Who Should Win the Heisman Trophy?
Image Credit: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/2020-heisman-finalists-announced-spt-trnd
By: Vyom Dixit
With the college football regular season ending soon, there is a lot of excitement for who’s going to win the most prestigious trophy in college football: The Heisman Trophy. Starting in 1935, it’s an annual award given to the best player in the country.
Before we talk about the Heisman Trophy, one needs to understand how college football programs are ranked. Associated Press (AP) is a news agency that has sports journalists rank the top 25 teams in college football every week. Each player is assessed on categories like statistics, leadership, and team circumstances, which form the criteria for the Heisman Trophy. The best players in these categories become frontrunners for the award. There are a total of 930 votes, 870 of which are from sports journalists and 59 from former Heisman winners. Since 1999, the public votes for who they think should win the award each year. The player with the most votes counts as one fan vote.
The Heisman Trophy is for all positions, but this year the frontrunners are all quarterbacks. They are Marcel Reed from Texas A&M University (TAMU), Julian Sayin from The Ohio State University (OSU), Fernando Mendoza from Indiana University, and Ty Simpson from The University of Alabama. Here are my predictions.
4. Julian Sayin, Sophomore, Quarterback, OSU
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OSU won the National Championship last season with Will Howard as quarterback who got drafted in the National Football League (NFL). They were on top of the college football world with huge expectations for this season. During the off-season, fans and sports analysts weren’t sure if Julian Sayin would be a great quarterback for OSU, but head coach Ryan Day had full faith in him. This season, Sayin has been very consistent and gets the job done every game. He had two great games against the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and Purdue University. Against Minnesota, Sayin threw for 326 yards and 3 touchdowns to win the game 42-3. Against Purdue, he threw for 303 yards and 1 touchdown in a dominant 34-10 win.
Despite these amazing performances, these teams are not in the AP top 25 teams. Also, he has a solid supporting cast with Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, who sports analysts regard as the two best wide receivers in the country. OSU also has an incredible defense led by Caleb Downs, who plays the safety position. Additionally, the team has had an easy schedule where they have only played two top 25 teams, which are the University of Texas at Austin and their biggest rival and kryptonite, the University of Michigan.
Overall, Julian Sayin has had a pretty solid year, but if he didn’t have an amazing supporting cast and an easy schedule, would he have won as many games? He and his team are the number 1 AP-ranked team and are now heading to the Big Ten Conference championship against Indiana University. This game will affect his chances of winning the Heisman.
3. Ty Simpson, Junior, Quarterback, Alabama
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Alabama is coming off a disappointing year, finishing the season with a 9-4 record with quarterback Jalen Milroe. They ended up not making the college football playoffs. While it may not sound like a terrible record, Alabama, the winner of 16 college football national championships, is one of the best college football programs in the country, leading to high expectations.
To start the season, Alabama lost to Florida State University (FSU) 31-17 on the road, which was a huge upset. They went from starting the season as the 8th-ranked team to the 21st-ranked team by the AP poll. The sports media was having huge doubts about Ty Simpson and head coach Kalen DeBoer. But ever since that game, Ty Simpson has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He had two great games: on the road against the University of Georgia (UGA), who were ranked 5th at the time, and at home against Vanderbilt University, who were ranked 16th at the time. Against UGA, he threw for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns, which helped them get a huge win, 24-21. Against Vanderbilt, he threw for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns, which got them a 30-14 win.
Recently, Alabama lost to the University of Oklahoma (OU) 23-21 in spite of a very good performance from Simpson.
Like Julian Sayin, Simpson has a great supporting cast with wide receivers Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard, who are some of the best in the country. Alabama also has a great defense that consistently gets the job done. The losses to FSU and OU, and being part of a talented team can make people wonder if he’s really that good—and that can harm his chances of winning the award. Alabama is now in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship game against UGA. In my opinion, if Simpson beats UGA in the SEC championship game, it will improve his chances of winning the Heisman significantly.
2. Marcel Reed, Sophomore, Quarterback, TAMU
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TAMU is usually in the shadow of the big programs, like Alabama and UGA, which are in the SEC, but this season, Marcel Reed has put the program on the map. This season has been the complete opposite of the last. Going into this season, TAMU was 19th in the AP poll before the start of the season and was trying to shake off a disappointing 8-5 record from last year. It was disappointing because they had a really good start to the 2024 season, but couldn’t finish strong.
Reed has had some amazing games this season, which were against the University of Notre Dame du Lac and the University of South Carolina. Against Notre Dame, Reed threw for 360 yards and 2 touchdowns in an amazing 41-40 win on the road. Against South Carolina, TAMU was down 30-3 at halftime but came back to win the game 31-30, which was the biggest comeback in the school’s football history. Reed threw for 439 yards and 3 touchdowns.
There are two reasons why I think Reed won’t win the award. One, his passing statistics are not as good compared to other frontrunners. They’re not as high because Reed is a dual threat and can run the ball himself very well. This can either help or hurt his chances because analysts have differing opinions on dual-threat quarterbacks. Two, the recent 27-17 loss to their rival, Texas. I will cut him some slack because it was a rivalry game and was on the road, also the season for Texas was on the line.
Unlike Julian Sayin and Ty Simpson, Marcel Reed has proven himself to be a great leader with these wins, which makes him a much better candidate for the Heisman compared to Sayin and Simpson.
1. Fernando Mendoza, Junior, Quarterback, Indiana
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Indiana is known for its basketball program, but this season, it has made a name for itself as a football school as well. Indiana made the college football playoffs last season, and ever since then, they’ve only gotten better. They were 20th in the AP poll before the season started.
After Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana this season from the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), both Fernando and his new team improved dramatically; Indiana is now ranked 2nd in the AP poll.
Mendoza has had a lot of great games this season, but his most notable ones are against Michigan State University (MSU), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Oregon. Against MSU, Mendoza threw for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns in a dominant 38-13 win. Against Illinois, he threw for 267 yards and 5 touchdowns in a blowout 63-10 win. On the road against Oregon, he threw for 215 yards and 1 touchdown in a tough 30-20 win.
Despite all these amazing performances from Mendoza, the only reason he may not win is that he plays for Indiana, which is not a college football powerhouse like Alabama, UGA, and OSU. It is a common belief that the Heisman Trophy is biased toward certain positions and football powerhouses.
Mendoza has shown his leadership skills with these wins. He turned a school that is not known for its football program into one of the best teams in the country.
Although all these quarterbacks have contributed to their respective programs, if I were to pick the winner, it would be Fernando Mendoza. He has shot Indiana’s football program from the bottom of the Big Ten conference to the top this season. Indiana is now heading to the Big Ten Championship game against OSU and the other Heisman frontrunner, Julian Sayin. A win against the number 1 AP-ranked team in the country will improve his chances of winning the award significantly.
Having said all this, Dec 6 will most likely be the day that decides the winner of the Heisman Trophy. May the best player win!
If you want to vote for the award, click this link and make sure you vote by December 8 at 2 PM Pacific time.