{"id":2490,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/2490","headline":"RGIII tells Desmond Howard to stop hating on Jeremiah Smith's Heisman case","dek":"The dustup started after Howard questioned whether the Ohio State receiver shows up in big games, and Griffin fired back during Fox's broadcast of the Buckeyes' game against Northwestern.","body":"Two Heisman Trophy winners are now arguing about this year's Heisman race, and it is getting personal. Desmond Howard, the 1991 winner and ESPN analyst, questioned Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith's candidacy on First Take, asking for one example of Smith being the difference-maker in a big game against top competition. Howard argued that despite Smith's eye-popping numbers and highlight catches, he had not produced enough signature moments to deserve the award.\n\nThat did not sit well with Robert Griffin III, the 2011 Heisman winner, who used his Fox broadcast of Ohio State's game against Northwestern on Nov. 14 to respond directly. Griffin said Smith has in fact shown up in big games all over the place and told Howard to stop hating on the receiver simply because he plays for Ohio State, Michigan's rival. Griffin added that the Heisman winners need to do better by each other in what he called their Heisman brotherhood.\n\nHoward's Michigan ties have fueled plenty of social media reaction, with many questioning whether his criticism of Smith is really about the rivalry. Smith remains widely viewed as the best player in college football this season.","published_at":"2026-11-15T00:50:21.748514+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Fox Sports","publisher":"Fox Sports","title":"RGIII Calls Out Demond Howard Over Jeremiah Smith Heisman Case: 'Stop Hating'","url":"https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/robert-griffin-iii-demond-howard-over-jeremiah-smith-heisman-case-stop-hating"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Robert Griffin III calls out Desmond Howard for Jeremiah Smith criticism: 'Stop hating'","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/robert-griffin-iii-calls-desmond-223011666.html"},{"outlet":"Awful Announcing","publisher":"Awful Announcing","title":"Robert Griffin III counters Desmond Howard over Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman case: ‘Stop hating’","url":"https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/robert-griffin-iii-desmond-howard-jeremiah-smith-heisman-stop-hating.html"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Desmond Howard makes utterly ridiculous comments on Jeremiah Smith","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/desmond-howard-makes-utterly-ridiculous-032817320.html"},{"outlet":"Awful Announcing","publisher":"Awful Announcing","title":"Desmond Howard questions Heisman candidacy of Jeremiah Smith","url":"https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/desmond-howard-questions-heisman-candidacy-of-jeremiah-smith.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"RGIII defends Jeremiah Smith over Desmond Howard's Heisman criticism","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/rgiii-defends-jeremiah-smith-over-210241881.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Robert Griffin III calls out Desmond Howard for hating on Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/robert-griffin-iii-calls-desmond-003528741.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}