2022 Heisman Trophy watch: Top 5 candidates heading into Week 11
The past weekend was significant in the 2022 Heisman Trophy race and here are our top five candidates going into Week 11 of the college football season.
Georgia took control of the College Football Playoff race this weekend and erased any doubt about whether or not the Bulldogs are the No. 1 team in the country.
What their dominant win also did was turn the 2022 Heisman Trophy race on its head. Hendon Hooker had pulled ahead thanks to his stellar numbers and a five-touchdown performance in the win over Alabama.
Had Tennessee been able to beat Georgia, Hooker would have been the clear favorite. The Vols failed to do that and frankly, depending on how others play down the stretch, I think he missed his opportunity.
He has crazy stats help but his stats aren’t really that much different from Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, and Drake Maye. I still believe Hooker has a chance but he now needs help, just like Tennessee is going to need help to make the College Football Playoff.
This race is also wide open and here where we see it with one month left in the 2022 college football season.
5. Drake Maye
This might surprise some people but I think Drake Maye has a better chance of winning the Heisman Trophy than Hendon Hooker. The odds might still favor Hooker but they will update.
I just don’t see a quarterback that doesn’t lead this team to a conference championship or the playoff winning the award especially when the numbers aren’t that great. Hooker has fewer total touchdowns than Maye, Bo Nix, and Caleb Williams and each of those guys has a chance to score some elite wins down the stretch.
Hooker doesn’t have a marquee game on the schedule unless Tennessee backs into the SEC title game but Georgia isn’t losing and the loss by the Vols on Saturday, as well as a pedestrian performance by Hooker, likely ended his 2022 Heisman Trophy hopes.
Maye leads college football in touchdown passes and has 35 total. He’s also got more passing yards so he deserved to crack the top five. We’ll see if he stays and winning the award or getting to New York will take winning the ACC and beating Clemson.
Otherwise, forget about it.