College football world reacts as Hendon Hooker doesn't get invitation to New York as Heisman Trophy finalist

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The hits just keep coming for college football.

After the College Football Playoff committee was praised for "getting it right" by keeping TCU in the field despite a Big 12 championship game loss, Heisman Trophy voters created a stir by leaving Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker out of the list of finalists.

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Hooker was having a Heisman-worthy season for the Volunteers before he tore an ACL in a 63-38 loss to South Carolina on Nov. 19. He had thrown 27 touchdowns to just two interceptions and rushed for five more touchdowns. He also completed just shy of 70 percent of his passes for the year.

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As for who did get in, the first three were locks before the list was even announced: USC quarterback Caleb Williams, TCU quarterback Max Duggan and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud were all expected. The QB who "replaced" the injured Hooker, Stetson Bennett, had a solid season for a loaded No. 1 Georgia, but his 20 passing touchdowns are a far cry from the 37 by Williams and Stroud and the 30 by Duggan.

While all of this seems like bashing Bennett, the reality is he was the fourth-most expected name on this list. In any conversation about snubs, that makes Bennett the point of controversy.

Hooker missing from the New York stage seems to largely be recency bias. Missing the Vols' regular-season finale against Vanderbilt doesn't seem like something worthy of punishment. Ultimately, however, Tennessee came up short again this season, and it clearly didn't go unnoticed by the college football world at large.

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Kevin Skiver is a content producer at The Sporting News