A quarterback falls after an upset, while running backs take center stage. Here are the top five in the Heisman race after Week 6.
The first weekend of October marked the halfway point of the regular season for many FBS teams. Now that September is in the rearview mirror, the Heisman Trophy race is beginning to emerge in greater focus. Pretenders have fallen by the wayside, while contenders have shifted up and down ballots as their teams enter conference play.
In recent seasons, the award has evolved into a celebration of quarterbacks. When a passer isn’t taking home the venerated bronze stiffarm, it has been a running back that runs away with the trophy. The two main backfield positions have seemingly become the only ones capable of winning the award.
This is hardly unique to the modern era, though. Receivers have rarely earned much love from Heisman voters. Linemen on both sides of the ball don’t put up the kind of numbers that gain recognition. And the only way for defensive backs to gain consideration is through ironman play and special-teams exploits.
So you won’t see any major surprises this week as we sit down to evaluate the Heisman field once again. Here are the five front-runners for the award after Week 6 play.
Squaring off against UNLV on Saturday night, Rashaad Penny had a rough start. The San Diego State tailback had eight carries for only 32 yards on the opening drive, and he coughed up the ball on 2nd and goal when the Aztecs were poised to open the scoring. It was an inauspicious beginning for one of the nation’s top running backs.
But Penny rebounded quickly, running for 138 yards and two touchdowns on his last 19 carries of the game. Finishing with 178 total yards (including two receptions for eight yards), Penny once again asserted himself as the linchpin of the San Diego State offense.
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Through San Diego State’s first five games of the year, Penny is third in the nation with over 165 rushing yards per game. He is now seven yards away from becoming the second runner to break the 1000-yard mark for the season, and he also ranks first in the nation with over 220 all-purpose yards per game.
When FBS career leader Donnel Pumphrey graduated after last season, it opened the door for Penny to finally feature as the starting back for the Aztecs. He has responded with one of the hottest starts of the year, outpacing the yards per carry posted by his predecessor. As long as San Diego State remains in the Group of Five race, Penny will continue hanging around the Heisman hunt.
Oklahoma suffered a huge upset on Saturday, losing to Iowa State at home as a 31-point favorite for the Sooners’ first loss of the season. The defeat can hardly be pinned on Baker Mayfield‘s shoulders, as the quarterback doesn’t play defense. But he will still sustain a major drop in the Heisman race after falling from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Mayfield threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns against the Cyclones, completing 24 of his 33 passing attempts along the way. Iowa State, though, managed to close him down after a hot start. Mayfield was 7-of-8 for 84 yards, two touchdowns, and another four first-down plays. He was still a solid 17-of-25 for the rest of the game, and also punched in a rushing touchdown with 57 yards on 11 carries.
Related Story: Oklahoma Football: 4 Takeaways from loss to Iowa State
Oklahoma’s quarterback continues to far outpace the field in passing efficiency. Mayfield led the nation in efficiency last season, and he currently sits more than 10 points ahead of second-best McKenzie Milton of UCF in the category. He is also one of just four FBS quarterbacks at this point who have yet to throw an interception in 2017.
The loss by the Sooners will inevitably impact Mayfield’s Heisman campaign, as it came against an Iowa State team nobody expected to have a chance. Oklahoma’s quarterback will have a chance to rebound in the next few weeks, though, as the back half of the Big 12 schedule presents a slew of prominent tests.
Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen received the bulk of the preseason hype among Pac-12 quarterbacks. But the best quarterbacks in the conference play a few states north. Jake Browning was a Heisman contender last year, but he has ceded position in this year’s race to his Apple Cup rival on the other side of the state.
Luke Falk has been putting up eye-popping numbers for the past few years in Mike Leach’s pass-happy Washington State offense. This year, Falk has the Cougars in contention for the conference title as one of two Pac-12 teams that still boast undefeated records. Against Oregon on Saturday in Eugene, Falk put up another solid performance to move the Cougars to 6-0 on the season.
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It was technically his worst outing of the year, but winning will mitigate that fact. Falk finished 24-of-42, posting a sub-60 percent completion rate for the first time this year. He also failed to reach 300 passing yards for the first time in a full game this season. (Falk finished with 193 yards against Boise State in an injury-shortened performance.) The Washington State quarterback did throw three touchdown passes, though, and avoided an interception in the blowout win.
Last year Washington State leaped up into the national consciousness as they pushed Washington for the Pac-12 North title. Back in the discussion this season after upsetting USC and climbing into the top 10 of the AP Top 25, the Cougars’ success has opened the door for Falk’s Heisman campaign to take off in full force.
Saquon Barkley‘s season has been interesting from a statistical standpoint. Teams have keyed in on the Penn State tailback, doing their best to stifle his rushing production. But Barkley has managed to beat teams in other ways, showcasing a multi-threat talent to get yards any way possible.
Against Northwestern, the Wildcats bottled up Barkley once again on the ground. Through the first half, the Nittany Lion back had negative yardage running the ball. But in the second half, he racked up a pair of rushing touchdowns and finished the game with 75 yards. Northwestern wasn’t foolish enough to kick off to Barkley, and they held him to two catches for nine receiving yards.
Related Story: Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from blowout win at Northwestern
Barkley was held to his lowest yardage total of the season by Pat Fitzgerald‘s defense. It won’t matter, though, as one statistical anomaly isn’t going to eliminate the back from the Heisman race. Penn State’s best player remains second nationally in all-purpose yards per game despite failing to reach 100 total yards in Week 6.
As long as Penn State remains in the Big Ten race and the College Football Playoff hunt, Barkley will be right in the thick of the Heisman race. He gets another chance to put up big numbers again when the Nittany Lions take on Michigan in two weeks.
With a big win over No. 20 Utah on the road in #Pac12AfterDark, Bryce Love saw his season averages drop but his Heisman stock rise. The Stanford running back busted off another highlight touchdown run, breaking tackles and romping 68 yards in the 23-20 win over the Utes. For the night, Love finished with 20 carries for 152 yards and the score while adding another 14 yards on two receptions.
Related Story: Utah Football: 3 takeaways from loss to Stanford in Week 6
No running back in the country is churning out yards at a more prolific clip than the Cardinal standout. Love was the first tailback to reach 1000 yards on the season, and after Saturday night’s performance he remains on pace to blow past the 2000-yard mark before the end of the regular season.
Love is still well within range of Barry Sanders‘ rushing yards per game record set back in 1988 during his Heisman-winning campaign. When you include the Holiday Bowl numbers for Sanders, he rushed for 2850 yards in 12 games for an average of 237.5 yards per game. After six games, Love averages 206.7 yards per game.
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Now that Stanford is back in the hunt for the Pac-12 title, Love emerges as the new favorite for the Heisman Trophy. If the Cardinal runner comes out on top, he would join 1970 winner Jim Plunkett as the second winner from Stanford.