Week 11 of the College football season was brimmed with a lot of surprises.
No.4 Miami suffered a major upset loss to unranked Georgia Tech in its first loss of the season. Ole Miss soundly defeated Georgia in Oxford.
Lastly, the Alabama Crimson Tide went into Baton Rouge and demolished LSU in a game with immense College Football Playoff and SEC title game implications. After everything that transpired this weekend, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe has reemerged as a legitimate Heisman canidate after Saturday's night's win in Death Valley.
In a previous article, Miami's Cam Ward was firmly mentioned as the frontrunner for the coveted award, but after Saturday's loss, the star quarterback's chances have dwindled immensely. The Hurricanes fell to the Yellow Jackets 23-28 on Saturday afternoon.
Ward tossed for 348 yards along with 3 touchdowns, but he fumbled the ball late in the fourth quarter which cemented the victory for Georgia Tech. The Hurricanes have went throughout the season by starting games out slow and relying heavily on Ward to bring the team back (ex. versus Cal, Duke, Louisville).
After losing to a team that came into the game with four losses, it's safe to say Ward's odds of winning the Heisman are going to take a hit, despite his prolific statistics.
Milroe, on the other hand, has clawed his way back into the Heisman race without question. Yes, Milroe and the Tide have suffered two losses which includes a loss against Vanderbilt when the Tide were ranked No. 1.
However, the Alabama star quarterback just had a monster performance in a game against long-time in-conference rivals LSU in a matchup of desperate programs. The Tigers and the Crimson Tide both came into the game with two losses and the chances of making the College Football Playoff with three losses are highly unlikely.
Milroe had arguably the greatest performance in his tenure as the quarterback for the Crimson Tide. The dual threat quarterback tossed for 109 yards, but he ran for 185 yards (more rush yards than the entire LSU offense) along with 4 rushing touchdowns.
Jalen Milroe dusted LSU for the 72-yard TD run ⚡️
— Whistle (@WhistleSports) November 10, 2024
(via @AlabamaFTBL)
pic.twitter.com/XzwTzuFkb9
Furthermore, Milroe nailed the dagger when he rushed for an electric 72-yard touchdown run to extend the Alabama lead to 35-6 in the fourth quarter, which essentially put the game away.
Sure, Oregon's Dillon Garbriel led the No. 1 Oregon Ducks to a 10-0 record after handling Maryland at home and Colorado's Travis Hunter having another strong outing in a win against Texas Tech. However, Milroe stepped up in perhaps the biggest game of the season for the Crimson Tide, as they couldn't afford a third in-conference loss this season.
Alabama and LSU is one of the college football's greatest rivalries, and with Alabama defeating the Tigers 42-13 in a hostile environment on the road and saving their season, Milroe's name deserves to be back in heisman contention.