Notre Dame leads all schools with eight AP national titles. OU is next with seven.
The Fighting Irish are 8-1 head-to-head against the Sooners and in 1957 snapped OU’s record winning streak at 47 straight.
Notre Dame owns a 7-4 lead over the Sooners in Heisman Trophy winners.
Will OU narrow the Heisman gap this season, or will the Irish extend their lead?
Sooners junior running back Adrian Peterson and Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn are considered two of the frontrunners for this year’s Heisman.
We wanted answers now as to who will win.
Fast-forward to the second week in December. Ballots are about due from the 900-plus Heisman voters, and we need to know what they’re thinking.
We presented the following scenario to a dozen national writers, who were kind enough to play along:
Both Peterson and Quinn have outstanding seasons and they separate themselves from the Heisman field.
If such is the case, what would it take for Peterson to win?
How much of an advantage is the Notre Dame mystique, especially since the last Irish quarterback to win the award was John Huarte in 1964?
Presumably, propaganda Heisman voters receive won’t mean a thing. Or will it?
Many of our panel’s answers begat more questions as to what negative ramifications Peterson might face.
Does a quarterback have a distinct advantage over a running back? How does a voter objectively compare the stats?
OU’s Jason White won the Heisman three years ago. Notre Dame hasn’t had a winner since 1987. Does being from the same school as White hurt Peterson’s chances?
Will it hurt Peterson that he finished second in the Heisman race as a freshman? Has he already received proper recognition?
What about Peterson’s controversial car lease at Big Red Sports/Imports, where Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn got paid for doing no work?
With every Notre Dame game being televised nationally every week (except Nov. 11 at Air Force), Quinn will never leave the voters’ consciousness.
How can Peterson keep his name percolating nationally? Big numbers and winning will do the trick.
Alas, the only way to know what will happen in the future is to experience the present, which is what we’ll have to do with Peterson and Quinn.
John Rohde
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