Mississippi State Players Top the Saturday Blitz Heisman Watch for Week 10

Nov 1, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws the ball before the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

5. Marcus Mariota, Junior Quarterback, Oregon Ducks

Last Game: 19-for-30 (63.3%), 258 Yards; 9 Carries for 85 Yards; 4 Total TD’s, 1 INT (Defeated Stanford Cardinal 45-16)

2014 Season: 169-of-248 (68.1%), 2,541 Passing Yards; 71 Carries for 410 Yards; 33 Total TD’s, 2 INT’s 

From a stats perspective, Marcus Mariota probably has a very strong case to be at the top of this Heisman list. Putting up 33 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions has earned him college football superstar status, and he is clearly the perfect quarterback to run this Oregon system.

But we can’t put him above No. 5 right now. Mariota’s loss to Arizona still leaves a bad taste in our mouth, particularly because it’s the only game where his team needed a drive at the end of the game from him when they were down and he came up short. That’s simply not a good look. We still can keep him in our Top 5 because a comeback performance against Michigan State and his showing against Washington State proved how efficient and clutch he is, but Arizona was when he was called on the most. And he didn’t deliver.

It also doesn’t help that we have absolutely no faith whatsoever in Pac-12 defenses, so padding his stats in that conference is not much to be impressed by. But doing it against Stanford is still pretty good, and there are other big games he’ll have to perform in. So he could move to the top of our list soon enough.