2005 was perhaps my favorite year of college football I’ve ever watched.
Sure, it was pre-season’s number-one and number-two that ultimately met in the BCS Championship Game and that wound up being perhaps the greatest college football game of all-time, but the road to get there was just as fun.
USC entered the season as the favorite to win it all as they were fresh off a national title where they destroyed Oklahoma while Texas went into Columbus, Ohio in September and walked out with a win to set up their title season.
USC survived their biggest scare at Notre Dame that October by getting a late touchdown from the aid of Reggie Bush in the classic “Bush Push” contest.
Vince Young had a monster season and a legendary title game performance but Bush was the story of the 2005 season as he was probably the best college football player I’ve ever seen. He deservedly won the Heisman Trophy, only to have it taken away a few years later after in a case that sent USC football spiraling.
Bush released the following statement Thursday:
“Over the last few months, on multiple occasions, my team an I have reached out to both the NCAA and The Heisman Trust in regard to the reinstatement of my college records and return of my Heisman,”.
“We left multiple messages for Michael Comerford, the President of the Heisman Trust, but instead received a call from Rob Whalen, the Executive Director, who stated that Mr. Comerford would not be calling us back and that, in any event, they could help us. We reached out to the NCAA on multiple occasions and received no help or got no response at all. It is my strong belief that I won the Heisman trophy “solely” due to my hard work and dedication on the football field and it is also my firm belief that my records should be reinstated.” – Reggie Bush
He didn’t cheat, he didn’t harm anyone. He did what countless other college athletes have done over the years, but he got caught breaking a rule that he wouldn’t have had to break under these new, timely NCAA rules regarding name and image likeness.
Does any college football observer that was around for it not remember Reggie Bush in 2005?
Simply put: the 2005 college football season didn’t just not happen, no matter what the NCAA wants to try and make you believe.
It occurred and its story can’t be properly told without having Reggie Bush be a major part of it.
Give Reggie his Heisman Trophy back, it’s the right thing to do.
Related: