Sports

Big 12 Spoils Travis Hunter’s Heisman Campaign By Dropping Underwhelming Highlights With Petty Timing

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Travis Hunter Heisman Big 12 Highlights Ashton Jeanty
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Either Ashton Jeanty or Travis Hunter Jr. is going to win the Heisman Trophy. One of them played during his conference championship game on Friday night while the other watched on television at home.

As Boise State cruised to victory over UNLV on the legs of its bell cow running back, the Big 12 Conference tried to make its candidate relevant with a petty, intentionally-timed campaign on social media. However, the reality of the situation it presented was entirely untrue.

Jeanty, who could technically beat Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record in the Playoff, continued his mind-boggling season with 209 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries. It was his ninth game of the year with more than 25 touches and sixth game of the year with more than 200 yards on the ground. He is averaging 7.3 yards per carry this season, which is downright ridiculous.

Defenses stack the box with as many as seven or eight guys. They still can’t stop him.

The 21-year-old running back put a stamp on his Heisman resume with a tremendous 75-yard touchdown run right before halftime.

Just moments after Jeanty crossed the goal line for his 29th (!!) rushing touchdown of the year, the Big 12 decided to remind the Heisman voters (who didn’t already submit their ballots) and fans at home about their star player. Hunter was at home. Deion Sanders says his best players are going to play in a bowl game but, even if that is true, we will not see the two-way star until after the award ceremonies.

In an effort to keep his name relevant, the Big 12 posted “Four minutes and 36 seconds of Travis Hunter highlights… for no particular reason at all” immediately after Ashton Jeanty’s touchdown. But here’s the catch. Less than 90 seconds of the 273-second video were actual highlights. The rest of the video is celebrations and replays. It even includes a few on-field reviews.

To post the video in the first place is extremely petty. If Travis Hunter is really the best player in the country, his team would be playing for a Big 12 Championship. To post a very underwhelming highlight video that does not do him justice while his only competition is running guys over en route to the Playoff spoils everything he has worked for and deserves. It brings him down, it doesn’t pick him up.