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A lot happened this past week in college football, and with so many top teams losing it's only natural that the Heisman race would be shaken up a bit, too.
The big game was Clemson vs. Florida State; Tajh Boyd was set to take over our top spot but the Tigers were rocked 51-14 by the Seminoles. Boyd completed fewer than 50% of his attempts and had two interceptions and a fumble, and he falls a spot to #3 instead of taking the lead. His chances of winning took a huge hit; in the end most of the candidates will have a loss, but few will be as decisive as his. It also means Clemson is very unlikely to get an extra game in the ACC championship.
Jameis Winston, on the other hand, got a huge boost, up three spots to #5. The freshman was very productive with 444 yards and 4 total TDs with just one interception; he now has a 23:3 TD:TO ratio and his team is undefeated and #2 in the first BCS standings. That may be his one drawback—is he the key to the team's success? Or is it staunch defense and the rest of his talented teammates? There's no doubt Winston has huge upside and winning the head-to-head with Boyd will keep moving him up as long as he doesn't stumble. We'll move him higher as he continues to prove himself and avoid the bad loss that FSU has had lately against overmatched opponents, like N.C. State next week.
So due to Boyd's loss Johnny Manziel was in position to hold onto the top spot again, and with seconds left he nearly saved the day again for the Aggies, but he couldn't do it, getting sacked on fourth down in the red zone and losing to Auburn 45-41. Manziel was also intercepted twice and injured during the game. He falls to 2nd place, and now has two losses on the year. Note that he won the trophy last year with two losses but they occurred before he was a serious candidate so those were basically ignored (that's Heisman logic for you) but this year they're significant, as Alabama would have to lose 3 games for A&M to make the SEC title game to give him an extra game on the final week.
Instead of Boyd or Manziel it's Marcus Mariota of Oregon who takes over our top spot, moving up from #3. We'd resisted moving him up too fast since Oregon's powerful team and offensive design almost guarantees the Duck starter a great year. Every quarterback who plays for Oregon has great success and then look at what happened to Dennis Dixon (signed recently as an NFL backup, has played 4 games in his career), Jeremiah Masoli (plays in the CFL), and Darron Thomas (Arena football). Mariota is probably the best of the bunch (at least since Dixon) but would Oregon have fared any worse with another QB at the helm? Mariota's stats are hard to ignore, though, as he now has 19 TD passes and 9 rushing TDs—28 total—and has not been intercepted yet. He loses his "0" in turnovers however, with 2 fumbles against Washington State. But 28:2 is pretty damn good and we seem to be the only ones who seem to care about and keep track of fumbles lost by a candidate. If Oregon keeps winning he'll be very hard to pass by anyone who has a loss.
While all this was going on, Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois quietly had 316 rushing yards. A few weeks ago his running back stole the limelight with a big game, but Lynch now holds the NCAA record for rushing yards by a quarterback. No one else is even following him but we had him #5 and he moves up to #4 this week. Next week he'll pass 1,500 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing and as his stats go up, he'll start to get attention like last year. The problem is still the Huskies' easy schedule which makes his accomplishments a bit less impressive, but he could be a finalist if he keeps putting up Barry Sanders numbers.
SportsRatings Heisman Rankings, week 8:
- [up 2] Marcus Mariota, QB Oregon (7-0; beat Washington State 62-34)
LW: 23-32 71.9% 327yd 2TD 0int 8rsh 67yd 8.4av 1TD 2fmb
TOT: 123-197 62.4% 2051yd 19TD 0int 49rsh 493yd 10av 9TD 2fmb - [dn 1] Johnny Manziel, QB Texas A&M (5-2; lost to Auburn 45-41)
LW: 28-38 73.7% 454yd 4TD 2int 18rsh 48yd 2.7av 1TD
TOT: 159-217 73.7% 2289yd 18TD 7int 85rsh 486yd 5.7av 6TD 1fmb - [dn 1] Tajh Boyd, QB Clemson (6-1; lost to FSU 51-14)
LW: 17-37 45.9% 156yd 1TD 2int 14rsh 8yd 0.6av 0TD 1fmb
TOT: 140-222 63.1% 1939yd 16TD 4int 80rsh 195yd 2.4av 5TD 1fmb - [up 1] Jordan Lynch, QB N. Illinois (7-0; beat Central Michigan 38-17)
LW: 20-30 66.7% 155yd 1TD 1int 32rsh 316yd 9.9av 3TD 0fmb
TOT: 188-225 61.3% 1488yd 14TD 5int 138rsh 932yd 6.8av 7TD 1fmb - [up 3] Jameis Winston, QB Florida State (6-0; beat Clemson 51-14)
LW: 22-34 64.7% 444yd 3TD 1int 7rsh 2yd 0.3av 1TD 0fmb
TOT: 112-157 71.3% 1885yd 20TD 3int 43rsh 137yd 3.2av 3TD 0fmb - [dn 2] Teddy Bridgewater, QB Louisville (6-1; lost to UCF 28-25)
LW: 29-38 76.3% 341yd 2TD 0int 3rsh -5yd -2av 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 154-214 72.0% 2213yd 20TD 2int 25rsh 44yd 1.8av 0TD 1fmb - Braxton Miller, QB Ohio State (7-0; beat Iowa 34-24)
LW: 22-27 81.5% 222yd 2TD 0int 18rsh 102yd 5.7av 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 71-102 69.6% 831yd 8TD 2int 75rsh 335yd 4.5av 0TD 2fmb - [up 2] Brandin Cooks, WR Oregon St (6-1; beat Cal 49-17)
LW: 13rec 232yd 1TD 0fmb; 2rsh 10yd 5.0av 1TD 0fmb; -1retYd 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 76rec 1176yd 12TD 0fmb; 18rsh 116yd 6.4av 2TD 0fmb; -3retYd 0TD 1fmb - Melvin Gordon, RB Wisconsin (5-2; beat Illinois 56-32)
LW: 17rsh 143yd 8.4av 3TD 0fmb; 0rec 0yd 0TD; 0retYd 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 107rsh 1012yd 9.5av 11TD 0fmb; 1rec 5yd 0TD; 0retYd 0TD 0fmb - [dn 4] Aaron Murray, QB Georgia (4-3; lost to Vanderbilt 31-27)
LW: 16-28 57.1% 114yd 0TD 1int 4rsh 10yd 2.5av 2TD 0fmb
TOT: 139-224 62.1% 1938yd 17TD 6int 32rsh 88yd 2.8av 5TD 2fmb - [new] Sean Mannion, QB Oregon St (6-1; beat Cal 49-17)
LW: 35-45 77.8% 481yd 4TD 0int 2rsh -19yd -10av 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 229-334 68.6% 2992yd 29TD 3int 16rsh -92yd -6av 0TD 2fmb - Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina (5-2; lost to Tennessee 23-21)
LW: 5 tackles 0 sacks + 2.5 tfl 0 pbu 0 int 0 ffmb 0 blocked kicks
TOT: 19 tackles 2 sacks + 3.5 tfl 0 pbu 0 int 1 ffmb 0 blocked kicks - [dn 2] Marqise Lee, WR USC (4-3; lost to Notre Dame 14-10)
LW: 2rec 18yd 0TD 0fmb; 0rsh 0yd 0.0av 0TD 0fmb; 0retYd 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 32rec 403yd 1TD 0fmb; 5rsh 1yd 0.2av 0TD 0fmb; 145retYd 0TD 1fmb
Teddy Bridgewater, last week's #4, fell two spots after his Louisville team lost to Central Florida. Bridgewater didn't play poorly and even led them on a late drive to take the lead, but winning is everything when it comes to the Heisman, especially for a candidate with a relatively easy schedule. Bridgewater could play himself back into the New York group but getting back into real contention will take a lot of the front-runners collapsing.
Braxon Miller had a good game against Iowa, running for over 100 yards and completing 81% in a comeback win, but as we said next week he needs 350 yards a game to get back into it after missing so much time. The stats just aren't there; he holds at #7.
Leaping up 2 spots to #8 is Brandin Cooks of Oregon State, the nation's leading receiver by far at 168 yards per game. He had 232 yards and two touchdowns (one on a running play), accounting for nearly half the team's receiving yards against Washington State. In our view he's the main cog in the Beaver offense.
Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin also had a great game and remains the top running back at #9. Gordon rushed for 143 yards against Illinois with three touchdowns, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season with either 5 or 6 games to go. Getting that sixth game will be critical for Gordon's chance to get to New York, and if he wants to be a real contender he needs games like this or better the rest of the way.
With all the bad games suffered by the contenders none compares to Aaron Murray's collapse vs. Vanderbilt. Just a few weeks ago some were putting him among the very top contenders, but he never made our top 5. Two losses in a row have pretty much put him on ice and he falls 4 spots to #10. He had just 114 passing yards, 0 TDs, and an interception in the loss to Vanderbilt; though he ran for 2 scores, a better performance in the 31-27 loss could have made it a win for sure, and now the Bulldogs are 4-3 with no hope of making the SEC title game.
This week we bring in a second Oregon State player, unusual for a team with a loss but Sean Mannion's passing numbers can't be ignored. He's almost at 3,000 yards for the season already with 29 TDs. He has three picks and two fumbles so his 29:5 ratio is not as great as some are touting, but again we are the only ones who track fumbles so most people will see 29:3. He is rather one-dimensional in this age where quarterbacks are doubling as running backs, and Oregon State's offense is also one-dimensional; his candidacy is similar to Colt Brennan's at Hawaii a few years back, where Brennan put up huge numbers in a passing-only offense against an easy schedule. Mannion hasn't been tested by a good defense yet but if he shines next week against Stanford he will pass a big test and may even become our top candidate from his own team.
Jadeveon Clowney finally had a good game for South Carolina, even as his team lost. Clowney recorded 2.5 tackles for loss out of his 5 stops, which would be 60 tackles and 30 tfl for a full season. He holds at #12 and it doesn't look like there's another defensive player who will get into the mix (Vic Beasley of Clemson was a possibility that probably ended with the FSU game; Anthony Barr of UCLA's hopes probably were stopped by Stanford). Also among the once-touted is Marquise Lee who had 18 receiving yards against Notre Dame. He falls two spots to #13 and looks like the first cut.
Speaking of the first cut, we have just two more slots to fill and right now it's looking like they will both be quarterbacks. Bryce Petty of Baylor has a very high passer rating and we'll probably add him either next week or the week after. A.J. McCarron of Alabama has been consistenly good and the top team deserves a candidate. Since other possibilities (Brett Hundley, Zack Mettenberger, Bishop Sankey) fell by the wayside, unless someone else has a huge game to change our mind, Petty and McCarron will probably round out the list of 15 before we start chopping.
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