He Has Them Buzzing

The race is over. It ended immediately after Reggie Bush stopped running.

Shortly after 11:15 p.m. Saturday night, Bush put down the football and picked up the Heisman.

It’s done. He has won. His 513 all-purpose yards for USC against Fresno State clinched it, no matter what happens in the next two weeks in College Station or Houston or even at the Coliseum.

It’s all about Fargo.

In that North Dakota town lives Mike McFeely, a respected sports columnist who is also a Heisman Trophy voter. I phoned him Tuesday and asked for his pick.

“Reggie Bush,” McFeely said. “He is the premier player in the country, and Saturday’s game solidified it.”

He paused.

“Even though I never saw one second of it.”

What? He is going to vote for Bush to win arguably the most prestigious individual award in U.S. sports, yet his deciding factor was a game he never saw?

“I haven’t seen Reggie Bush play at all this year,” he said. “I haven’t seen Vince Young either. I haven’t seen any Division I-A games, either on television or in person.”

It turns out, McFeely writes about Division I-AA North Dakota State, so his Saturdays are consumed with the Bison, allowing him little time to be buffaloed by the big guys. For the last five years, his Heisman opinion has been formed by Internet reports and video clips.

He votes on the buzz. And Saturday night, with runs that will be replayed forever in chat rooms and on cable, Reggie Bush stole the Heisman buzz.

“Yeah, that’s how it works for me,” McFeely said. “Pretty comical, isn’t it?”

Pretty perfect, if you ask me. Of 923 Heisman voters, there are probably 500 just like McFeely, well-meaning media folks and former winners who, for whatever reason, never actually watch a game.

Some no longer cover football. Some no longer even cover sports. Some of the former winners spend their Saturdays pushing cars and selling homes.

“Many of the voters are only borderline qualified,” said Wendell Barnhouse, veteran college football writer from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “And some of them are idiots.”

This voting pool cannot simply be swayed, it must be shocked and awed. On Saturday, Bush did both, swirling around the Coliseum field as if propelled by a leaf blower, creating one of the best performances in college football history while under some of the greatest pressure in college football history -- 513 yards with a two-year winning streak on his back.

For those who buy only the buzz, the sale was final, and far reaching.

The buzz was enough to give Bush the lead, for the first time this season, in the two main Heisman predictors, the Rocky Mountain News poll and the ESPN poll.

The News’ list is the veteran, having correctly predicted the winner in 15 of the last 18 years using 10 voters in five regions.

“Vince Young has had an impressive season,” said the News’ Randy Holtz, a voter, speaking of the Texas quarterback. “But Bush has had a better one.”

The buzz will also be enough to keep Bush in the lead even though Young has two remaining games before the Dec. 7 voting deadline, while Bush has only one.

This is because Young’s Longhorns are playing two mediocre teams -- Texas A&M; in the regular-season finale and then probably Colorado in the Big 12 championship game -- while USC plays 11th-ranked UCLA.

“Even if Young has amazing games, they won’t be against good enough opponents to vault him ahead of Bush,” Holtz said.

If nothing else, the kid thinks he has already garnered the first official vote.

Yeah, that would be from his teammate, last year’s winner and eligible voter Matt Leinart.

Said Bush with a smile: “I told him he’s voting for me.”

Said a noncommittal Leinart with a bigger smile: “I told him he better stay on my good side.”

Said Bush: “I told him, he’s won his award, it’s my turn.”

It was strange indeed Tuesday, seeing two of the top Heisman candidates talking so freely about the award while standing next to each other.

On what other team could a player approach the defending Heisman winner, a guy who may be the best quarterback in college football history, and ask him to vote against himself?

On what other team would the Heisman winner laugh about it?

“It’s a wild scene,” Coach Pete Carroll said.

But it’s a scene scripted over the past several years by the coach himself, a genuine culture of unselfishness that has allowed both candidates to realize neither is as big as the team.

“I understand how the media can make an issue of this, watching how these two guys handle it, seeing if they will crack,” Carroll said. “But one thing we’ve always understood around here is that things happen because of the team. Without the winning, nobody gets the recognition. That has humbled everyone a little.”

Leinart said he doesn’t even know how to vote. A USC official has phoned the Heisman folks to ask about the ballot.

When it arrives, Leinart can certainly be excused for voting for himself, seeing as he is playing just as well as last season under twice the pressure.

But Bush was there when the passing game didn’t work against Arizona State.

Bush was there when almost nothing worked against Notre Dame.

And Bush was everywhere, all night, in a victory over Fresno State that required every last yard.

“He had the big numbers in the must-see games, then came through with a really big number in a must-win game,” said Dick Weiss, New York Daily News college sports columnist and voter.

Added Holtz: “He carried them on his shoulders in a game in which they could have lost everything.”

Of all the incredible digits accrued by the nation’s all-purpose yardage leader, the most amazing is this:

Reggie Bush averages 10 yards every time he touches the ball.

Think about it. Ten yards is a first down. That means he is officially unstoppable.

Yet when asked about his favorite highlight of the season, Bush’s response says more about him and his Heisman worthiness than all those yards combined.

He talks about the play that went one inch.

“My best play this year, it was against Notre Dame,” he said, smiling. “It was my push.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Heisman watch

This year’s Heisman Trophy voting race probably will come down to Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart of USC and Vince Young of Texas:

*--* PLAYER POSITION SEASON STATISTICS REGGIE BUSH USC, Junior Running back (6-0, 200) 1,398 yards rushing and 383 yards receiving; had 513 all-purpose yards against Fresno State VINCE YOUNG Texas, Junior Quarterback (6-5, 230) 2,414 yards passing and 22 touchdowns; 774 yards rushing and eight touchdowns MATT LEINART USC, Senior Quarterback (6-5, 225) 66% completion percentage; 3,217 yards passing, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptio ns

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Competition in the backfield

Reggie Bush’s chances for winning the Heisman Trophy may not be helped by having to split votes with his own quarterback, 2004 winner Matt Leinart, who has passed for 3,217 yards in 10 games. The yardage posted by both the last 10 running backs to win the award, and their quarterbacks:

*--* Year Heisman winner, school Rush yds Quarterback Pass yds 1999 Ron Dayne, Wisconsin 2,034 Brooks 1,133 Bollinger 1998 Ricky Williams, Texas 2,124 Major 2,453 Applewhite 1995 Eddie George, Ohio State 1,927 Bobby Hoying 3,269 1994 Rashaan Salaam, Colorado 2,055 Kordell Stewart 2,071 1988 Barry Sanders, Oklahoma 2,628 Mike Gundy 2,163 State 1985 Bo Jackson, Auburn 1,786 Pat Washington 873 1983 Mike Rozier, Nebraska 2,148 Turner Gill 1,516 1982 Herschel Walker, Georgia 1,752 John Lastinger 907 1981 Marcus Allen, USC 2,427 John Mazur 1,128 1980 George Rogers, South 1,894 Garry Harper 1,266 Carolina

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