The biggest name in college football heading into this season was Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, and for good reason: It’s not every day that a true freshman quarterback is throw into the national title game at halftime and wins the dang thing on a walk-off touchdown throw. Sure, Tagovailoa made some mistakes during the game — the play before he found DeVonta Smith for the game winner, he was sacked for a loss of 15 yards — but he played well on the whole, and again, came in as a sub and won a national title in overtime.
However, anyone saying Tagovailoa was the Heisman favorite or a frontrunner or anything like that before the year started was a bit premature. This is because it presupposed two things:
1. Tagovailoa was going to be as good now that there is tape on what he’d do against defenses with NFL-caliber talent, and …
2. Nick Saban was going to let Tagovailoa start and be Tua Tagovailoa.
The first thing is kind of easy to understand — any element of surprise to Tagovailoa’s game is now out the window, although that takes away from the fact that he was still really good in the title game. Plus, you know, he plays quarterback for Alabama, so he is surrounded by a collection of the best talent the sport has to offer. He is throwing to four- and five-star players, and is getting blocked by four- and five-star players, because the Crimson Tide are the college football manifestation of death, and there is nothing any mortal can do to stave off the inevitability that is death Alabama winning.
The thing with quarterbacks and Alabama, though, is that Saban has never really had someone like Tagovailoa. Sure, he’s had plenty of guys who could throw and run, but the thing with Saban is he understands that the Crimson Tide are inherently better than everyone else. It has led to him embracing conservatism from his quarterbacks — Alabama has always preferred smart quarterback play over everything else, someone who can give the ball to running backs and make high-percentage throws and ride that wave to winning games.
Tagovailoa represents a departure from that, as he has shown a willingness to take those risks. He’ll dance around and extend plays, looking for the home run ball over the pass to a tight end that goes for seven yards on second-and-six. He’ll try to make guys miss when he tucks and runs instead of sliding once he gets past the sticks. He’ll do this.
https://twitter.com/CollegeT0wn/status/1036046866998349825
That’s a terrible idea! He’s just chucking it up to Jerry Jeudy, who was able to get open after the ball was thrown and reel it in. But it worked, and it led to a touchdown, and Alabama scored a zillion more touchdowns in the game.
I have some concerns about Tagovailoa, namely what’s going to happen when he tries to produce these moments of magic against defenses that are good at keeping that kind of thing from happening. But for now, Tagovailoa is the man in Tuscaloosa, and as long as he’s the team’s QB1 and not splitting time with the underrated Jalen Hurts, he’s going to steal the show on a weekly basis. As for whether that means he’s on our weekly Heisman ballot, well, read ahead to find out.
Falling off this week:
Bryce Love (Last Week: 2): Had 18 carries for 29 yards in Stanford’s 31-10 win over San Diego State. Not the end of the world, but still, not great.
Khalil Tate (Last Week: 1): Didn’t get anything going on the ground (eight carries, 14 yards, one touchdown) and wasn’t able to do much in the air (17-for-34, 197 yards, one touchdown). It didn’t help that the Wildcats lost to BYU at home, 28-23, either.
5. Trace McSorley, QB, Penn State (Last Week: 3)
McSorley didn’t play poorly in the Nittany Lions’ thrilling overtime win over Appalachian State, although it took him a while to get going against the Mountaineer defense. His numbers were fine — 21-for-36, 230 yards, one touchdown through the air and 12 carries for 53 yards and two scores on the ground — but the big thing was McSorley managed to orchestrate a game-tying drive on the final possession that ended with him throwing for a touchdown.
To be clear, McSorley is hanging on by a thread to the final spot, and if Penn State loses to Pitt this weekend at Heinz Field, it might be a death knell to his Heisman hopes barring a torrid run of form in conference play. As we mentioned last week, his Heisman campaign requires the Nittany Lions to win the Big Ten, and if they can’t beat the Panthers on the road (even in a hostile environment under the lights), it doesn’t bode well for when, say, Ohio State or Wisconsin are on the other side of the ball in a few weeks.
4. Ed Oliver, DT, Houston (Last Week: 5)
Man, having to block Oliver seems like it really, really sucks, no? I imagine there are offensive linemen in the NFL that would have trouble keeping him out of their backfield, so heading into this past week, it seemed a bit unfair that some dudes on Rice would have to handle this daunting task.
Lo and behold, Oliver went out and put some dudes on blast. He had an insane 13 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss against the Owls, a game which saw the Cougars come out on top, 45-27. It must be stressed that it would take something completely astounding for Oliver to win the Heisman, but there’s a good chance he’s on this list every week.
3. Mike Weber, RB, Ohio State (Last Week: NR)
Ohio State’s running back corps was expected to be dangerous this year, especially as the team was breaking in a new quarterback in Dwayne Haskins. Still, the back everyone thought was going to break out was J.K. Dobbins, who looked like a star as a freshman with the potential to become a superstar this year.
Dobbins was fine in Ohio State’s 77-31 drubbing of Oregon State, but the real star was Weber, who has been in Columbus for seemingly forever and went off against the Beavers. Weber toted the rock 20 times for 186 yards with three touchdowns, and added a score on a three-yard receiving touchdown. Now, Oregon State isn’t exactly [insert name of good Big Ten team here], but this is the kind of performance Weber could conceivably build on as the season goes along. It’s possible Dobbins is the featured back going forward and is on this list come November in some capacity, but at this wholly irrelevant point in the season, we’ll give the Buckeyes’ more veteran back some love.
2. Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama (Last Week: NR)
We touched on my concerns earlier, but hoo boy, when Tua’s cooking, there may not be a more exciting player in college football. He is such a brash (in a good way!) player that no moment will ever be too big for him, and if Nick Saban is going to let the Tide’s offense turn it up to 11, it’s possible that Tagovailoa can be the best quarterback Alabama has had during its current run. Tagovailoa played well in Alabama’s 51-14 win over Louisville, even producing some major highlights, such as his pitch-and-catch with Jeudy for the team’s first score of the game.
In all, Tagovailoa went 12-for-16 for 227 yards and two touchdowns through the air with another touchdown on the ground. Who knows what is going through Saban’s head on any given day, but if he rides Tagovailoa all season and resists whatever urge pops up to play Hurts, the Crimson Tide’s sophomore gunslinger will be a Heisman contender.
1. Will Grier, QB, West Virginia (Last Week: 3)
Here’s what we wrote last week about Grier:
Looking at the Mountaineer schedule, Grier has the chance to put up some crazy numbers through the first eight weeks of the year. West Virginia avoids ranked teams through October, and while trips to NC State and Iowa State are tricky, the path to Grier leading an 8-0 or 7-1 WVU squad into November isn’t the craziest thought in the world.
In the Mountaineers’ opening game of the year, Grier put up some of those crazy numbers: 25-for-34 for 429 yards, five touchdowns, and zero interceptions as West Virginia stomped Tennessee, 40-14. Grier is going to do whatever he wants against Youngstown State this week, and by the dust settles, he might just be the national leader in passing yards per game and passing touchdowns for Dana Holgorsen’s squad.
Again, everything with Grier’s Heisman campaign comes down to what he does in November, but as he showed against the Vols, he’s going to put up numbers and build up a cushion before his Heisman moment comes. Still, there’s a long way to go.
