Nothing startling happened in the Heisman race this week. The top four remain the same while Braxton Miller makes a big comeback. But is it already too late for him?
The race did get tighter at the top. Johnny Manziel had a good game with 2 touchdown passes and decent passing and rushing production in an A&M win. Tajh Boyd did even better with 3 TD passes and 1 rushing touchdown, topping 300 yards through the air. But that was against Wake Forest in a blowout so it evens out. For the season Manziel has bulkier stats and stays on top. Boyd's edge right now is his lack of turnovers and, most importantly, Clemson's undefeated status. If it's close at the end that will probably be the difference-maker.
While Boyd would get a huge boost from going undefeated, for the #3 and #4 quarterbacks it's probably necessary if they want to have any hope of winning. Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois wouldn't survive a loss, and it would probably consign Teddy Bridgewater to NY-at-best status, too. Lynch's team finally had a comfortable win against Purdue (55-24) and the QB had 4 total touchdowns. Bridgewater was idle.
Braxton Miller also needs his team to go undefeated, now that he's missed several games and is way behind in stats. He essentially doubled his season's stats against Wisconsin, throwing 4 touchdown passes and rushing for 83 yards. His comeback in the big 31-24 win was important; while Kenny Guiton had great stats while Miller was out, he didn't do it against ranked teams. Miller had a great moment on the last play of the 1st half on a 4th and 7 when he hit Corey Brown for a 40-yard touchdown as time expired; it ended up being the difference in the game. Miller moves back up to #5, but he's got a mountain of stats to scale before he gets in the real thick of the race.
- Johnny Manziel, QB Texas A&M (4-1; beat Arkansas 45-33)
LW: 23-30 76.7% 261yd 2TD 0int 9rsh 59yd 6.6av 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 100-140 71.4% 1489yd 14TD 4int 48rsh 314yd 6.5av 3TD 0fmb - Tajh Boyd, QB Clemson (4-0; beat Wake Forest 56-7)
LW: 17-24 70.8% 311yd 3TD 0int 17rsh 69yd 4.1av 1TD 0fmb
TOT: 73-114 62.2% 994yd 9TD 0int 49rsh 159yd 3.2av 4TD 0fmb - Jordan Lynch, QB N. Illinois (4-0; beat Purdue 55-24)
LW: 18-25 72.0% 207yd 3TD 0int 9rsh 35yd 3.9yd 1TD 0fmb
TOT: 81-125 64.9% 869yd 10TD 2int 77rsh 439yd 5.7av 3TD 1fmb - Teddy Bridgewater, QB Louisville (4-0; no game last week)
LW: DNP; no game last week
TOT: 79-110 71.8% 1214yd 14TD 1int 12rsh 36yd 3.0av 0TD 0fmb - [up 1] Braxton Miller, QB Ohio State (5-0; beat Wisconsin 31-24)
LW: 17-25 68.0% 198yd 4TD 0int 22rsh 83yd 3.8av 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 34-49 69.4% 406yd 6TD 1int 40rsh 165yd 4.1av 0TD 0fmb - [up 1] Marcus Mariota, QB Oregon (4-0; beat Cal 55-16)
LW: 11-25 44.0% 114yd 2TD 0int 6rsh 33yd 5.5av 1TD 0fmb
TOT: 60-107 56.1% 1003yd 9TD 0int 21rsh 295yd 14av 5TD 0fmb - [dn 2] Marqise Lee, WR USC (3-2; lost to Arizona State 62-41)
LW: 7rec 92yd 0TD 0fmb 0rsh 0yd 0.0av 0fmb 54retYd 0TD 0fmb
TOT: 30rec 385yd 1TD 0fmb 5rsh 1yd 0.2av 0fmb 145retYd 0TD 1fmb - [new] Aaron Murray, QB Georgia (3-1; beat LSU 44-41)
LW: 20-34 58.8% 298yd 4TD 1int 3rsh 9yd 3.0av 1TD 0fmb
TOT: 79-116 68.1% 1338yd 11TD 3int 21rsh 20yd 1.0av 3TD 1fmb - [dn 1] Melvin Gordon, RB Wisconsin (3-2; lost to Ohio State 31-24)
LW: 15rsh 74yd 4.9av 0TD 0fmb; 0rec 0yd 0TD; 0retYd
TOT: 68rsh 698yd 10.3av 7TD 0fmb; 0rec 0yd 0TD; 0retYd - [dn 1] Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina (3-1; beat UCF 28-25)
LW: 2 tackles 0 sacks + 0 tfl 0 pbu 0 int 0 ffmb 0 kBlock
TOT: 12 tackles 2 sacks + 1 tfl 0 pbu 0 int 1 ffmb 0 kBlock
Also moving up a spot is Oregon's Marcus Mariota, who will continue to climb as long as Oregon keeps winning and he stays productive. His completion percentage is a bit soft at 56%, and he completed just 44% against Cal in a driving rain. His numbers were fairly low this weekend but he had 3 touchdowns and for the year his stats are excellent; his 15:0 TD:TO ratio even beats Boyd's 14:0, but Oregon has yet to play an important game.
Marqise Lee had a game of highs and lows, ending on the latter. He had one of his better games with 92 receiving yards, putting him #1 on USC's all-time list. But he had no touchdown catches again, his team lost, his coach was fired, and to add injury to insult, he was injured and may miss games. With just 1 touchdown catch on the year after 5 games and probable reduced effectiveness going forward, it's safe to say Lee is unlikely to be a factor in this year's race. It's been a while since his name was mentioned as a possible winner, but now he would need a superhuman final 8 games (USC has a 13-game schedule) just to make it to New York.
Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon had 74 yards against Ohio State in a losing effort. While averaging around 5 yards per carry against the Buckeyes is nothing shameful, a Heisman winner needs to shine in big games, not have mediocre performances in close contests. He's still averaging 10 yards per carry (as he did all last season) so he could recover, but this game will be used against him if he gets back into the fray.
Finally as usual we have Jadeveon Clowney at the bottom, falling another spot to #10. Clowney had just 2 tackles against Central Florida, and ranks 10th on the team in that stats. Defensive linemen don't normally lead the team in tackles but still, that underscores how far his candidacy has slipped. At this rate, once someone else comes along from his side of the ball he won't even be the leading token defensive candidate.
New candidate: QB, RB, WR, defense?
It was tough picking someone to add this week. Since Gordon slipped, do we need a new running back? Or a receiver to replace Lee, or another defensive player since Clowney is going nowhere? There really isn't another prominent defensive candidate at this point, so do we just add yet another quarterback?
If so, Aaron Murray of Georgia won the big game last week and did it in style, throwing 4 TD passes and beating LSU 44-41. Murray's only drawback is his first game against Clemson, where he threw no touchdown passes and had an interception.
Looking at receivers, Oregon State's Brandin Cooks has amazing stats, averaging over 10 catches and 150 yards per game, and he won a duel against Colorado's Paul Richardson last week. The Beavers are 4-1 but had a bad loss to FCS Eastern Washington in the opener. Either Cooks or QB Sean Mannion, or both, will get into the act if they win a few tough Pac-12 games.
At running back, Bishop Sankey of Washington is now the nation's leader, averaging over 150 yards per game. The Huskies face Washington next and a big game there would make him a shoo-in for consideration. But if he sinks against Stanford like Gordon did against Ohio State, he takes too big of a hit. In other words, this time we're going to make the running back earn it, and if he does well against the Cardinal in a win, he'll be in.
So we're going to yield to popular opinion and add Aaron Murray. We don't like to add playerswith a loss this early—especially quarterbacks—when there are so many undefeated teams to choose from, but Georgia is a special case, having played three top 10 teams and gone 2-1. Note that he has to be considered well below Tajh Boyd, whose Clemson team beat him head to head. That game will be a big comparison point if the two are in New York together come December.
Comments