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Heisman Watch: Week 5
1) Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville - Despite the close loss on the road in Death Valley "Action Jackson" still remains in the lead because he was the better quarterback over Deshaun Watson. Running for 162 yards and 2 scores while throwing for nearly 300 against a very good Clemson defense Jackson came just short of the win when his receiver was pushed out a yard short of a first down in the waning moments down near the Clemson goal line. Jackson appears to be the most electric college quarterback since Michael Vick and will get the chance to pad his stats this week vs Duke.
2) J.T. Barrett, QB, Ohio State - Barrett broke Bobby Hoying's Ohio State record for career touchdown passes (59) in a rout of Rutgers. Barrett threw for 4 TDs and averaged over 9 yards a carry while leading a balanced Buckeyes offense. He takes on Indiana this week so he will get another chance to make his season stats look better on paper for the voters.
3) Greg Ward, QB, Houston - Ward threw for a career high 389 yards vs UCONN while also completing over 84% of his passes. Accounting for nearly 450 yards and 5 touchdowns with no turnovers bumps Ward up 2 spots and into the top 3 for the undefeated Cougars.
4) Jake Browning, QB, Washington - I'll be the first to say I underestimated Browning and Washington going into their Friday night battle vs Stanford last week. Browning was basically perfect as he threw for 3 TDs while completing over 70% of his passes and zero turnovers in a decisive rout of Stanford 44-6. For the undefeated Huskies Browning has accounted for 18 total TDs while only turning it over twice all season. With his performance he is now the leader over Christian McCaffrey in the PAC 12 conference.
5) Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson - Welcome back to the top 5 Deshaun. Watson led the Tigers to a huge ACC home win vs Louisville in prime time. Despite the 3 interceptions, Watson threw for 5 TDs and a season high 305 yards. With Clemson still undefeated and leading the ACC Watson will still need to get some help from other teams because guys like Jackson, Barrett, Ward and Browning are all having better seasons for title contenders.
6) Christian McCaffrey, All Purpose, Stanford - Tough game for McCaffrey as Washington loaded 8, sometimes 9 guys in the box and punished Stanford throughout. For the second week in a row McCaffrey was held to no touchdowns running or receiving. He falls out of the top 5 for the first time all season and could be looking at a tough battle to even get invited back to NYC at this point.
7) Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State - Pumphrey did all that he could rushing for over 150 yards and a score but the Aztecs lost to South Alabama. He's not out of the race by any means but from here on out he's going to need to put up crazy stats to keep him in the conversation because he plays on the west coast for an unranked non power 5 team.
8) Mitch Trubisky, QB, North Carolina - Trubisky earned his way onto the top 10 Heisman Watch list by leading North Carolina to a huge win over FSU. With the win UNC is now in the lead for the Coastal division. Trubisky threw for over 400 yards for the third consecutive week. For the season he has zero turnovers while accounting for 17 total touchdowns.
9) Derek Barnett, DL, Tennessee - Barnett just put himself into the conversation for best defensive end in the nation along with Texas A&M's Myles Garrett. Barnett was basically unstoppable vs Georgia with two sacks and a forced fumble. The win keeps the Vols undefeated going into College Station this week to take on Garrett and the undefeated Aggies.
10) Jabrill Peppers, LB, Michigan - Peppers led a spirited Wolverines defense to a near shutout of #8 Wisconsin in a huge home win. As I have mentioned before as long as Michigan stays undefeated Peppers will get Heisman talk.
Dropped out: Myles Garrett, DL, Texas A&M; Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech
Matt Fairchild grew up a fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons. In other words he has a sports team problem on top of his drinking problem. Displaying a loyal, never-ending-love for his teams despite their consistent struggles to return to their "glory days" only shows the insane ramblings that permeate his controversial sport writings. Fairchild started SportsCrack.com in 2005 where you can find great t-shirts and sports merchandise. See more of his work at UHND. He can be reached at matt@sportscrack.com or on Twitter @sportscrack
Heisman Watch: Week 4
Not much has changed 4 weeks into the season with our top 5 including the leader at the top of the watch list.
1) Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville - A week after the statement game vs FSU saw Action Jackson again put up insane numbers vs the Thundering Herd of Marshall. 7 total touchdowns (5 passing, 2 running) pushed his total season to 25 which is more than every team in college football except one. He gets another chance to widen his Heisman lead this week in Death Valley with College Game Day there.
2) Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford - Not a great game for McCaffrey vs UCLA in primetime after being hyped up all week by ESPN on all platforms. He didn't score a TD for the first time this season but still managed to rush for 138 yards in a huge come-from-behind victory vs UCLA. McCaffrey will get a chance to prove himself yet again in a primetime matchup vs Washington, a top 10 oppenent, on Friday Night.
3) Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State - Bye week for the nation's leading rusher.
4) J.T. Barrett, QB, Ohio State - Bye week for the Buckeyes as they prepare themselves for Rutgers.
5) Greg Ward, QB, Houston - Completed 20 of 26 passes for 289 yards and added another 39 yards on the ground plus another TD in a 64-3 win vs Texas State. Ward only played 3 quarters and is still nursing a bum throwing shoulder.
6) Jake Browning, QB, Washington - Welcome to the watch list Mr. Browning! Browning led the undefeated Huskies to a thrilling overtime win vs Arizona with this incredible block of all plays...
This season Browning is completing over 70% of his passes with 14 TDs and only two turnovers. He leads all PAC 12 QBs in passing efficiency and will get to throw his hat into the top 5 Heisman watch list with a big game Friday night vs undefeated Stanford.
7) Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech - Bye week for the Texas Tech gunslinger.
8) Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson - Reluctantly I'm putting in Watson in the top 10 list even though he hasn't earned it this season. Watson is by far having his worst collegiate season and if you look at his progression his numbers have gotten gradually worse from his dynamite freshman and sophomore seasons. But he's still the QB of the undefeated Clemson Tigers and led them to an impressive road win vs Georgia Tech. This week he gets a chance to shine as Louisville and Lamar Jackson come to town looking to knock them off for the ACC conference and Heisman watch list lead.
9) Myles Garrett, DL, Texas A&M - Didn't get a sack but he had a key fumble recovery and a huge tackle for loss in a statement win vs Arkansas for the undefeated Aggies. He leads the Aggies in tackles for loss and sacks.
10) Jabrill Peppers, LB, Michigan - As long as Michigan stays undefeated and Peppers is returning punts he will stay in the top 10 list. He wasn't outstanding defensively by any means vs Penn State but he was 5 yards away from a punt return for a TD because he tripped over his own feet. This week he will get to move up the list with a big game vs undefeated and top 10 team Wisconsin visiting the Big House.
Dropped out: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU; Deshone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame
Matt Fairchild grew up a fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons. In other words he has a sports team problem on top of his drinking problem. Displaying a loyal, never-ending-love for his teams despite their consistent struggles to return to their "glory days" only shows the insane ramblings that permeate his controversial sport writings. Fairchild started SportsCrack.com in 2005 where you can find great t-shirts and sports merchandise. See more of his work at UHND. He can be reached at matt@sportscrack.com or on Twitter @sportscrack
Heisman Watch: Week 3
Now three weeks into the season and we have a clear cut #1 Heisman frontrunner.
1) Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville - Absolutely shredded FSU for 63 points in a nationally televised game between two top 10 programs with ESPN's College Game Day there to take notice. Action Jackson's 5 touchdowns and 362 yards were too much to handle for FSU. Jackson himself has 18 total touchdowns this season, more than 118 FBS teams have total for the season. Here are some more plays for the Jackson highlight reel...
2) Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford - Just another 260 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns in a rout vs USC. McCaffrey leads the nation in all-purpose yards per game and will again get to show Heisman voters his athletic prowess in a prime time battle vs UCLA.
3) Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State - The nation's leading rusher was at it again running for 220 yards and 3 TDs. He's averaging 200 yards per game and has scored 7 TDs.
4) J.T. Barrett, QB, Ohio State - Barrett played great on the road at Norman in a huge out of conference win vs the Sooners. 4 touchdown passes while competing 70% enhances his season statistics to 13 TDs with only one turnover in 3 games.
5) Greg Ward, QB, Houston - Coming off a sore shoulder it took Ward sometime to knock off the dust vs Cincinnati but once he did he was as elextric as usual. 326 yards passing while accounting for 3 TDs in a 40-16 win will keep Ward in the top 5.
6) Jabrill Peppers, LB, Michigan - I've never been the biggest fan of Peppers (in fact he was one of my most overrated players going into this season) but I watched his game vs Colorado and he was simply amazing. Whether it was returning punts for a score or making devastating hits on defense if Michigan runs the table Peppers will get an invite to NYC.
7) Patrick Mahomes, QB, Texas Tech - 470 yards passing and 5 TDs in the air. Mahomes also added a TD on the ground and through 5 games he's averaging nearly 500 yards per game. The gun slinger just needs to keep it going, win a bunch of ball games and let the chips fall.
8) Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU - Buga looked like his old self after coming back from an ankle injury. 130 yards and 2 TDs were just part of his overall trucking and stiff-arming the defense and leading LSU to a big W. I could watch this "stiff-arm" aka throw down all day...
9) Myles Garrett, DL, Texas A&M - Facing double and sometimes triple-teams in order to contain Garrett has not worked. He's got 3 sacks and has been a terror on the edge for the undefeated Aggies. Right now Garrett looks to be the one guy who could beat Bama by himself.
10) Deshone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame - Kizer didn't have his best game in a loss vs Michigan State but he still threw for 344 yards, 2 TDs in the air, and another 2 TDs on the ground. Through 3 games Kizer has 13 TDs and only 2 turnovers but ND is going to need to start winning if Kizer is to remain in the conversation.
Dropped out: Deondre Francois, QB, FSU; Kallen Ballage, RB, Arizona State; Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia
Matt Fairchild grew up a fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons. In other words he has a sports team problem on top of his drinking problem. Displaying a loyal, never-ending-love for his teams despite their consistent struggles to return to their "glory days" only shows the insane ramblings that permeate his controversial sport writings. Fairchild started SportsCrack.com in 2005 where you can find great t-shirts and sports merchandise. See more of his work at UHND. He can be reached at matt@sportscrack.com or on Twitter @sportscrack
