With conference championship week now in the rearview, we know what the bowl games will be. We know what the playoff will be. We know it all. Are you happy? Did it work out how you thought? Well, four fan bases are happy. And, for the most part, it didn’t work out how most of us expected.
Clemson going undefeated wasn’t on most of our preseason guarantee lists. Oklahoma winning the Big 12 wasn’t something I was expecting, TCU and Baylor were shoe-ins. However, I did foresee Alabama and Michigan State winning the SEC and Big 10, respectively.
The Crimson Tide are top-notch every season. No surprise that they were once again the best of the Southeastern Conference.
Ohio State was the favorite in the Big 10, but I picked Michigan State. All along, I said that MSU was the top team in the Big 10 because they had the best quarterback in Connor Cook. Cook wasn’t the quarterback that beat the Buckeyes, but he still has shown this season that he is the best in the conference.
Oklahoma had a huge season from quarterback Baker Mayfield and that led them to the promised land. The Sooners are a very dangerous team with a lot of talent and it’s nice to see Bob Stoops back in the spotlight. The Sooners, in hindsight, have an awesome team. That being said, I don’t think they’re better than the team they’ll be playing in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
That team, of course, is the Clemson Tigers. A team that feels like Ohio State of 2014 (hitting all cylinders a year early) is coming into the playoff as the only undefeated team. They have a big target on the back of their orange uniforms. But Deshaun Watson and company have been great at stepping up to the plate. Watson won’t win the Heisman this season, but he’s already launched his 2016 Heisman campaign as a frontrunner that will finish in the top-three this season.
We know who’s in the playoff, and we know that predictions are coming. I’ll save mine. So be sure to check back for that.
I’ll also have my bowl predictions (along with seemingly everyone else online) in the next few weeks.
But first, who wins the Heisman?
This question is set in stone for me. I believe there is one clear-cut winner. After that, second and third place is pretty close. Fourth and fifth place both trail the top three considerably, but they’ll still be recognized for great individual seasons.
Who wins?
Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama
Season Totals:
339 CAR, 1,986 Yards, 5.9 YPC, 23 TD
10 REC, 97 Yards, 9.7 YPC, 0 TD
Henry finished only 14 yards shy of a historic 2,000-yard season. However, he still finished with the SEC-single season record. Henry broke numerous marks set by Bo Jackson and Herschel Walker. Both had pretty good careers and put on display one of the greatest single-season efforts from a running back ever. Alabama wouldn’t be where it is today without Henry. Many have made claims that ‘Bama is a ‘one-trick pony’ while that’s false (Jake Coker is more than capable), that one-trick pony is pretty amazing. Everyone knows that if they stop Henry, they beat Alabama. But you can’t stop him. A great season from the 6-foot-3 running back will likely mean a Heisman and a high draft pick.
Henry wins decisively on my ballot.
Now, for second and third place.
2nd- Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
Season Totals:
319 CAR, 1,847 Yards, 5.8 YPC, 8 TD
41 REC, 540 Yards, 13.2 YPC, 4 TD
McCaffrey jumps up from fourth to second this week because of his huge game in the PAC-12 Championship Game. 207 yards rushing, 105 yards receiving, and 11 yards passing. One touchdown from each of those categories. 323 total yards and three touchdowns total. Fantastic day from McCaffrey in which he put all of his talents on display. He can do it all, and he is a huge factor in Stanford winning the conference. He ended up breaking Barry Sanders single-season record for yards from scrimmage. He’s going to be a player to watch for next season as he and Deshaun Watson will enter the season number one and two in the Heisman rankings. If Henry didn’t have the year that he had, McCaffrey would easily take home the Heisman.
3rd- Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
Season Totals:
287-413 (69.5%), 3,517 Yards, 30 TD – 11 INT
163 CAR, 887 Yards, 5.4 YPC, 11 TD rushing
Wow. Watson puts up phenomenal numbers on the ground and through the air, goes undefeated, and he finishes third? This has quietly been a fantastic season for the Heisman. One of the best in recent memory. There have been few years that have been this competitive. The polls changed week-to-week for a reason, there were a ton of historic seasons. Watson’s biggest knock were the 11 interceptions. If that number comes down a bit, he may be sitting even higher on this list. The sophomore quarterback will have the opportunity to win a National Championship and then come back for a huge encore season before departing for the NFL. Are you excited about 2016 yet?
Once you drop from the top-three to the final two, you get a pretty distinct drop. Not in quality, but in quantity. These final two had great seasons, but I cannot put them near the top-three.
4th- Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
Season Totals:
262 CAR, 1,672 Yards, 6.4 YPC, 19 TD
26 REC, 176 Yards, 6.8 YPC, 0 TD
Elliott is the sole reason the Buckeyes ended the season with only one loss and not more. The vaunted quarterback play that brought Ohio State into the year didn’t live up to the hype. Elliott is the reason they played through the tough times that came throughout the season. The one loss Ohio State had was because of the lack of production from Elliott. He didn’t finish with 1,800+ yards like the top two backs, in part because the team didn’t make the conference title game. That hurts him. Elliott has already said that he is NFL-bound, so a return in 2016 looks unlikely. If he does, he’s right there with the two players as mentioned earlier in the race for next season’s Heisman.
5th- Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
Season Totals:
243-354 (68.6%), 3,389 Yards, 35 TD – 5 INT
131 CAR, 420 Yards, 3.2 YPC, 7 TD
Mayfield had a very good season. He came into the Heisman fray late simply because of scheduling. He didn’t play any “tough” competition until the gauntlet that was the team’s final three weeks. But boy did he quietly have a great season. He plays in a passer-friendly system, but whatever, that’s a silly excuse to dumb down stats. Most college systems are favorable to passers. He put up numbers, didn’t make many mistakes, and his team is in the playoff. Great year, but the guys at the top had better years. Fifth place is a great finish and he’s certainly got his mind on bigger games.
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