Hello and welcome back to the Heisman Watch, which we didn’t do last week, as I was still mad at the sport of college football because my alma mater needed five yards on fourth down against Ohio State’s defense and called a halfback dive while their senior quarterback was in the midst of the game of his life. But I’ve cooled off, because college football is a sport that embraces dumb stuff happening, so it’s very silly to stay hung up on something for more than a week.
So let’s get right back into our weekly Heisman Watch, which has seen a fair amount of movement since we last met. For example…
Falling off this week
Ed Oliver (Last Week: 5): Oliver is still the best defensive (and, perhaps, overall) player in America, and he tied his best game of the season last week against Tulsa with 13 tackles. He’s still unblockable, which leads to him getting double and triple teamed, but I’m waiting for him to have his “Ndamukong Suh vs. Texas” game. We’ll get you back on here eventually, Ed.
5. Laviska Shenault (Last Week: Not Ranked)
LAVISKA SHENAULT HIVE RISE UP. The Colorado receiver is an absolute monster, as he’s caught a touchdown in every game he’s played and has had at least double-digit catches and triple-digit receiving yards in every game he’s played. In the one game where he didn’t reach those marks, he had five receptions for 67 yards and a score against New Hampshire.
A former three-star recruit, Shenault might be the biggest surprise in all of college football this season. Here he is doing basically anything he wanted to do against UCLA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x51gn-SZ29U
The Heisman race is very, very quarterback heavy this year, but if Shenault can continue to show out for the 19th-ranked and undefeated Buffaloes, he can possibly crash the party.
4. Will Grier (Last Week: 2)
Still very good at throwing footballs for an undefeated West Virginia team, but gets bumped down a hair for his three-interception performance against Kansas. Of course, the Mountaineers are still undefeated, and in their 38-22 win over the Jayhawks, Grier also pitched in 332 passing yards and four scores. A tricky trip to Ames is on the horizon this week, but I expect Grier to continue to put up huge passing numbers against an Iowa State defense that is 93rd nationally in passing marginal explosiveness.
3. Kyler Murray (Last Week: 3)
The bad news: Murray’s Sooners fell to Texas this week. The good news: Murray was still lights out. Despite one interception, Oklahoma’s ace quarterback had a good game, going 19-for-26 with 304 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception through the air. Murray also did this:
He had 11 carries for 92 carries and a score, but as you can guess, none were as impressive as this. Oklahoma has TCU on Saturday, and while Gary Patterson always has something up his sleeve for games against the Big 12’s elite, Murray is good enough that it might not matter.
2. Dwayne Haskins (Last Week: 4)
Grier, Murray, and Haskins can go in basically any order from 2-4. Grier’s interceptions against Kansas, Murray’s loss to Texas, and Haskins’ issues throwing downfield against Penn State all worked against them. Still, I’ll give Haskins a minor edge here since he bounced: 1. He still threw for three scored and 270 yards in a win against the Nittany Lions, and 2. He annihilated a pretty solid Indiana defense, going 33-for-44 with 455 yards, six touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions.
1. Tua Tagovailoa (Last Week: 1)
God, Tua is so good. He’s still not being asked to throw it a ton, mostly because Alabama is just running it up on opponents and he’s leaving games early. For example, against Arkansas, Tagovailoa went 10-for-13 for 334 yards with four scores. This included exactly one second half drive. To further illustrate how good he’s been: Baker Mayfield set the NCAA record for passer rating in a season last year at a 198.9. Murray is on pace to brake that with a passer rating of 227.8. However, it doesn’t matter, because Tagovailoa’s passer rating on the year is 258.4. Come on.
