Opinion: Forget the score, Caleb Williams is the Heisman winner

It’s been 17 years since a Heisman Trophy has been placed on the shelves of Heritage Hall – and 18 since it was a trophy that USC didn’t have to give back.

That Heisman-less streak will end this year. Sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams cemented himself solely in that position at the end of the regular season.

And that didn’t change with USC’s loss to Utah.

If anything, the loss helped Williams’ Heisman case.

In the first quarter, Williams bolted for a 59-yard run that would have been Williams’ signature Heisman moment had he not injured his hamstring at the end of the play.

USC led 14-3 after the possession, but from that point on, Williams didn’t look the same. He was missing receivers and was almost entirely unable to move out of the pocket.

“You ever have an old rubber band?” Williams said of the injury. “It kinda felt like that.”

USC was outscored 44-10 after the injury. The offense was at a near standstill with its quarterback effectively on one leg the rest of the night.

The Trojans put up 194 yards in the first quarter, but they only managed 225 yards for the rest of the game while Williams was sacked seven times.

That offensive stagnation proves one thing: Williams is USC’s offense. The No. 5 offense in yards per game could hardly move without Williams at 100 percent, and if that doesn’t show that Williams is the most outstanding player in college football, I don’t know what will.

But the Heisman Trophy is more than merely the “most outstanding player.”. It’s also given to the player “whose performance epitomizes great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.”

With confetti streaming down on Utah’s trophy ceremony, Williams could be seen off to the side tearing up as he watched the team responsible for USC’s two losses hoist the trophy the Trojans had their sights on all season. A member of USC’s staff had to come to the field to escort Williams off or he would have watched the entire ceremony imagining what could have been.

During the postgame press conference, Williams’ eyes were red from the tears. He groaned as he sat down, in evident pain stemming from the injury. It was pain that caused Williams grief when he did a task so simple as sitting, yet he played football on that leg for three whole quarters.

“I definitely thought about taking him out, and I think he wouldn’t have let me. He wouldn’t even let me take him out at the end,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “In terms of guys I’ve coached at that position, that was maybe the gutsiest performance I’ve ever seen.”

Few quarterbacks have had a game more exemplary of diligence, perseverance and hard work than that. The final score shouldn’t be considered in the slightest when factoring that performance into Williams’ Heisman candidacy.

Williams entered the game as such a heavy favorite to win the award that it would have taken a disastrous performance to lose it. Williams completed 28 of his 41 passes for 363 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. On one leg, that’s pretty good.

Williams has had much better performances, and that’s why Friday’s bout didn’t matter for his Heisman Trophy prospects. He didn’t need to create a “Heisman moment.” He’s got plenty.

Look at Williams’ 503 total yards against UCLA — the most by an individual player in the history of the rivalry. Look at Williams’ 16-second, 19-yard run against Notre Dame in which the quarterback dropped back, shed a tackle and ran up the field all while juking defenders left and right. Look at Williams cashing in his third rushing touchdown of the night on a fourth-down option play to silence any hopes of a Fighting Irish comeback — the moment I knew Williams deserved the prestigious award.

Williams’ regular season was more than enough to warrant a Heisman. Everything else is gravy.

Williams’ message since the first day of spring camp has been consistent: It’s about the team, not him. Even when he was less than two months removed from announcing his transfer to USC — a move some deemed to be selfish and everything wrong with the sport — Williams’ attention was on building up those around him.

“I don’t worry about it,” Williams said of the hype surrounding him on the first day of spring camp. “Focus on the guys here. Focus on leading these guys … I don’t really focus on my own goals. Obviously, I mean who wouldn’t want to have a Heisman? It’s one of my goals but not really a goal of the team. So that’s what we’re focused on here.”

His message in the Pac-12 Championship defeat was as unwavering as it was over eight months prior.

“I also had a group of guys that was looking at me to lead them to victory,” Williams said, “and that didn’t end up happening.”

If the Heisman Trophy voters get it right — and I have every reason to believe they will — Williams will leave New York City with a shiny piece of hardware that’s making the same pose Williams made several times in that win over Notre Dame.

And what’s crazy is he’ll be coming back for another year to try to win it again.