Heisman Race, week 6: Boyd, Bridgewater, Mariota have strong weekends

After somewhat of a slow start, solid performances for the Heisman front-runners are becoming commonplace as we get into the heart of the season, meaning those who don't produce can get left behind. This week there is quite a bit of a shuffle as those who didn't have the best of games get passed up.

Boyd wipes out Syracuse, but still isn't quite #1

Tajh Boyd had a 5-touchdown passing performance against Syracuse so he now matches Johnny Manziel's passing TD total and has one more rushing touchdown. His yardage is almost exactly the same through the air. Only his completion percentage and rushing totals lag Manziel, and he has two fewer interceptions. We're almost ready to move him ahead of last year's winner but not quite; we can't do it on a game where Boyd was intercepted twice. This performance puts them almost even, but tie still goes to the defending champ. If Clemson beats Florida State in two weeks Boyd will be on top for sure.

Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville moves up a spot after a strong showing vs. Temple, with 348 yards, 2 touchdowns and no turnovers. He completed 71% and is at a 72% clip for the year. There is a huge gap between #2 Boyd and #3 Bridgewater, however; the latter doesn't run the ball much, and if you don't do that you're going to need Sam Bradford-like numbers. And while we wait for Boyd's next big game to pass judgement on him, Bridgewater doesn't really have any big games this year at all. It will take some major effort for Bridgewater to finish higher than he is right now.

Marcus Mariota continues to impress and moves up 2 spots to #4. He accounted for 7 touchdowns against Colorado. So far his opposition isn't much better than Bridgewater's, but it will be and it will be in those cases where he is judged the most. The only major advantages Bridgewater has over Mariota are: 1) completion percentage (72% to 59%) and the fact that, without Bridgewater, Louisville would probably be a much less successful team; it's hard to say the same about Mariota and the Oregon football machine. Mariota now has 21 total touchdowns, and 0 total turnovers, the best of any of the candidates.

Northern Illinois' Jordan Lynch falls a couple of spots as the others surge. The most productive runner of the duel-threat QBs, his passing numbers are generally less impressive. And in his latest game he threw as many picks (2) as he did touchdowns. He shares a problem with Bridgewater (poor competition) and in the win over Kent State he can't claim to be the reason they won the game—that was running back Cameron Stingely who had 266 yards. Darkhorse candidates like Lynch need to make it clear they are the reason their team is having success; generally Lynch can claim that and if he can't, he suffers. He'll need to post bigger numbers now that the MAC season has started.

1. Johnny Manziel, QB Texas A&M (4-1; no game last week)
   LW:  DNP; no game last week
   TOT: 100-140 71.4% 1489yd 14TD 4int 48rsh 314yd 6.5av 3TD 0fmb
2. Tajh Boyd, QB Clemson (5-0; beat Syracuse 49-14)
   LW:   20-27  74.1%  455yd  5TD 2int  8rsh  -5yd -.6av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT:  93-141 66.0% 1449yd 14TD 2int 57rsh 154yd 2.7av 4TD 0fmb
3. [up 1] Teddy Bridgewater, QB Louisville (5-0; beat Temple 30-7)
   LW:   25-35  71.4%  348yd  2TD 0int  3rsh   2yd 0.7av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 104-145 71.7% 1562yd 16TD 1int 15rsh  38yd 2.5av 0TD 0fmb
4. [up 2] Marcus Mariota, QB Oregon (5-0; beat Colorado 57-16)
   LW:   16-27  59.3%  355yd  5TD 0int  7rsh  43yd 6.1av 2TD 0fmb
   TOT:  76-134 56.7% 1358yd 14TD 0int 28rsh 338yd  12av 7TD 0fmb
5. [dn 2] Jordan Lynch, QB N. Illinois (5-0; beat Kent State 38-24)
   LW:   21-35  60.0%  244yd  2TD 2int 14rsh  94yd 6.7av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 102-160 63.8% 1113yd 12TD 4int 91rsh 533yd 5.9av 3TD 1fmb
6. [up 2] Aaron Murray, QB Georgia (4-1; beat Tennessee 34-31 OT)
   LW:   19-35  54.3%  196yd  3TD 0int  3rsh  53yd  18av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT:  98-151 64.9% 1534yd 14TD 3int 24rsh  73yd 3.0av 3TD 1fmb
7. [dn 2] Braxton Miller, QB Ohio State (6-0; beat Northwestern 40-30)
   LW:   15-28  57.7%  203yd  0TD 1int 17rsh  68yd 4.0av 0TD 2fmb
   TOT:  49-75  65.3%  609yd  6TD 2int 57rsh 233yd 4.1av 0TD 2fmb
8. [dn 1] Marqise Lee, WR USC (3-2; no game last week)
   LW:  DNP; no game last week
   TOT: 30rec 385yd 1TD 0fmb 5rsh  1yd 0.2av 0fmb 145retYd 0TD 1fmb
9. [new] Jameis Winston, QB Florida State (5-0; beat Maryland 63-0)
   LW:   23-32  71.9%  393yd  5TD 0int  7rsh  24yd 3.4av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT:  90-123 73.2% 1441yd 17TD 2int 36rsh 135yd 3.8av 2TD 0fmb
10. [dn 1] Melvin Gordon, RB Wisconsin (3-2; no game last week)
    LW:  DNP; no game last week
    TOT: 68rsh 698yd 10.3av 7TD 0fmb; 0rec 0yd 0TD; 0retYd
11. [dn 1] Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina (4-1; beat Kentucky 35-28)
    LW:  DNP; injury
    TOT: 12 tackles 2 sacks + 1 tfl 0 pbu 0 int 1 ffmb 0 kBlock

Aaron Murray had an interesting game vs. Tennessee. It appeared Georgia might lose that game until Murray pulled out another winning drive at the end—at the time, a tying drive. That saved him from dropping off the face of the earth here, and when Tennessee fumbled away the game in overtime that made Murray a "clutch winner" who pulled off another miracle win. It helped him more than his pedestrian stats for the game would suggest, though for the year he's on track with the others. He even ran for over 50 yards, essentially tripling his season's production in just 3 carries. He moves up 2 to #6.

Braxton Miller, on the other hand, had a disastrous game he couldn't afford. After missing several games he was barely hanging on to the prospect of going to New York, but if Ohio State had emerged the only undefeated team he still had a shot at the trophy—but he had to be extraordinary. Even though Ohio State beat a ranked team in Northwestern, it was almost despite Miller rather than due to him. Carlos Hyde's 168 yards did most of the work while Miller threw an interception and fumbled the ball away twice. He shockingly overthrew a wide-open receiver in the end zone and an ill-advised shovel-pass could have easily cost them the game (it fell harmlessly "incomplete" though everyone around thought he'd fumbled). All of that, combined with his lack of stats for a 6-0 team, drops him two spots to #7, with little chance to get back into the upper echelons.

Marqise Lee didn't have a game this week and might not play next week. Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon was idle, too, one week after losing to Ohio State. And Jadeveon Clowney missed the Kentucky game with injured ribs, with coach Steve Spurrier practically questioning his committment to the team. All of these fall a spot into the also-ran area, with only Gordon having enough stats for a practical chance to move in the upward direction in the futute.

But Jameis Winston pops into the rankings with a bang. The FSU freshman QB had a field day against Maryland in a 63-0 romp. For now he hasn't done anything the rest of the field hasn't so he starts relatively low, but his stats are as strong as anyone's; should FSU beat Clemson two weeks from now with Winston leading the way, he could be among the front-runners in short order.