Heisman Race week 9: Will Jordan Lynch get in the picture?

No major surprise this week in the Heisman world; the big news is probably Sean Mannion and Brandin Cooks of Oregon State not having a breakout weekend against Stanford. Other than that everyone pretty much had a good game.

Marcus Mariota remains on top. His performance against UCLA wasn't his best, with just 1 touchdown pass and only 18 rushing yards. We even gave him half-credit for another fumble (bad snap, but it's the QB's job to cover those). He did continue to improve his completion percentage (it was below 60% just a few weeks ago, now 64%) and he guided his team to victory, and now has 20 touchdown passes and no interceptions.

Johnny Manziel was questionable to play last week but he did and got off to a fast start against Vanderbilt, throwing 4 touchdown passes. He added another interception, though (now 8 for the year) and had just 11 rushing yards. Manziel is on track to be a finalist but those two losses will probably keep him from winning, maybe even if the others screw up.

Last week's best game was recorded by Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois, who threw four touchdown passes, ran for a fifth, and caught a 6th. Combined with last week's 316 yard rushing performance, why is it that Lynch isn't on everyone's list? Schedule is a big part of it: last week was Central Michigan, this week was Eastern Michigan. Doing well against two directional MAC schools never impresses the voters much, but he finished in 7th place last year so he should at least be there right now. Only six players in the country have over 1,000 rushing yards currently and Lynch, a quarterback, is one of them. We move him up to #3, but as NIU plays UMass next we'll need to see further fireworks to sustain the lofty position.

Coming up strong is Jameis Winston of Florida State, who led a payback win over NC State last week. He didn't have his best game, completing 16 of 26 attempts and throwing a pick, but he had three first-quarter touchdown tosses to establish the tone. Winston's upside is pretty unlimited as FSU has no losses and Winston no bad games; that should favor him over Manziel, and Lynch is getting no respect. Next week vs. Miami is another potential showcase for him. Can he convince voters he's better than Mariota?

Tajh Boyd of Clemson had a decent game; he was accurate and had over 300 yards. He threw just one touchdown pass and threw an interception, and though Clemson bounced back well from last week's debacle, Jordan Lynch pushed past Boyd and having Boyd and Winston in close proximity we had to put Winston on top, so Boyd ends up falling two spots. If he's going to be a finalist he has to have great games, not just good ones, to erase the memory of the 51-14 beatdown.

1. Marcus Mariota, QB Oregon (8-0; beat UCLA 42-14)
   LW:   21-28  75.0%  230yd  1TD 0int   7rsh   18yd 2.6av 0TD 0.5fmb
   TOT: 144-225 64.0% 2281yd 20TD 0int  56rsh  511yd 9.1av 9TD 2.5fmb
2. Johnny Manziel, QB Texas A&M (6-2; beat Vandy 56-24)
   LW:   25-35  71.4%  305yd  4TD 1int   4rsh   11yd 2.8av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 184-252 73.0% 2594yd 22TD 8int  89rsh  497yd 5.6av 6TD 1fmb
3. [up 1] Jordan Lynch, QB N. Illinois (8-0; beat Eastern Mich 59-20)
   LW:   16-20  80.0%  223yd  4TD 0int  18rsh   99yd 5.5av 1TD 0fmb 1recTD
   TOT: 154-245 62.9% 1711yd 18TD 5int 156rsh 1031yd 6.6av 8TD 1fmb 1recTD
4. [up 1] Jameis Winston, QB Florida State (7-0; beat NC State 49-17)
   LW:   16-26  61.5%  292yd  3TD 1int   1rsh  -11yd -11av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 128-183 69.9% 2177yd 23TD 4int  44rsh  126yd 2.9av 3TD 0fmb
5. [dn 2] Tajh Boyd, QB Clemson (7-1; beat Maryland 40-27)
   LW:   28-41  68.3%  304yd  1TD 1int  13rsh   24yd 1.8av 1TD 0fmb
   TOT: 168-263 63.9% 2243yd 17TD 5int  93rsh  219yd 2.4av 6TD 1fmb
6. Teddy Bridgewater, QB Louisville (7-1; beat South Florida 34-3)
   LW:   25-29  86.2%  344yd  3TD 0int   5rsh  -25yd  -5av 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 179-243 73.7% 2557yd 23TD 2int  30rsh   19yd 0.6av 0TD 1fmb
7. Braxton Miller, QB Ohio State (8-0; beat Penn State 63-14)
   LW:   18-24  75.0%  252yd  3TD 0int 11rsh   68yd  6.2av 2TD 0fmb
   TOT:  71-102 69.6% 1083yd 11TD 2int 86rsh  403yd  4.7av 2TD 2fmb
8. [up 1] Melvin Gordon, RB Wisconsin (5-2; idle)
   LW:  no game
   TOT: 107rsh 1012yd 9.5av 11TD 0fmb; 1rec 5yd 0TD; 0retYd 0TD 0fmb
9. [dn 1] Brandin Cooks, WR Oregon St (6-2; lost to Stanford 20-12)
   LW:   9rec   80yd  1TD 0fmb;  3rsh  18yd 6.0av 0TD 0fmb 74retYd 0TD 0fmb
   TOT: 85rec 1256yd 13TD 0fmb; 21rsh 134yd 6.4av 2TD 0fmb 71retYd 0TD 1fmb
10. [up 1] Sean Mannion, QB Oregon St (6-2; lost to Stanford 20-12)
    LW:   41-57  71.9%  271yd  1TD 0int  9rsh  -60yd -6.7av 0TD 0fmb
    TOT: 270-391 69.1% 3263yd 30TD 3int 25rsh -152yd -5.9av 0TD 2fmb
11. [dn 1] Aaron Murray, QB Georgia (4-3; idle)
    LW:  no game
    TOT: 139-224 62.1% 1938yd 17TD 6int 32rsh   88yd 2.8av 5TD 2fmb
12. [new]  Bryce Petty, QB Baylor (7-0; beat Kansas 59-14)
    LW:   20-32  62.5%  430yd  3TD 0int  4rsh   22yd 5.5av 0TD 0fmb
    TOT: 122-176 69.3% 2453yd 18TD 1int 28rsh   73yd 2.6av 6TD 2fmb
13. [dn 1] Jadeveon Clowney, DE South Carolina (6-2; beat Missouri 27-24ot)
    LW:   5 tackles 0 sacks + 1.0 tfl 1 pbu 0 int 0 ffmb 0 blocked kicks
    TOT: 24 tackles 2 sacks + 4.5 tfl 1 pbu 0 int 1 ffmb 0 blocked kicks
14. [dn 1] Marqise Lee, WR USC (4-3; beat Utah 19-3)
    LW:  did not play; injury
    TOT: 32rec  403yd  1TD 0fmb;  5rsh   1yd 0.2av 0TD 0fmb 145retYd 0TD 1fmb

Teddy Bridgewater and Braxton Miller both had nearly perfect games. Bridgewater threw just 4 incompletions with 344 yards and three touchdowns; Miller accounted for 5 total touchdowns against Penn State. Both hold at #6 and #7 respectively. Bridgewater is in the same boat as Boyd, a loss staining an otherwise exemplary record. Louisville didn't get blown out but their schedule doesn't allow for a mistake. Miller's Ohio State team is undefeated and chasing after a BCS championship but Miller missed so many games that his stats just don't add up to enough. Still, he's in the hunt for a finalist position if the Buckeyes remain unbeaten, but he's competing with guys like Boyd and Bridgewater who have more than double his passing stats.

This week's big Heisman game was Stanford vs. Oregon State as the latter has two minor candidates who were trying to become major candidates. The Beavers lost the game but both players had their moments. Sean Mannion was sacked 8 times by the Cardinal but still threw no interceptions and completed 72% of his attempts. Brandin Cooks had a rough day too but came on at the end, with a long punt return and two consecutive catches putting Oregon State in the red zone late with a chance to tie. Mannion threw 4 straight incompletions to end the game, but he did well under the circumstances and he busts past 3,000 yards for the season, notching his 30th TD pass. He moves up a spot to #10 despite the loss. Cooks was held in check all day until the end and drops one spot to #9, leaving Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin the highest-ranked non-quarterback at #8. Gordon was idle as was Aaron Murray of Georgia who drops to #11.

Bryce Petty of Baylor is our new entrant. Petty is putting up systematically good numbers, and his quarterback rating, either by old or new metrics, is up there with the best. The schedule has been soft so far but if Baylor wins out Petty will deserve to be a major candidate. He debuts ahead of the usual bottom two in our list, the erstwhile favorites Jadeveon Clowney and Marqise Lee, with one week left to add new players before we start making cuts.