It’s all a formality for who will win the Heisman trophy

The Heisman trophy may be the most esteemed award in sports. The award, given out to the best college football player in the nation each year, makes he who wins it a folk hero. Fans of the winner’s team will never stop speaking his name. Their name will forever be etched in college football and sports lore. It may just be a trophy, but it changes the winner’s life forever.

With that being said, the 2019 Heisman trophy candidates have been announced. For as important an event as the Heisman ceremony is, this years will be extremely anti-climactic. Joe Burrow is going to be this year’s Heisman winner. There is no debate. Burrow has been the best player on the best team this season, and he is next in line to hold the famous trophy over his head in New York City in a few weeks.

Still, credit should be given to the other finalists. Chase Young from Ohio State has been the most disruptive player in college football and is in the mix to be the top pick of the NFL draft next spring. Being a finalist as a defensive player is a big accomplishment in itself. Young has drawn double, sometimes triple teams from defenders all season long.

Young’s teammate and fellow finalist, Justin Fields, has a staggering 40 to one touchdown to interception ratio this season. He has been nearly flawless, and in any other year, may have been the favorite to win the award. Oklahoma will give a quarterback to New York City for the third straight season with Jalen Hurts. Hurts has been one of the most consistent players in the nation for the Sooners, and has guided them to the college football playoff.

All those guys are deserving, but they don’t have a prayer. Burrow is and deserves to be the overwhelming favorite. The numbers are the first thing that jumps out. Burrow has thrown for 48 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards this season for LSU. Each week, Burrow has come to play and has been lighting up the scoreboards. He is also the leader on an undefeated, top-ranked LSU team that has a chance to win its first title since 2007.

Burrow also has one thing that the other finalists don’t: a Heisman moment. A Heisman moment is not clearly defined, but you’ll know it when you see it. Burrow’s Heisman moment came when he conquered mighty Alabama on the road in early November. Burrow completely outplayed opposing quarterback and pre-season Heisman favorite Tua Tagovailoa. Burrow’s performance and subsequent team victory against the Tide makes him stand out above the rest of the candidates.

It is crazy to look at how Burrow got to this point. After being a backup at Ohio State for two seasons, Burrow transferred to LSU in 2018. He had an okay redshirt Junior year, but the Tigers still lost three games. Coming into this season, Burrow was a 200-1 favorite to win the trophy. He has stayed patient, and now it is his time.

I also should note that we should have seen this coming before the season started. Bear with me for a second.

So the first Heisman trophy winner was a guy named Jay Berwanger. Berwanger and Burrow both share the initials J.B. Their first names both only have three letters in their names. They both have R as the third letter of their last name. And finally, they were both born in Iowa in towns that are less than 200 miles apart.

See, Burrow and Berwanger are almost the same people. I don’t know how someone didn’t see it earlier. Burrow was destined to win the Heisman. The only question is if he can win a national championship to go with it.