A question at Big 12 Media Days on whether an offensive lineman could win a Heisman — Ohio State's Orlando Pace in 1996 was the last to crack the top four — soon got Texas head coach Tom Herman talking the worst trophy snub in recent college football history (audio via David Ubben):

The way that I understand the Heisman Trophy, or the way that I did ... let me preface this. The way that I understood the Heisman Trophy, was to be awarded to the player, regardless of position, that had the best season. Best is obviously subjective. I determine that as maybe the most impactful season for his team. I'm sorry, Heisman Trust, I love you, we've got two winners at Texas, and I've been around the block. But I got a little disappointed in '09 when Ndamukong Suh didn't win. We [Iowa State] actually played against him in Lincoln. It was the game that we won the turnover battle eight to nothing and won, 9-7. That was the most dominant football player I have ever seen, probably still to this day, on a college football field. Didn't win the Heisman. I don't know why. Is it because he played defensive line? I don't know. I hope that eventually we get back to that award going to the most dominant player, best player, most impactful player in college football.

("They've got Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick as their defensive tackles, and we've got kids that don't belong in the Big 12 talent-wise," Herman told SB Nation a few years ago. "You sit around all week thinking, 'Oh my god, how are we going to gain a yard?’")

I remember watching the 2009 ceremony and seeing perfectly fine Alabama RB Mark Ingram — who ended at No. 10 in rushing yards per game and No. 11 in rushing TDs while playing for a team totally defined by its defense — win just so the media could talk about Bama's first winner ever and his famous father.

Suh was the choice of a coalition ranging from Nebraska fans to the average football fan — we'd all just watched Suh devour Texas' offense (six TFL!) in the Big 12 title game — to people sick of skill players winning the award every year to the CFB internet at large. I think for a lot of other people, this was when the Heisman went from mattering to just being a trophy that is handed out at the end of a long TV show. We'll still argue about it, but not like before.

Bill Connelly, from a list of CFB's best recent defenses:

The fact that Ndamukong Suh didn't win is one of the biggest travesties in college football awards history. Suh recorded 24 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 26 quarterback hurries, 10 pass breakups, one pick, and three blocked kicks in 2009. He was so dominant that NU head coach Bo Pelini was almost able to play a permanent dime formation; Suh was a one-man offensive line destroyer, and Pelini almost never had to blitz. Just drop about seven guys into coverage, then pounce on wayward passes when the quarterback still gets hit in about 1.5 seconds. Nebrsaka allowed 10.4 points per game and four yards per play. This was a wrecking machine, and it all revolved around a single player.

None of this is Ingram's fault, but these storyline things happen when you let the story industry vote on your trophy. Just like with Michigan's Jabrill Peppers being a finalist last year, the Heisman will always favor players with ready-made narratives over players who've been better at actual sports. (The irony there is that picking a deserving lineman would've been even more interesting and given voters even more to write and talk about.)

Suh finished No. 4, and that's still an impressive achievement for a lineman. Just not as impressive as what he did on the field.

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