Heisman Trophy watch 2021: Top 5 candidates after Week 3

Matt Corral and Bryce Young have emerged as the Heisman trophy favorites for 2021. That and more in the Week 3 Heisman Watch.

The Heisman trophy race is always one of the most interesting aspects of the college football season and there were more twists and turns in Week 3 of the season.

Early in the season, some Heisman trophy favorites sort of fell on their faces, such as Sam Howell of North Carolina or Brock Purdy for Iowa State.

Howell has rebounded with back-to-back 300-yard games but it’s going to take more than that to get him back into the mix as a top contender.

Quarterbacks have dominated the Heisman conversation so far this season, outside of a few running backs, namely CJ Verdell of Oregon, as well as some Big Ten running backs from Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State, who have gotten a little Heisman talk.

There were plenty of big games in Week 3 of the college football season, but few contenders made headway in the Heisman trophy race.

Here are our top five contenders.

Heisman Trophy candidate No. 5: CJ Verdell, RB, Oregon

After his monster game against Ohio State, CJ Verdell cracked our list of Heisman contenders last week, coming in third.

However, this week, in a win over Stony Brook, Oregon rolled but Verdell didn’t exactly fill the stat sheet. He rushed for 54 yards and caught a touchdown pass, which probably hurt him a little — the fact that he didn’t post gaudy numbers.

Verdell will have plenty of chances to redeem himself, but for running backs to win the Heisman trophy, they have to put up huge numbers and under 100 yards rushing, no matter the opponent, won’t do him any favors.