The Nebraska football team has three Heisman winners over its long and storied history but it appears that one author would like to take one of those away if he had his druthers. Shortly after Kyler Murray became the second straight Heisman winner from Oklahoma (following Baker Mayfield who won the award in 2017), The Sporting News put up an article entitled "Least-deserving Heisman winners of all time."

Husker fans are likely not going to be thrilled that one of the three Cornhuskers to have won the award managed to make this list. Eric Crouch, who is the last to have won it back in 2001 didn't have a good enough season to warrant the award, according to the author.

As a matter of fact, the writer points out the only reason the Nebraska quarterback won the award that year is because the most deserving candidate only lost because he was an underclassman during a period of time when underclassmen didn't win the Heisman.

Eric Crouch's stats don't hold up

Part of the reason the former Nebraska football star won the Heisman in 2001 is because it was quite obvious he was a physical freak of nature. He had speed college football rarely saw from a quarterback back then. He could also throw the ball, though he didn't do it with the success fans expect these days. In 2001, Eric Crouch was almost the entirety of the offense for a team that went to the National Championship game.

In 2001, Crouch ran for 1,115 yards and 18 touchdowns while averaging 5.5 yards per carry. He also completed 55.6 percent of his passes for 1,510 yards. Where he did fall a bit short, and what the author points out is that he had just seven passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Certainly, the college football world isn't naming too many Heisman winners who have more interceptions than touchdowns.

Poor competition for the Nebraska football star

Sporting News also points out that the competition for the Heisman in 2001 was fairly weak. Eric Crouch's top competition was Florida quarterback Rex Grossman. Gross threw for 3,896 yards and 34 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions. The big strike against the Gator star is that he was just a sophomore.

As Sporting News points out, an underclassman wouldn't win the Heisman Trophy for six more years. The case that's made for naming the former Nebraska football star as "undeserving" is a good one, when using hindsight and comparable stats to what someone like Kyler Murray is doing. The Heisman committee clearly felt Crouch was the best choice that year.
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