The hits just keep coming for college football.
After the College Football Playoff committee was praised for “getting it right” by keeping TCU in the field despite a Big 12 championship game loss, Heisman Trophy voters created a stir by leaving Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker out of the list of finalists.
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Hooker was having a Heisman-worthy season for the Volunteers before he tore an ACL in a 63-38 loss to South Carolina on Nov. 19. He had thrown 27 touchdowns to just two interceptions and rushed for five more touchdowns. He also completed just shy of 70 percent of his passes for the year.
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As for who did get in, the first three were locks before the list was even announced: USC quarterback Caleb Williams, TCU quarterback Max Duggan and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud were all expected. The QB who “replaced” the injured Hooker, Stetson Bennett, had a solid season for a loaded No. 1 Georgia, but his 20 passing touchdowns are a far cry from the 37 by Williams and Stroud and the 30 by Duggan.
Hendon Hooker not being a Heisman finalist tells you everything you need to know about the process
— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) December 6, 2022
Stetson Bennett: 269-396 (67.9%), 3,425 yards, 8.6 Y/A, 20 TD, 6 INT, 154.2 rating
Hendon Hooker: 229-329 (69.6%), 3,135 yards, 9.5 Y/A, 27 TD, 2 INT, 175.5 rating
This is an affront to decency and common sense, @HeismanTrophy.
— Big T (@ConnerHKnapp) December 5, 2022
Hendon Hooker should have gotten a trip to New York City. Disappointed in the voters.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 5, 2022
Hendon Hooker punished for getting hurt in the 11th game of the season. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. https://t.co/Y3n1BOoi51
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) December 5, 2022
Hendon Hooker had 27 TD and 2 INT, and led the country in QBR (ahead of all four of these guys).
He had a historic season against a brutal schedule and he missed ONE game. One! And it costs him a trip to New York.
What a joke. https://t.co/yGCgivt5dn
— Brett Edgerton (@EditorEdge) December 5, 2022
Hendon Hooker should have been invited to New York.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 5, 2022
Seems like Hendon Hooker should have been there https://t.co/0mD3XZCsrE
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) December 5, 2022
Caleb Williams is going to win so ultimately it doesn’t really matter. But Hendon Hooker was not the 5th best QB in the country this year.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 6, 2022
Hendon Hooker not getting to NY is laughably bad. https://t.co/w1xkWi9OVR
— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) December 6, 2022
While all of this seems like bashing Bennett, the reality is he was the fourth-most expected name on this list. In any conversation about snubs, that makes Bennett the point of controversy.
Hooker missing from the New York stage seems to largely be recency bias. Missing the Vols’ regular-season finale against Vanderbilt doesn’t seem like something worthy of punishment. Ultimately, however, Tennessee came up short again this season, and it clearly didn’t go unnoticed by the college football world at large.
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