McCaffrey runner-up to Henry
For the fourth time in seven years, Stanford was second best in the Heisman Trophy race.
There’s no shame in having the player elected as the second best in the country, but many Cardinal fans were disappointed Christian McCaffrey wasn’t holding the bronze statue Saturday night in New York.
McCaffrey, who wasn’t consid
ered a serious candidate on the national level until midseason, finished second to Derrick Henry in the voting. The Alabama tailback won the 81st Heisman at PlayStation Theater in Times Square, reflecting a brilliant season in which he carried the Tide to the College Football Playoff.
He was just the third running back to take the award in the past 16 years. Henry, a junior, is widely expected to turn pro after this season, which would leave the Heisman door open for McCaffrey, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (the third-place finisher) and others in 2016.
With 3,496 all-purpose yards, McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders’ all-time single-season record of 3,250, set in his Heisman season of 1988. Yet it wasn’t enough for the versatile sophomore tailback to overtake Henry.
Instead, voters went for the more established Alabama brand and preferred the 6-foot-3, 242-pound junior’s rugged play in breaking Herschel Walker’s SEC rushing record. His 1,986 rushing yards led the nation and are the most by a Heisman-winning back since Ricky Williams’ 2,124 in 1998.
It was the closest vote since 2009, but still a comfortable win for Henry. He picked up 1,832 points (378 firstplace votes), McCaffrey 1,539 (290) and Watson 1,165 (148). Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield was a distant fourth with 334 (34), followed by Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds with 180 (20).
McCaffrey won the voting in the Far West region, finished second to Henry in the Northeast, South, Southwest and Midwest and was third in the Mid-Atlantic.
He made his final Heisman push with 461 all-purpose yards — not counting a touchdown pass he threw — in Stanford’s 41-22 win over USC in last week’s Pac-12 title game. But 16 percent of the Heisman ballots were cast before that weekend, the bulk of them for Henry.
The seven West Coast night games that Stanford played couldn’t have helped McCaffrey either. Many Heisman voters probably didn’t see many of his performances because they were asleep. Oregon’s Marcus Mariota won the trophy last year despite playing five late games, but he was a front-runner all season and led the Ducks to the playoff.
Given the Pac-12’s TV deals, which give networks the right to schedule night games every week, it’s extremely hard for a late-comer like McCaffrey to win election.
Mariota is the only non-USC player from the West Coast to win the Heisman in the past 45 years. It helps greatly to come from a school with decades of football success.
Stanford players have finished second three other times since 2009. Toby Gerhart lost to Alabama’s Mark Ingram by 28 points in 2009, the closest vote in Heisman history. Andrew Luck finished second to Cam Newton in 2010 and to Robert Griffin III in 2011.
So Jim Plunkett remains the only Stanford winner — and the only Bay Area winner — in the award’s 80-year history.
Stanford guard Josh Garnett, the Outland Trophy winner, tweeted some ominous words for Cardinal opponents: “Dangerous to put a chip on a man’s shoulder who is already the best. Good luck to his future opponents, your gonna need it.”
“What a joke,’’ former Stanford linebacker Chase Thomas tweeted.