Heisman Sunday: Who helped their cause in NCAAF Week 5
Week 5 was a huge week for Heisman hopefuls and while it was a fun week of football, I think that the conversation may have gotten even a bit more interesting this week with the play that we saw across the country. I think that this season is going to be very fascinating moving forward and we’ll get into why that is when discussing the players that I think really have a chance.
TOP #3 Sports Betting Sites to Bet on NCAAF
Bryce Young (+120)
Was Bryce Young the catalyst of a late-game win vs. a top 15 team last week? Heck no. Did he screw it up? Definitely not.
My take on Bryce is that someone is going to have to take the Heisman away from him, but he is nowhere near winning it right now. He just isn’t doing anything special, even in relation to other Alabama QBs and I think that there will be hiccups for this offense at some point. This may not come until the SEC Championship game, but it will come. Will anyone be able to actually go and take it away from him?
Matt Corral (+250)
I think Corral lost the hype and would have to go on a crazy run to get back over Bryce Young after losing head to head. Wouldn’t Young have to screw up to lose to Corral after that game? I think so and that’s not something I am betting on anywhere close to those odds.
Desmond Ridder (+1200)
Ridder is just not going to win the Heisman. He hasn’t flashed much in his early games and now he goes into conference play where he will constantly be leading games and a forgotten man to most of college football. Basically, Ridder is Bryce Young with no big games left and less hype as is. It’d take a miracle, especially with these odds.
Bijan Robinson (+3500)
Bijan would be the best bet TODAY if I had to make one simply because of the position that he could be in on Sunday. No one else in consideration will have as big of a chance to jump as Robinson will on Sunday.
The Longhorns play Oklahoma on Saturday and Bijan will be the focal point of a Texas offense and gameplan that I expect to give Oklahoma major issues. If you watch Oklahoma’s defense this year, they are good as a whole, but they have major flaws dealing with RBs in space and Bijan is a menace.
I think we could easily see 250 total yards and 3 TDs in a win for Bijan and I would not be surprised at all to see him third in Heisman odds as soon as next week. With the other guys I’ll mention, this just won’t happen overnight.
Ohio State Offense
I think that there are 2 players at Ohio State with a huge chance to really make a run and I am slightly flipping my stance on their odds based on last week.
CJ Stroud
So, CJ Stroud was held out of the only open media practice 2 weeks before the season started and the story was that it was “rest.” Then, against Minnesota, Stroud seemed a bit off early and kept messing with his throwing shoulder throughout the game. Over the first 3 games, CJ Stroud was scared to run the ball much and he often missed high and basically ONLY high.
Stroud sat against Akron and came back looking like the player Ohio State had talked about in training camp and over the last year or so. Ryan Day has basically never said a bad word about Stroud and has really never hesitated to call him the best QB in that room after he was forced to name a starter. This is in a room that has 4 P5 level QBs in it. This always had me intrigued because Stroud really didn’t *seem* that impressive, although he would put up nice stats.
Ohio State’s entire offense is lapping CFB in terms of production, posting over 9.5 YPP with the starters last week against Rutgers and outgaining every other team in CFB in YPP and total yards. If CJ Stroud is the player he was last week and not the player he was in the first 3 weeks, he might be the best QB in the country on a competitive team.
Treveyon Henderson
Henderson was said to get 20 carries a game and then only got 8 in a game where he got banged up in the first quarter and never returned, although it was just a precautionary measure. Henderson has the most 40+ yard runs in the country with just 54 (!!!) carries, never mind another 75 yard TD catch. If Henderson can keep up his absurd 9.4 YPC or even keep it halfway close in Big Ten play, he could have a historic RB season.
The other thing with both Ohio State players is that the schedule lines up for a run at 1. A Big Ten championship and getting back into the playoffs. 2. Playing “elite defenses and teams” like Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Iowa, all of which an offense like Ohio State can still steamroll because elite offense wins in CFB, especially when the elite offense is way more talented.