A Familiar Slant Pattern Figures in Heisman Race

Another December, another Heisman Trophy presentation ... and what are we to make of Carson Palmer’s victory a full year on?

This season, Palmer has paced the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline, waiting for his first regular-season snap. He has watched Matt Leinart lead USC to an 11-1 regular-season record, something Palmer never did in five years with the Trojans.

Only now, with four new finalists milling about downtown Manhattan, can we place Palmer’s Heisman triumph in its proper light.

Truly amazing.

Between the Heisman victories of Marcus Allen in 1981 and Palmer in 2002, no West Coast player had won college football’s most prestigious award. During that span, only three West Coast players -- Stanford’s John Elway in 1982, USC’s Rodney Peete in 1988 and San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk in 1992 -- had come as close as second.

To win the award, Palmer had to overcome the immovable object, the irresistible force, the swarming, gang-tackling mass that has towered over the Heisman standings for decades -- Eastern Media Bias.

Consider what has happened since Palmer pulled off his quarterback sneak. This year, the calendar says 2003 but the Heisman final four sounds more like 1938. A quarterback from Oklahoma. A pass catcher from Pittsburgh. A running back from Michigan. A quarterback from Mississippi.

Not a single finalist from a school west of the Rockies, even though the top-ranked team in both the media and coaches’ polls plays its home games in Los Angeles.

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White is favored to win this year’s award, even though he threw two interceptions and lost the most important game on his team’s schedule, 35-7, last week to Kansas State.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is White’s main competition, even though he all but disappeared in his team’s most important game of the season, a 28-14 loss to Miami.

Likewise, Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning tripped and fell over his season’s defining moment -- fourth down, late, down by a field goal to LSU. Michigan running back Chris Perry stepped up against Ohio State but vanished against Oregon, netting a very un-Heisman-like 26 yards in a 31-27 loss to the Ducks.

Meanwhile, USC went 11-1 with Leinart throwing 35 touchdown passes and Mike Williams catching 87 balls and scoring 16 touchdowns. Yet neither Leinart nor Williams was invited to today’s Heisman presentation ceremony, to be shown live at 5 p.m. on ESPN. Nor did they walk away with any hardware at Thursday’s Heisman hype-a-thon, also known as the Home Depot College Football Awards, where much fertilizer was spread in hope of growing interest in today’s big show.

It’s a game ESPN knows how to play. Should Fitzgerald win, the victory party ought to be held in Bristol, Conn. Led by the relentless promotion of Pitt alum Mark May, Fitzgerald’s Heisman campaign became another product push for the network. “ESPN the Wide Receiver.” Get the name out, repeat it often, get the people talking about it.

Williams lacked that kind of in-studio sponsorship. He didn’t need more yards or touchdowns. He needed a USC alum on the set, armed with a microphone and an agenda ... and wouldn’t that be just the spot now for Keyshawn Johnson?

Or maybe not. Thursday night, Lee Corso observed that “longtime football fans around Southern California have told me that, at this time in his career, Mike Williams is the best all-around receiver Southern California’s ever had.”

Cue Keyshawn.

“Now, wait just a second there, old man ... “

Pete Carroll was the only Trojan to win an individual award Thursday night. He got the coach-of-the-year trophy, which had to figure. How else could USC have gone 11-1 if Oklahoma, Michigan and Pitt had all the best players?

One week it’s the BCS. The next it’s the Heisman. Meanwhile, the University of Snubbed Champions sits and waits for the Rose Bowl, where the Trojans will get a chance to finally get the word out.

Also available for viewing this weekend:

TODAY

North Dakota versus Grand Valley State

(ESPN, 1 p.m.)

The NCAA holds its Division II football championship game, concluding a four-week, 16-team tournament that will end nearly two weeks before Christmas and produce a clear-cut champion. It can be done. And, last time we checked, Division II football players are student-athletes too.

Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers

(Channel 9, 7 p.m)

Also on the card: Rasheed Wallace vs. David Stern. In an interview this week in the Oregonian newspaper, Wallace blasted Stern for making more salary than “three-quarters of the players in this league” and accused Stern’s league of exploiting “these high school cats” who “are dumb and dumber” and just “shut up, sign for the money and do what they tell [them].” That’s a sanitized excerpt.

In a statement, Stern said “Wallace’s hateful diatribe was ignorant and offensive to all NBA players” and advised the Portland organization and fans “to determine the attitudes by which they wish to be defined.”

Or, if you choose to read between Stern’s lines: Next time you cut Mr. Wallace’s check, you might want to lighten it.

“Outside the Lines: The Turbulent Years In Sports”

(ESPN, 7 p.m.)

Kobe Bryant, leading NBA Western Conference All-Star vote-getter, will be mentioned.

SUNDAY

Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis Rams

(Channel 11, 10 a.m.)

The Rams have won their last 12 home games. The Seahawks have lost their last five road games. In case you don’t have the time to watch.

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins

(Channel 11, 1:15 p.m.)

Ten years ago, on Dec. 17, 1993, Fox became a player in the sports broadcasting big leagues when it purchased the rights to televise NFC games. Time flies. Eleven years ago, when CBS still had the NFC contract, the Cowboy-Redskin rivalry still meant something.