Sam Bradford’s road much tougher than Archie Griffin’s

DISCLAIMER: I’m not sure how ashamed of this I should be.

I had never seen Archie Griffin run the football.

A quick YouTube search made me feel a little better; there are hardly any highlights of the Ohio State legend. The only decent one I found is 24 seconds long and only had a pair of runs, followed by a clip from a teary acceptance speech that had way more emotion than any Heisman presentation I’d ever seen.

A forgettable NFL career (2800+ yards, 7 TDs in just 4 seasons) reduced Griffin to an easy trivia question’s answer.

Who’s the only two-time Heisman winner? I hope I don’t have to answer that.

Ask someone who the greatest running back in college football history was and the answer is more likely to be Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker or Barry Sanders. Griffin gets a few votes, but even in Columbus, misguided, nearsighted Buckeye fans might side with Eddie George.

When Griffin won his second Heisman, only one of the top 10 finalists returned, Oklahoma’s Joe Washington, but he did it with a huge handicap. Sports on television in 1975 weren’t what they were today, but as if winning the Heisman weren’t hard enough, try doing it without having a game on television.

The Sooners’ NCAA punishment landed Washington fifth in the 1975 Heisman voting. Others receiving votes?

Chuck Muncie, Ricky Bell, Jimmy DuBose. John Sciarra, Gordon Bell, and Gene Swick. Who?

Okay, I left off Oklahoma’s Lee Roy Selmon and Tony Dorsett, but defensive linemen don’t win Heismans and Dorsett was only a junior on a four-loss team in 1975. The Buckeyes were undefeated when the votes were cast.