HawaiianWarrior said:
I do believe there is something to the Heisman jinx angle and it has been profitbable going against Trojan Heisman winners for as far back as I can remember. (Simpson and Allen were crushed in bowl games if I remember correctly and Charles White didn't cover).
However, just two years ago Carson Palmer was nearly flawless in the Orange Bowl as USC destroyed Iowa and their Heisman runner-up QB.
A lot of Heisman QB's won their awards mainly by piling up stats against weak teams and then all of a sudden in bowls they choked against good defenses.
I don't believe this applies to Leinart. I believe he has played against 5 top-20 defenses and has accounted for 13 TD's versus only one interception in those games. (Auburn, Washington State, and Michigan last season and Va. Tech and Cal this one). On the other hand Jason White has had well documented problems against good defenses like Texas this year and Kansas State and LSU last season.
So I see a good chance of the Heisman jinx being broken Tuesday.
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It maybe a jinx, but i don't think it's going to have any affect on the play of Leinart in the Orange Bowl. I look at what White went through last year. They may blame it on the heisman jinx, but the fact is he got hurt early in the Kansas St. game last year. And he never got better. After the Sugar Bowl White was hobbling around campus with three different casts on his body. Including a torn up hand and foot, along with a banged up knee that never healed before the bowl. The last Heisman player I remember losing was Chris Weinke of Fla.St. against OU in the 2000 title game. The big problem with Florida St. that year was they had been off for more than 40 days before that game, while OU had 3 weeks. And OU's defense was playing at it's peak. They can call it a jinx, but there were legitament reasons why most of those teams lost. In OU and USC's case they've both been off the same amount of time and their both playing pretty good coming into this game. That's why their calling this the best BCS bowl matchup that they've ever had.
