A New Season Of Heisman Buzz Begins! Reactions After Week 1

Well that was fun! The first week (plus a few games in week zero) is in the books and we already have nominees for catch of the year, game of the year and so much more while also digesting new conference makeups from coast to coast.

We also have our first batch of Heisman-hopeful-level performances from around the country, so let’s dig in.

We’re going to start with Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, for three reasons. One, he ran for a school-record 267 yards and six touchdowns — including scoring jaunts of 77 and 75 yards — in the Broncos’ season-opening win over Georgia Southern and two, 2013 Heisman winner Robert Griffin III placed Jeanty atop his list of Heisman frontrunners after Week 1.

Reason three is that Jeanty is the Week 3 guest on the Official Heisman Trophy Podcast. Click HERE to listen to his interview.

RGIII wasn’t alone in effusive praise for Jeanty. CollegeFootballNews.com had him atop its Week 1 Heisman list. Jeanty has a great chance to press his Heisman case further when Boise takes on No. 7 Oregon on Saturday.

Colorado returns a pair of top Heisman candidates in QB Shedeur Sanders and WR/DB Travis Hunter.

Sanders opened his second season in Boulder by throwing for 445 yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-34 passing.

Hunter caught seven passes for 132 yards and scored three touchdowns while also making three tackles at DB, playing an incredible 131 snaps overall.  RGII’s Heisman Week 1 list included both Sanders and Hunter, understandably so.

Let’s pivot to fellow Big 12 team Arizona, and we know how odd that sounds.

The Wildcats had a pair of offensive weapons go off in a big win over New Mexico. Not sure what is more impressive, Tetairoa McMillan’s 10 receptions for 304 yards and four TD catches or QB Noah Fifita’s four TD passes to McMillan and his 422 yards passing.

And how about — yes it’s another former Pac-12, now Big 12 QB — Cam Rising at Utah. On just 10 completions he threw for 254 yards and five TDs while rushing for 25 more yards in a season-opening win against Southern Utah. 

Speaking of former Pac-12 teams, USC’s Miller Moss stamped his name onto the Heisman hopeful list by leading the Trojans to a come-from-behind win over LSU in Las Vegas with 378 passing yards and fourth-quarter TD pass.

Moving east, a trio of SEC QBs had huge season-opening performances in Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Georgia’s Carson Beck. 

Well, huge may be an overstatement for Milroe, because he was yanked early in the lopsided win over Western Kentucky, but the 2023 sixth-place Heisman finisher still threw for 200 yards on 7-of-9 passing with three scoring passes while also rushing for 79 yards and two scores on 10 carries. Nevermind, that counts as huge.

2004 Heisman winner Matt Leinart went on record as predicting Milroe would win the Heisman this year ahead of the first full Saturday of games while his Fox Sports colleague Brady Quinn went with Beck.

Beck opened his season by orchestrating Georgia’s 34-3 win over No. 14 Clemson with 278 passing yards and two scores.

As for Dart, in first-half action only, he threw for 418 yards and five scores in a 76-0 wallop of Furman while also rushing for a score.

Moving briefly to the ACC, Miami’s new QB Cam Ward opened his Hurricane career in fine fashion. Ward passed for 385 yards and three scores on 26-of-35 passing and rushed for 33 yards in a 41-17 win at Florida.

Can’t wait for Week 2!