Without trying to go too fourth grade research paper on you, the Heisman Trophy has a pretty cut-and-dry mission: “The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. The winners of the trophy epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard work.”
Now, without trying to go too curmudgeonly on all of you, everyone knows this hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years. The Heisman Trophy is an award for the college football player who generates the most excitement over the course of a season, and usually, that means it’s going to be won by a quarterback. You know the stats by now: Since 2015, 15 of the 18 Heisman winners have been quarterbacks, with the remaining three either being running backs in a year where there was no perceived great quarterback (Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry), or Reggie Bush (Reggie Bush).
This also means that it’s nearly impossible to win the award as a defensive player, which stinks, because the best player in college football is Houston defensive lineman Ed Oliver. There are a ton of great defensive linemen this season, but no one can really touch Oliver, who can do just about anything. Here, watch him cook.
You should not be able to mix being that fast with being that strong, and yet Oliver does that as well as anyone we’ve seen at the position. Sure, he gets to go up against Group of 5 competition, but throughout his career, when he’s been on the field against Power 5 squads, he’s done the job, too — his first game in college was against Oklahoma in which he recorded seven tackles and sacked Baker Mayfield twice in a win.
The gospel of Ed Oliver cannot be spread enough, because he likely has no chance at winning the Heisman despite being the best player in the sport. It’s kind of like Ndamukong Suh not winning in 2009 (he should retroactively be given the Heisman, with all due respect to Ingram), but alas, this is just how football works.
The good news is I feel a moral obligation to keep him on this list every week as long as he plays. As for how the rest of it shakes out, well, read on.
Falling off this week:
Trace McSorley (Last Week: 5): It’s very possible McSorley makes it back into the top-5 in the coming weeks, but having to play in a monsoon against Pitt last week hurt his passing numbers. He did alright in the Nittany Lions’ 51-6 win — he was responsible for three touchdowns — but his yardage and accuracy numbers weren’t quite there. We’ll check back in with him in a few weeks.
Mike Weber (Last Week: 3): Ohio State decided to let both of their quarterbacks (Dwayne Haskins and Tate Martell) and their other stud running back (J.K. Dobbins) cook in their 52-3 win against Rutgers. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
5. Cole McDonald (Last Week: NR)
Remember those years where Hawaii football was total mindless fun, featuring quarterbacks like Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan slinging the ball all over the place for the silliest passing numbers you’ve ever seen? Well, meet Cole McDonald, the latest signal caller in that mold. He’s delightful.
McDonald has played three games thus far, which has helped propel him to the top of FBS in passing yards (1,165) and touchdowns (13). He’s also completed 70.3 percent of his attempts and has yet to throw a pick. He’s a ton of fun, and top it off, the Rainbow Warriors are 3-0 on the season.
Their schedule isn’t especially tough — trips to BYU and San Diego State will be challenging, and if they can navigate their division, they’ll probably run into the Murder Smurfs in the Mountain West title game. McDonald also probably isn’t winning the Heisman, because quarterbacks from Hawaii don’t win the Heisman. This does not make him any less delightful. Please watch Hawaii play football.
4. Ed Oliver (Last Week: 4)
Oliver had eight tackles against Arizona this week. He plays Texas Tech next week. Someone on Texas Tech is going to get messed up, because this is what Ed Oliver does to people. Blocking him still sucks.
3. Jonathan Taylor (Last Week: NR)
Wisconsin started the season doing Wisconsin stuff — smothering opponents, running the dang ball, that sort of stuff. As is the case when this happens, the Badgers’ running back put up some silly numbers, and through two weeks, the beneficiary of that has been sophomore Jonathan Taylor.
There weren’t many freshmen more impressive than Taylor last year, as he ran the ball 299 times for 1,977 yards and 13 scores for the Badgers. He’s off to a great start this year, as his 398 rushing yards are tops in the nation while his five rushing touchdowns are tied for the best in America. It’s early, which cannot be stressed enough, so anything can happen, but it’s a safe bet that Taylor is going to continue to rack up rushing yards and scores as Wisconsin navigates its schedule.
Because it’s Wisconsin, navigating the Big Ten West shouldn’t be too difficult, even with a night game at Iowa looming on the horizon. Trips to Michigan and Penn State are a brutal draw, but if the Badgers can survive all of those and Taylor can keep racking up yards, he’s at the bare minimum going to be a Heisman finalist.
t-1. Will Grier/Tua Tagovailoa (Last Week: 1/2)
I am a gigantic coward and don’t want to have to decide between Grier and Tagovailoa yet. I love them both and they’re both hilariously fun — Grier lets the pigskin fly with aplomb and puts up crazy numbers every week, Tagovailoa is a delight who does whatever he feels like and it always works because he plays for Alabama.
This past week, Grier torched Youngstown State (21-for-26, 332 yards, four touchdowns, one interception) while Tagovailoa did whatever he wanted against Arkansas State (13-for-19, 228 yards, four touchdowns). The former is off this week after the Mountaineers’ game against NC State needed to get canceled, while Tagovailoa is going on the road to hit the over against Ole Miss.
The Rebels’ defense isn’t great, and he might put up some absolutely stupid numbers, but it’ll be interesting to watch him have to play a game on the road nonetheless. If he has a big game, who knows? Maybe he has sole ownership of No. 1 next week.
