Why not Kirk Matthieu for ’93 Heisman?

Now that Kirk Matthieu has announced he will definitely be back running with the football for Maine Maritime Academy next fall, let me be the first to pen the official motto for the prolific tailback’s senior season:

Kirk Matthieu for the Heisman Trophy in ’93.

Wait, wait, wait. Don’t turn to the Far Side in search of more realistic comedy just yet. I’m serious.

No one is saying Matthieu would ever have a chance of actually WINNING the Heisman, although I could think of worse choices this season, the year of No Deserving Candidate up in Division I-A. No way could he win. We all saw what happened when Plymouth (N.H.) State phenom Joe Dudek got the big press in 1985.

Dudek, you’ll recall, broke Walter Payton’s all-time, all-division touchdown record on the way to becoming Division III’s all-time rushing leader. He wound up on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a Heisman candidate. But all the Football Factory U. grads and self-important writers who vote on the silly thing (face it, no one player can ever truly be called the best) looked at Dudek’s achievements like they were an insult to every 220-pound back playing against 300-pound defensive tackles.

So they went and gave the Heisman to a Bo something-or-other who played his ball at that bastion of athletic integrity, Auburn University.

Even so, Dudek wound up ninth in the balloting with the sixth-highest number of first-place votes, a testament to the number of open-minded Heisman voters who live and work in the nooks and crannies of the country. Areas where college football comes in three divisions and all three are still recognized as college football.

Dudek’s Heisman candidacy got him noticed. He wound up with a tryout in the NFL, stuck around a couple of seasons with the Denver Broncos, actually earning a Super Bowl participation ring for his contributions.

At the time, Plymouth State’s name got bandied about, too, coming as it did right after Dudek’s. Joe Dudek of Plymouth State….

That kind of national publicity few Div. III schools can buy. Which leads me to another reason why Matthieu, if he stays healthy, should be a Heisman candidate next fall.

Maine Maritime, heck, Maine period, could use that kind of publicity.

This fact has evidently been realized by the folks at MMA. When Matthieu met with someone at the school last week to hash out whether he would come back for a fifth year of academic work in order to get his fourth season of football in, he didn’t meet with a faculty adviser. Matthieu, MMA head coach John Huard, and MMA President Ken Curtis talked it over.

Huard has since informed me the chore of disseminating sports information, the job of an assistant football coach this fall, has been turned over to the central public information office at the Castine campus.

“Yes, I think there’s going to be a push for Kirk for the Heisman,” Huard said.

Some of the big I-A factories push Heisman candidates with advertising campaigns costing thousands and thousands of dollars. All MMA needs to do is get a list of Heisman voters, then either mail or fax them Matthieu’s achievements on a simple piece of paper.

Matthieu’s numbers will speak for themselves. With 4,513 yards now, he needs 1,058 yards to surpass Dudek and become the all-time Div. III rusher. He needs 1,570 yards to pass Pitt’s Tony Dorsett, Div. I-A’s all-time ground gainer. He needs 1,808 yards to surpass Texas A&I’s Johnny Bailey and become No. 1 in NCAA history.

Can he become No. 1 all-time?

Consider this: Matthieu gained 1,733 yards this fall, averaging 192.6 yards per game after coming off knee surgery last winter. If he averges only 8.3 more yards per game next season, he’s there.

Those numbers will be hard to ignore. And those in the national press who choose to investigate the kid from Fairfield (and some will) will find a mature, articulate, unassuming young man who is a credit to his school, his state, and his country.

College football, and the Heisman, could use a story like that, don’t you think?