Happy Saturday, college football fans. Welcome to this week’s Heisman Watch, in which there is exactly no drama about who is number one, even if he left his game last week with an injury. This Heisman race is shaping up to be extremely boring, but hey, it’s only mid-October. I suppose anything can still happen. For example, the guy that I thought would be comfortably in the race until November looked really, really bad last week. Who do I mean? Well…
Falling off this week
Will Grier (Last Week: 4)
Oh no, Will Grier got Ames’d. Greer is still a tremendous passer, but weird things happen when teams travel to Iowa State. Case and point: Grier went 11-for-15 for 11 yards with a touchdown and a pick in a 30-14 loss to the Cyclones. It was so bad that Dana Holgorsen said this:
Dana Holgorsen just called tonight’s WVU outing “the worst offensive performance in my 30 years of coaching.”
— Nick Farrell (@ByNickFarrell) October 14, 2018
Not great! This week, Grier’s back at home against a Baylor defense that he could carve up, but the damage might have been done to his Heisman hopes.
5. Laviska Shenault (Last Week: 5)
Shenault made his Heisman Watch debut last week, as he’s been the best receiver in college football this season. He didn’t have his best game in Colorado’s 31-20 loss to USC in Los Angeles, but he also had nine receptions for 72 yards and a pair of carries for 46 yards and a score, so that says more about the high bar he’s set than anything.
The Buffs are on the road again this week, and Shenault has to deal with a nasty Washington defense that does not allow big plays. But Shenault’s bread and butter has been the ability to punish defenses for even the most momentary of lapses, which makes me all excited for this matchup.
4. Ed Oliver (Last Week: NR)
WELCOME BACK BIG ED. The best defensive player in America makes this list for four reasons: 1. He is the best defensive player in America, 2. He lived in East Carolina’s backfield last week, registering six tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble, 3. He is unblockable, and 4. He’s playing Navy this week, which means he might rack up 14 tackles in a dominant, triple option-stuffing performance. Ed Oliver rules.
3. Kyler Murray (Last Week: 3)
A bye week for Murray, who hasn’t played since the Sooners’ loss to Texas. The good news is he gets a TCU team that has looked a step off ever since they fell to Ohio State. The Horned Frogs are 1-2 in Big 12 play, which, uh, usually isn’t a recipe for success when you have to play Oklahoma, even if it’s at your place. Watch for Murray to try and one-up the 344-yard, two-touchdown day Dwayne Haskins had against TCU earlier this year. Hey, on that note…
2. Dwayne Haskins (Last Week: 2)
Haskins has bounced back beautifully from a relatively down game against Penn State, one in which he threw three touchdowns and picked up a win, so saying that was a down game might be off-base. The Buckeye gunslinger’s latest act was going 33-for-44 for 412 yards and three scored in a 30-14 win over Minnesota that was a hair closer than that score might indicate. Still, Haskins was fantastic against the Golden Gophers, and this week, he has quite the test ahead of him, as the Buckeyes travel to Purdue.
My hot take: Urban Meyer and Ohio State have heard all week that Purdue, led by head coach Jeff Brohm and literal superhuman freshman receiver Rondale Moore, could put a scare into them. I think the Buckeyes walk into West Lafayette at night and run the Boilermakers off the field behind a gargantuan day from Haskins. I’ll see you next week when this turns out to be completely wrong.
1. Tua Tagovailoa (Last Week: 1)
Yawn. Another electric game from Tagovailoa … well, by his standards, it was his worst game of the year, but he was still pretty dang good. Alabama’s signal caller went 12-for-22 for 265 yards and three touchdowns through the air against Missouri, and left the game with a knee injury. The good news is he was held out as a precaution, and next up, the Tide rolls into Rocky Top to take on a Tennessee squad that hasn’t beaten them since 2006. Don’t expect the Third Saturday in October to be any different this year, especially if Tua’s 100 percent against a Volunteer defense that is 97th in defensive S&P+.
