It appears to me, based upon this year's crop of inductees, that one criterion is: have a great professional career.
Troy Aikman just made the College Football Hall of Fame. Aikman had a great career and he belongs in Canton as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but how did he make the college football Hall of Fame before Rodney Peete? Technically, I suppose, the reason is because Peete was not on this year's ballot, but that begs the question.
In 1985, in his sophomore season, and his first as a starter at Oklahoma (he started a game at Kansas as a freshman, performing poorly in a 28-11 loss), Aikman mostly handed off as part of a running offense that earned the Sooners wins over Minnesota, Kansas State and Texas before Aikman broke his ankle in a home loss to unranked Miami. Freshman quarterback Jamelle Holieway then took over and led the Sooners to a 11-1 record, capping the season-ending eight-game win streak with a victory over Penn State in the 1986 Orange Bowl, for the national championship. Having lost the starting position, Aikman transferred to UCLA. After a redshirt transfer season, he started two seasons for the Bruins, finishing with a 20-4 record, including victories in the Aloha Bowl and Cotton Bowl. Aikman finished his career as the number two career passing leader in UCLA history. As a senior, he was an All-American; he won the 1988 Davey O'Brien Award; and he finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Rodney Peete led USC to two Pac-10 titles. As a senior, he was a first-team All-American; he won the Johnny Unitas Award as the nation's best senior quarterback; and he finished second to Barry Sanders in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. His USC teams won both head-to-head matchups against Troy Aikman's UCLA teams (and not because Aikman didn't have talented teammates - he had Gaston Green, Carnell Lake, Ken Norton, Jr. and Darryl Henley, among others), each time with the Rose Bowl at stake. In the 1988 game, Peete had been hospitalized with measles the week before the game, and lost several pounds, but still led the Trojans to a huge 31-22 victory on UCLA's home field. Peete finished his career as Southern Cal's all-time leader in pass attempts (1,081), completions (630), and passing yardage (8,225). He was the first Pac-10 quarterback to lead his team to a perfect 8-0 conference record (15-1 overall). In their senior seasons, Peete was named Pac-10 offensive player of the year, ahead of Aikman.
Aikman is a deserving inductee, but there is no way he should have made it ahead of Rodney Peete.
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