That might have been one of the wildest opening weekends in college football history. Two top-five teams lost, Texas is relevant for the first time in years, and we saw games from Thursday to Monday. Of course, with so much action, there's a lot of Heisman action to talk about. We finally got to see a lot of the contenders like Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook in action, as well as other possible breakout stars. There's a lot of stuff to talk about, and that's what we'll do here. Let's get started.
Three players dropped off from last week: Royce Freeman of Oregon (who only had 92 yards of total offense), Chad Kelly (who lost to Florida State), and Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma (who lost to Houston). We have two players on the honorable mention list: DeShone Kizer of Notre Dame (who accounted for six touchdowns despite losing to Texas) and D'Onta Foreman of Texas (who ran for 131 yards and a score against ND).
10. Lamar Jackson, Louisville (Last Week: NR)- Jackson turned heads on Thursday when he passed for six touchdowns and rushed for two more when #19 Louisville dismantled Charlotte. The Cardinals are now six spots higher in the rankings and have a chance to compete for the ACC title.
9. Deondre Francois, Florida State (Last Week: NR)- Francois won his first career game when he beat Ole Miss on Monday night. All the Heisman spotlight was on Dalvin Cook and Chad Kelly going into this game, but Francois completely stole the show. He threw for 419 yards and two scores while also rushing for 59 yards.
8. Seth Russell, Baylor (Last Week: 7)- Russell threw for 163 yards and four touchdowns as he led Baylor to victory over Northwestern State. On top of that, Baylor now looks like the favorite to win the Big 12.
7. Leonard Fournette, LSU (Last Week: 1)- Fournette drops out of the top spot after putting up 138 rushing yards and zero scores against Wisconsin as #5 LSU suffered an upset loss. However, next week he faces Jacksonville St. in what should help him bounce back.
6. Greg Ward Jr., Houston (Last Week: 10)- Ward continues his dark horse Heisman campaign after leading Houston to an upset win over #3 Oklahoma. He threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cougars are now #6.
5. Dalvin Cook, Florida State (Last Week: 5)- Cook had a bit of a rough game against Ole Miss, as he only had 91 rushing yards and zero scores. However, he did catch 7 passes for 101 yards as the 'Noles knocked off #11 Ole Miss.
4. Deshaun Watson, Clemson (Last Week: 3)- #2 Clemson had a bit of a lackluster win against unranked Auburn. His statline wasn't great (248 passing yards with one score and one interception), but at least Clemson won.
3. Nick Chubb, Georgia (Last Week: 6)- Chubb probably had the best game of anyone who was on our Heisman watch last week. He had 222 yards on the ground (to go with his two scores) as Georgia beat #22 UNC.
2. J.T. Barrett, Ohio State (Last Week: NR)- Looking back on my list from last week, I can't believe I left Barrett out. He made me pay for that oversight by throwing for 349 yards and accumulating six total touchdowns. Now that he's not fighting for playing time, he's the smartest pick for a Buckeye Heisman winner since Troy Smith.
1. Christian McCaffrey, Stanford (Last Week: 2)- I had a tough choice between McCaffrey and Fourntette for the top spot last week, but I see now that McCaffrey was the way to go. Not only did he have 2 rushing scores, but he also picked up 40 receiving yards as well as 44 return yards. At this point, he's the safe pick to win the Heisman.
Thanks for reading everyone. Check back next week for an updated Heisman watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment