Sport-Blog.com

USC tailback Reggie Bush won the 71st Heisman Trophy in convincing fashion on Saturday.  The junior out of Spring Valley (California) received 2,541 points in Heisman balloting to easily beat out quarterbacks Vince Young of Texas and teammate Matt Leinart, who was last year's winner.  Bush was the heavy favorite going into Saturday's award ceremony, and the results bore that out.  He garnered 85 percent of the first-place votes available, which was the highest percentage in Heisman history.  When Bush and Leinart take the field against Texas in the Rose Bowl to determine this year's national champion, it will mark the first time ever that two Heisman winners played in the same college game.

Bush had an outstanding season this year, and the Heisman is certainly well-deserved.  He rushed for 1,658 yards on 187 attempts and scored 15 touchdowns in 12 games.  Bush surpassed the 100-yard mark in 8 of his 12 games, and passed the 250-yard mark twice.  He was also a dangerous receiver and kickoff return man.  In other words, he could do it all.

Besides adding to Bush's personal legacy, the Heisman win cements the University of Southern California's position as one of the finest football programs in the entire country.  Bush is the seventh Trojan to win the award, as he joins Leinart, Carson Palmer, O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen, Charles White, and Mike Garrett on the list of USC alums with the same hardware.  This is quite an achievement for any school; in fact, the University of Notre Dame is the only other school that has produced as many winners.

Even though I am a huge football fan, I have to admit that I don't ordinarily think of USC as one of the top schools in the country.  Sure, in the past few years they have been making headlines and winning national championships, but it seems like every school goes through a period of success.  For example, Tom Osborne's Nebraska team's were always tough.  Ohio State is also known for putting together solid teams year after year.  And then there are the Florida schools.  For many years, the only teams I ever heard about were the FSU Seminoles, the Florida Gators, and the Miami Hurricanes.  USC was not mentioned in the same breath as these other teams.

But it's clear that Pete Carroll has turned the program around and pointed it in the right direction.  Carroll has been at the helm at USC for only 5 years.  In that time, he has nurtured three Heisman winners (Palmer, Leinart, and Bush), has won two national championships, and will be gunning for his third in a row on January 4.  Carroll has also led the Trojans to 34 victories in a row, with no signs of slowing down even with the impending loss of Bush and Leinart to the NFL draft.  He would still have scoring threats LenDale White and Dwayne Jarrett, as well as up-and-coming quarterback John David Booty.  All in all, it appears that USC will be at or near the top in college football for many years to come.