Heisman Buzz After Week 8
The Heisman Trophy began naming finalists for the award in 1982 and since then, players from 61 different schools have been invited to New York ahead of the announcement.
Vanderbilt is not on the list, but quarterback Diego Pavia may make Commodore history if he continues his impressive stretch of play.
Indiana has had one Heisman finalist — runner-up running back Anthony Thompson, a close second-place behind 1989 winner Andre Ware — but 2025 Hoosier first-year starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza currently has as much Heisman momentum as any player.
Both Pavia and Mendoza are coming off big Week 8 performances during another spate of games that created more rankings movement (both team and Heisman) than Beethoven’s 9th.
Let’s dig into the Heisman media buzz, led off by The Athletic’s latest straw poll out today that featured Mendoza first and Pavia third with Alabama QB Ty Simpson sandwiched in between.
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love, coming off a monster performance in the Fighting Irish’s big win over USC, was fourth with Ohio State QB Julian Sayin fifth. Thirteen players received votes in the 24-person poll, but the only other player to get more than one was Miami DL Rueben Bain Jr.
Mendoza led Indiana to a 38-13 win over Michigan State to move the Hoosiers to 7-0 and No. 2 overall, completing 24-of-28 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns in the rout.
The transfer from Cal has now thrown a nationally-tied best 21 TD passes this year to just two interceptions, leads the country in QB rating and is third in completion percentage.
Which explains why chants of “Heis-Mendoza” are growing more prevalent in Bloomington.
Pavia’s last name doesn’t lend itself to an easy Heisman pun, but his arm and legs are providing plenty of talking points. The Vandy QB threw for 160 yards and a score and rushed for 86 yards and two TDs in the No. 17 Commodores home win over No. 10 LSU. The QB was feeling it after scoring one of his touchdowns, busting out with the Heisman pose — see it here — eschewing any jinx concerns.
Pavia has thrown for 1,569 yards and 15 scores while running for 438 yards and another four TDs. Impressive, but not as impressive as Pavia leading 6-1 Vandy to its best start in 75 years.
Enough about these upstarts. Let’s pivot to Alabama and Simpson, who led No. 6 Crimson Tide to a 37-20 win over No. 11 Tennessee, their fourth straight victory over a ranked team.
Simpson completed 19-of-29 passes for 253 yards and two scores and has positioned Alabama in the heart of the national title race after the season-opening loss.
He has thrown for 1,931 yards with 18 TDs and just one interception and is hovering near the top 15 in most passing categories. He also has two TDs on the ground.
The folks at On3 have Simpson atop its staff poll — saying “(he is) in legitimate contention as a leading candidate for the Heisman” — with Mendoza a close second and Pavia a still-close third. They have Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed fourth with Sayin fifth.
On Mendoza, they said: “Having the third-most passing touchdowns in the country, along with a likely undefeated record for the Hoosiers, should be enough to have him in the running as a finalist in New York.”
Sayin led the top-ranked Buckeyes to a 34-0 win at Wisconsin, throwing for 393 yards and four TDs. He leads the country in completion percentage, connecting on 80% of his aerials (156-of-195) with 19 TDs and just three interceptions, good for the nation’s second-best QB rating.
Oregon QB Dante Moore is sixth in On3’s poll. He kept one-loss Oregon headed in the right direction with a 56-10 drubbing of Rutgers, passing for 290 yards and four scores with 49 yards rushing on three carries.
Georgia Tech QG Haynes King was seventh in the poll following the Yellowjackets’ 27-18 win at Duke in which he passed for 205 yards and ran for 120 more with a score. It was his fourth 100-plus-yard rushing effort, bringing his season total to 560 with 10 rushing TDs. He also has 1,176 passing yards.
Rounding out On3’s top 10 was Georgia QB Gunner Stockton, Bain and Love. Love ran for 228 yards in the win over USC and is seventh nationally in yards per game (108.29).
SBNation has Mendoza atop its latest top 10 rankings with Simpson second, Pavia third, Reed fourth and Sayin fifth. Six through 10 included Stockton, King, Love, Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy and Bain. Hardy has rushed for 840 yards and his 120 yards per game are third in the nation.
Heisman winner Robert Griffin III whittled down his weekly list of Heisman rankings to five this week and listed, in order, Sayin, Simpson, Mendoza, Pavia and King.
Brett McMurphy, part of On3’s staff, listed his top 5, which saw it go Mendoza, Simpson, Sayin, Pavia and Reed.
Let’s close with ESPN’s latest top 5, which featured Mendoza, Simpson, Pavia, Stockton and King.
Stockton is moving up following his 348-yard, five-TD performance in Georgia’a big win over Ole Miss. He has thrown for 1,553 yards with 10 TDs and one interception while rushing for 279 yards and seven scores.
