely good enough to win the Heisman. He was probably the most exciting player in college football that year. But the award often rewards stats and wins, especially late in the season. His production dipped (partly because defenses keyed only on him), Penn State lost a couple, and Baker Mayfield just kept rolling.
It wasn’t really a failure on Saquon’s part. It was more just… circumstances. The voters went for the QB on the playoff-bound team with the video game stats. Happens all the time. Still, watching those highlights again? Man, what a player. It was fun to go back and relive that season, even if the ending wasn’t the fairytale some hoped for.
