Heads Up! This piece is strongly opinionated and supposed to facilitate fun conversation about the Heisman. If someone is on this list that seems out of place, it is likely because he had a standout week and was in a close race with numerous other players, while also bringing an interesting narrative to the table. Without further ado, let’s go Hunting the Heisman.
The past two weeks have been a complete mess in the college football landscape — especially with all the postgame festivities that occurred on the field.
It was only a matter of time before a fanbase made a mistake while storming the field. Two weeks ago, the Arizona State Sun Devils upset the BYU Cougars, but there was a minor delay between the game’s final plays.
After redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt tried to throw a ball to the moon to waste the remaining seven seconds on the clock, the Sun Devil fans stormed the field, except there was a problem: the clock still had a second left. Everyone had to evacuate the field so BYU’s redshirt junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff could throw a prayer toward the end zone — which was caught but still 2.5 yards short of the goal line — before havoc reigned a second time.
This past rivalry week we saw tensions flare in nearly every game. If there is anything to take away from this week, if you plan to plant your flag — or trident if you are ASU — on the other team’s logo, get ready for a brawl. The shoving and punching ensued between nearly every rivalry this past week: Ohio State and Michigan at The Game, NC State and North Carolina at the State-Carolina Game, Florida and Florida State in the Florida Cup, Arizona State and Arizona in the Duel in the Desert, USC and Notre Dame in the Jewelled Shillelagh rivalry and Houston and BYU which isn’t even a big rivalry but still joined the fun this past week.
As college football fans, we are thankful for the upsets, the blowouts, the nail-biters and all the rivalries that have us on the edge of our seats. In honor of just passing Thanksgiving, this week we will compare the “Heisman candidates” of the Thanksgiving plate to the ones on the field to send us into the final week before votes are cast.
This week’s top three
Travis Hunter, Colorado, WR/CB — Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie is an absolute classic on the dessert table, or at least for some people. For others, it is a hatred you will never hear the end of. Travis Hunter’s situation is the same, and clearly the voters for the Jim Thorpe Award are huge pumpkin pie haters as well.
This past week, the finalists for the best defensive back were announced, and it included THE Ohio State Buckeyes’ sophomore safety Caleb Downs, Georgia’s junior defensive back Malaki Starks and Texas’ senior defensive back Jahdae Barron.
Calling it a debatable list is an understatement, as even the Hunter-haters agree that he is one of the top DBs in the nation. Hunter could easily replace any of the three on a good day, and even on a bad day makes a case for the Thorpe as well. Coach Prime had some words to say to the public about leaving his player off the list.
“You can have my award. You can have it back,” Deion Sanders said in reference to his Jim Thorpe award. “As a matter of fact, I’m just going to give him mine. I ain’t using it. It’s just sitting up there collecting dust.”
Despite the loss to Kansas — who have been the Grim Reaper of the Big 12, taking out then-No. 17 Iowa State, then-No. 6 BYU and the No. 16 Buffaloes — Hunter was electric offensively with 125 yards on eight receptions and two touchdowns as well. Defensively, Hunter had three solo tackles on seven total and a pass swatted down as well.
Following up the performance, Hunter had likely his top game of the season which came at the perfect time. With eyes of the Heisman voting committee bearing down on the dynamic player, he had 10 receptions — the first time he has hit double digits since week three against Colorado State — 116 yards and three touchdowns. Of course he had a stellar defensive performance as well, finishing the season off with another interception to equate to an impressive total of four this season.
Ashton Jeanty, Boise State, RB — Dinner Rolls
There’s nothing better on Thanksgiving dinner than becoming the reincarnation of Joey Chestnut and destroying three dinner rolls while eating an assortment of other random foods. Why are the dinner rolls so good? They are consistently some of the best food on the table despite you knowing exactly what they taste like.
The same goes for Ashton Jeanty. Is it a surprise when this guy carries the ball 20-some times a game for more than 150 yards? Absolutely not. Is it still amusing to watch? Absolutely.
Jeanty continued to prove why he is one of the most entertaining players in the league, when he had 19 touches for 169 yards and a touchdown, followed by a Black Friday performance where he totalled 226 yards and one score. Unfortunately for Jeanty, Hunter had an all-time night which should secure him the award, but there will be no doubt that Jeanty joins Hunter on the stage in New York.
With Boise State now getting the praise it should, the Broncos are fighting between the No. 4 and No. 12 spots in the College Football Playoff rankings with a shot at a first-round bye. A first-round bye could mean trouble for the other 11 teams, as the “Cinderella story” could officially appear in college football. To do so, though, Jeanty will need to go ballistic and maybe even exceed his current pace against some of the best defenses in the nation.
Cam Ward, Miami, QB — Turkey
We have all had at least one Thanksgiving dinner where you hear the most dreadful words in the English language: “Did I forget to turn the oven on for the turkey?”
Panic sets in — you know that it’s going to be another few hours before food will be ready. That is how Cam Ward plays football.
Someone forgets to turn the oven on until the third or fourth quarter, and then Ward decides to throw for 300 yards and heroically carries his team to a victory. With a scoreless third quarter, the Hurricanes and Wake Forest Demon Deacons were in a dogfight, with Miami leading 20-14. Then, like most Miami games, they remembered that they are a 9-1-now-10-1 football team and scored three straight in the final eight minutes of play to win 42-14. Ward was a huge part of this, as he threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns on 27 completions, running for one as well. During the game, he also broke two single-season school records — most passing yards and most completions at 3,774 and 268, respectively.
Ward is like the turkey for a second reason as well: sometimes it’s good, but when it’s bad, it’s REALLY bad. With seven interceptions on the season, it seems like each is worse than the last.
Against Wake Forest, Ward and the Hurricanes ran some sort of screen play that went terribly wrong. As he turned toward his tight end, junior Elijah Arroyo — who was actively looking to block someone — Ward decided to pitch it directly toward him. Demon Deacon junior linebacker Quincy Bryant jumped toward the ball as it flipped end over end toward him, before catching one of the easiest interceptions he will pick up in his entire career.
The Syracuse game was a disaster for all of Miami. The Hurricanes didn’t have their traditional comeback — instead they flipped the script and bombed in the final quarters of the game. Miami went up 21-0 early, but Syracuse came back to tie the game before trading blows with Miami. The Hurricanes decided to kick a field goal in the hopes of getting the ball back one more time before the end of the game, but the Orange iced the clock and kicked Ward and the U out of the ACC Championship game.
It wasn’t really Ward’s fault. He went 25 for 36 with two touchdowns and 349 yards. Surely throughout the season he has done enough to get the invitation to attend the ceremony in New York even if he won’t be the one giving the acceptance speech.
It’s time to cross out all the M’s in Columbus
Will Howard, THE Ohio State, QB — Mashed Potatoes with Extra Pepper
It’s rivalry week, and all college football fans know that means it’s time for The Game. Likely the most ferocious rivalry in football, THE Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines go head-to-head each year. Because of the nature of the rivalry, they are considered the main event, just like the mashed potatoes. It’s precisely what every person is looking forward to each year because they know it will be good.
This year, Will Howard is under center for the Buckeyes. The graduate transfer from Kansas State has put up inspirational numbers so far this season, his only blemish being the 32-31 loss against the Oregon Ducks.
Well, only one blemish if you don’t consider the colossal choke against an unranked Michigan. Sure it was a massive upset, but this was one of the only games this week with a predictable outcome. Or I guess not. In a spectacular series of events, Michigan kicked a game winning field goal with minimal time on the clock before they tried to plant a flag on the ‘O’ at the 50-yard line which the Buckeyes did not like to say the least. A brawl broke out causing the security to pepper spray numerous people to keep order — hence the extra pepper on the mashed potatoes.
Howard had a very poor game, with two interceptions and 19 completions on 33 attempts. He only garnered 175 yards as well in his one touchdown performance which was surely one reason that the team struggled. If anybody had been thinking of inviting him to New York, they’ll probably hope the invitation gets lost in the mail. A very unfortunate loss at the end of the season now leads a two-loss Ohio State to pray for one of the at-large playoff bids.