The Buzz: Heisman news and views
Week 10 was another fun college football weekend. Let’s see what’s being discussed in the Heisman world …
(Disclaimer — The Heisman Trophy Trust and Heisman.com does not endorse any college football player for the Heisman Memorial Trophy. The information contained here serves as a platform of information for fans and media, and is not intended to contain a definitive and comprehensive list of possible contenders.)
The Buzz
Bleacher Report leads us off with a breakdown of its Top Candidates after Week 10. Its five chief Heisman contenders from Oklahoma (Jalen Hurts), Ohio State (Justin Fields and Chase Young), Alabama (Tua Tagovailoa) and LSU (Joe Burrow) all had bye weeks. With Alabama and LSU squaring off in Week 11 – and with Tagovailoa set to return from injury – it’s good some got a chance to catch their collective breath.
AL.com caught up with three former Heisman winners and got their thoughts on the Tua-Joe match up and its potential implications.
Fox Sports echoed Bleacher Report’s top 5 during a Saturday telecast, which did not sit well with the Tulsa World, which felt a certain Oklahoma State running back (Chuba Hubbard) deserved a top 5 mention. He did run for 232 yards and two scores in a win over TCU, including 192 yards in the second half.
Hubbard was sixth in The Athletic’s latest straw poll while Burrow and Young were 1-2.
Heading into the weekend, Eddie George (1995) told Sports Illustrated that he’s throwing his support behind fellow Buckeyes Young and his teammate JK Dobbins.
The folks at fivethirtyeight.com (here) and Bruce Feldman at The Athletic (here) are also big on Young.
Oregon QB Justin Herbert is leading a surging Oregon team fighting for a CFP spot and is coming off of a hammering of USC.
Clemson’s 1-2 punch of QB Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne continue to lead the Tigers. Etienne reached a major Clemson milestone, as noted by ESPN, against Wofford while Lawrence had three TDs (including this one) in a light work day.
Baylor QB Charlie Brewer – who comes from a football family – helped keep the surprising Bears unbeaten at 8-0, completing 20-of-26 passes for 277 yards and two scores in a win over West Virginia.
Georgia’s combo of Jake Fromm and De’Andre Swift led Georgia to a 24-17 win at Florida in a battle of top 8 teams.
Staying on the buddy theme, how about Utah’s Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss who helped Utah come-from-behind at Washington to take control of the Pac-12 South and stay firmly in the CFP discussion. Moss ran for 100 yards and Huntley ran for one score and threw for another.
Memphis hosted ESPN’s Game Day and it was quite a day. The Tigers defeated fellow ranked upstart SMU 54-48 in front of a record crowd in one for the ages and saw redshirt freshman running back Kenny Gainwell go over 1,000 yards for the year while QB Brady White threw for 350 yards and three scores in the win.
Slightly below the radar – but worth a look – is what North Texas’ QB Mason Fine did during and after the Mean Green’s 52-26 win over UTEP. He threw seven TDs (here’s one of them) in the victory but was even more eye-popping in the postgame presser.
The New York Times dug into what schools and communication departments do behind the scenes to promote their players.
Throwbacks
That kind of media help worked out well for Ron Dayne (1999). The Athletic looked back at his Heisman-winning season two decades ago and what went into it.
USA Today completed its two-month long on-line balloting to determine college football’s greatest player and the nod went to 1988 Heisman winner Barry Sanders, who out-dueled 1976 winner Tony Dorsett in the final head-to-head matchup.
The Ohio-based IndeOnline.com took a look back at one of the most famous trades in NFL history, the Oct, 13, 1989 trade that sent Heisman winner Herschel Walker (1982) to the Vikings. They broke it down here.
Speaking of 30 years ago, two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin (1974-75) is behind a program led by Ohio slugger Buster Douglas, who is honoring the upcoming anniversary of his win over Mike Tyson by inspiring others who face long odds.
Heisman Trophy Winners In The NFL
Lamar Jackson (2016) led Baltimore to a 17-point win over New England. While he threw for 163 yards and a score, he ran for 61 yards and his two rushing TDs were the most against the Patriots by a QB since 2011. Mark Ingram (2009) joined the fun with 115 yards on 15 carries.
Derrick Henry (2015) again paced Tennessee with 63 yards rushing in a Titans loss to Carolina. QB Marcus Mariota (2014) did not play for the third straight week.
Jameis Winston (2013) posted one of his best games of the season, completing 29-of-44 passes for 335 yards and two TDs, but the Bucs fell in OT in Seattle, 40-34.
Rookie Kyler Murray (2018) had a solid game on Thursday night, hitting 17-of-24 passes for 241 yards and two scores to go with 34 yards on the ground, but the Cardinals fell to San Francisco, 28-25.
Baker Mayfield (2017) – with 273 passing and a score and 22 yards rushing – made a run for the Browns’ third win, but Cleveland fell short at Denver.
