Stewart Mandel

In 11 years on this beat, the 2005 season was by far the most memorable I’ve covered. I’ll never forget watching Matt Leinart‘s 61-yard pass to Dwayne Jarrett from the sideline of Notre Dame Stadium. I’ll never forget watching from the press box above the L.A. Coliseum as Reggie Bush ran off 260 yards against UCLA. And of course, I’ll never forget watching Vince Young scamper to the end zone literally just a few feet in front of me to clinch the BCS championship.

AP: Bush says he is giving back Heisman Trophy

It’s a good thing I have such a sharp memory, too, because one by one, the events of that season are being erased from the record books.

That Leinart sneak to deliver USC victory at Notre Dame? It never happened. Neither did any of the Trojans’ other victories that season. And now, five years after the fact, it turns out Bush was not in fact the Heisman Trophy winner in 2005.

Bush’s decision Tuesday to forfeit his Heisman — the first such occurrence in the award’s 75-year history — allowed him to avoid the indignity of having it taken for him. It’s no coincidence that Bush’s statement came on the same day members of the Heisman Trust met, reportedly to vote on said decision. Bush gets to save face a little by saying he did so to preserve “the dignity of this award,” while pledging to “work with the Trustees to establish an educational program which will assist student-athletes and their families avoid some of the mistakes that I made.” (Note that he still has yet to specify, admit to, or apologize for any of his alleged “mistakes.”)

We knew this day was coming one way or the other. Whether it wanted to or not, there was no way the members of the Heisman Trust could ignore their own published policy that “the recipients must be in compliance with the bylaws defining an NCAA student athlete.”

That doesn’t make it any less clunky.

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