Michael Penix’s brilliance in CFP raises question: Do we award the Heisman too

Earlier this week at the Sugar Bowl, amid the postgame jubilation and the realization that Washington would play for a national championship, Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about the latest dazzling performance from his show-stopping quarterback.

He called Michael Penix Jr. “the best player in college football.”

After watching Penix carve up Texas’s vaunted defensive front to the tune of 430 passing yards and two touchdowns, it was hard to argue with DeBoer, though Penix finished second to LSU’s Jayden Daniels in Heisman Trophy voting this season. Penix’s teammates clearly agreed, with edge rusher Edefuan Ulofoshio stating that Penix “had a pretty rough trip to New York (and) I felt like he should have won something” and receiver Ja’Lynn Polk saying there’s nothing his quarterback can’t do and that “we knew who really won it — and that’s him.” 

The Heisman has already been handed out. It’s not being rescinded, and no votes are being recast. But Penix’s performance in the Sugar Bowl coupled with his opportunity Monday night to lead the Huskies to a national championship has prompted an interesting conversation topic and a worthwhile question: 

Do we award the Heisman too early?

The Heisman voting deadline is always the Monday after conference championship weekend. This year, that was Dec. 4, three days after Penix led Washington to a Pac-12 title while Daniels watched games at home, since LSU did not qualify for the SEC Championship Game. Fans and pundits had a healthy debate that weekend, with some arguing that a meaningful game — Washington-Oregon, featuring two Heisman contenders dueling — meant the winner should earn the trophy and others maintaining that Daniels’ body of work was already so overwhelming that it didn’t matter that his team was less successful. As it turned out, most voters agreed with the latter, and Daniels hoisted the award.

Then, Daniels opted out of LSU’s ReliaQuest Bowl game against Wisconsin, while Penix continued to play — and play spectacularly. Penix’s NFL draft stock is rising, too. And so a good deal of the sport’s attention has turned back to that Dec. 4 voting deadline and the coveted trophy that was handed out on Dec. 9. 

With what we know now, did the voters get it right? Does it matter if the runner-up puts on a show afterward? It’s a question that will only get asked with greater frequency next season, with a 12-team College Football Playoff field and 11 meaningful postseason games played after the Heisman Trophy ceremony on an annual basis.

“Historically, the Heisman has never been a postseason or bowl award,” associate director of the Heisman Trophy Trust Tim Henning told The Athletic. “You could go back in the history books and look at some athletes that have gone on to play in bowl games and some winners that haven’t.”

It’s a subjective award, Henning noted, which means that individual voters decide what they think is…