Statue of Intimidation

NEW YORK — USC quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush both can recall bits of Heisman Trophy history.

Leinart, a junior from Orange County, watched on television two years ago when teammate Carson Palmer became the first Trojan quarterback to win college football’s most prestigious award.

“I kind of got emotional with the whole thing, knowing all he went through,” Leinart said.

Bush, a sophomore running back who grew up near San Diego, acutely remembers a player who did not win -- San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk.

“He got second to someone who didn’t have that great of a career in the NFL,” Bush said, referring to former Miami quarterback Gino Torretta, the winner in 1992.

Leinart and Bush will experience their own Heisman moments tonight when the 70th winner is announced in a nationally televised ceremony. Leinart, Bush, Oklahoma quarterback Jason White, Sooner running back Adrian Peterson and Utah quarterback Alex Smith are finalists for an award that has been won by five USC players.

Four Trojan running backs -- Mike Garrett in 1965, O.J. Simpson in 1968, Charles White in 1979 and Marcus Allen in 1981 -- took home the most famous statuette in sports before Palmer added his to USC’s Heritage Hall collection in 2002.

Leinart said this week that he would like to win but was not counting on it.

“I talked to Carson. ... He said just go in with the mind-set that you’re not going to win, not to get your hopes up,” said Leinart, who has passed for 2,990 yards and 28 touchdowns with six interceptions. “He said to just enjoy the fact that not everyone gets a chance to do this.”

Bush also is prepared to relish the moment, especially if he becomes the first sophomore to win.

“I definitely can envision myself winning the Heisman Trophy,” said Bush, who has caught seven touchdown passes, rushed for six touchdowns, returned two punts for touchdowns and also thrown a touchdown pass. “Whether it comes true, we’ll have to see.”

The Heisman Trophy is steeped in tradition, but the place where it is awarded continues to change.

The Heisman was presented at New York’s Downtown Athletic Club for more than six decades. After the club’s headquarters were damaged in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Heisman festivities shifted to a Times Square hotel for a year and then to the midtown Yale Club for the next two.

On Friday, technicians worked throughout the day to turn a ballroom at the huge Hilton New York hotel into a cozy, clubby atmosphere for tonight’s one-hour ceremony.

This is the first time in Heisman history that teammates from two schools are finalists. It also is the first time that two USC players have been among the finalists.

Bush and Smith, who played together at Helix High in La Mesa, are thought to be the first high school teammates to be in the same group of finalists, Heisman officials said.

White, a sixth-year senior, could become only the second two-time winner of the award. Ohio State running back Archie Griffin won in 1974 and 1975.

Before the season, many college football observers thought White’s subpar performances in the final two games of the 2003 season would hurt his chances to repeat. He played poorly in the Sooners’ loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference championship game and also struggled in Oklahoma’s defeat by Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl, last year’s bowl championship series title game.

But White rebounded with another extraordinary season, passing for 2,961 yards and 33 touchdowns with only six interceptions. Last Saturday, White passed for three touchdowns in Oklahoma’s 42-3 victory over Colorado in the Big 12 championship game and the Sooners earned their third BCS title game appearance in five years. No. 2 Oklahoma will play top-ranked USC Jan. 4 in the Orange Bowl.

On Thursday, for the second year in a row, White won the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s top quarterback. He also won the Maxwell Award, presented to the nation’s outstanding player, while Leinart won the Walter Camp player-of-the-year award.

“I’m really very surprised about this, especially after the way our season ended last year,” White said. “Everybody seemed to really write me off as far as the awards and everything for this year.”

Just as Bush helped Leinart amass impressive statistics, White benefited from the powerful Peterson, who was at his best in Oklahoma’s biggest games and could become the first freshman to win the Heisman.

Peterson rushed for 15 touchdowns and 1,843 yards -- including 225 against Texas and 249 against Oklahoma State. He averaged nearly six yards a carry and eclipsed the 100-yard mark 11 times.

Smith’s statistics compare favorably to Leinart’s and White’s, but he still is regarded as a longshot to become the first Utah player to win the Heisman.

Smith, a junior, passed for 2,624 yards and 28 touchdowns with only four interceptions. He also rushed for 10 touchdowns while leading Utah to an 11-0 record and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

“I didn’t know how I compared to other quarterbacks,” he said before the Heisman finalists were announced Wednesday. “I didn’t know how much publicity we were going to get. That was the part that was so shocking to me. It’s still shocking to me right now.”

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The Phat Five

The five college football players asked to attend tonight’s ceremony in New York as finalists in the 2004 Heisman Trophy balloting:

Oklahoma’s Jason White

* The sixth-year senior, bidding to become only the second two-time Heisman winner, has passed for 2,961 yards and 33 touchdowns with six interceptions for the No. 2 Sooners.

USC’s Matt Leinart

* The junior quarterback has passed for 2,990 yards and 28 touchdowns with six interceptions for the nation’s top-ranked team. He’d be the sixth Trojan to win the award.

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Well-Positioned to Win

Eleven of the last 20 Heisman Trophy winners have been QBs.

*--* YEAR WINNER SCHOOL POS 2003 JASON WHITE Oklahoma QB 2002 CARSON PALMER USC QB 2001 ERIC CROUCH Nebraska QB 2000 CHRIS WEINKE Florida State QB 1999 RON DAYNE Wisconsin RB 1998 RICKY WILLIAMS Texas RB 1997 CHARLES WOODSON Michigan WR/DB 1996 DANNY WUERFFEL Florida QB 1995 EDDIE GEORGE Ohio State RB 1994 RASHAAN SALAAM Colorado RB 1993 CHARLIE WARD Florida State QB 1992 GINO TORRETTA Miami QB 1991 DESMOND HOWARD Michigan WR 1990 TY DETMER Brigham Young QB 1989 ANDRE WARE Houston QB 1988 BARRY SANDERS Oklahoma State RB 1987 TIM BROWN Notre Dame WR 1986 VINNY TESTAVERDE Miami QB 1985 BO JACKSON Auburn RB 1984 DOUG FLUTIE Boston College QB

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Associated Press contributed to this report.