The Heisman Buzz As The Final Stretch Nears

Week 10 offered another round of drama and upsets that shook the college football landscape, its aftershocks shuffling rankings, potential CFP positioning and, of course, the Heisman race.

No. 4 Notre Dame upset No. 1 Miami and sent the Hurricanes tumbling to No. 5. No. 3 Utah defeated No. 7 BYU, sending the Utes to No. 2, the Cougars to No. 12. No. 2 Georgia beat No. 12 Ole Miss and assumed the top spot in the AP poll while UCLA rose to No. 4 after improving to 9-0 with a win at Minnesota.

Only the Bruins and Utes remain undefeated heading into the the second weekend of November, and if you predicted that sentence in September, we’ve got some questions for you.

A Notre Dame quarterback gaining Heisman momentum in November is a more common sentiment, which is what’s happening after Fighting Irish signal caller CJ Carr orchestrated the big upset over the Canes.

Carr passed for 319 yards and three scores, out-dueling fellow Heisman contender Darian Mensah, who passed for 269 yards and his own trio of scores despite missing fellow Heisman hopeful and leading receiver Malachi Toney.

• (The Heisman fan vote uses a season-long weighted model, developed in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Center, that gives greater weight to votes cast later in the year as the body of work grows and conference races intensify). •

The Athletic’s weekly poll remains bullish on Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith despite the Buckeyes’ suffering their third loss of the season, this time against Oregon. Smith nabbed 16 of 24 staff votes, while second-place Carr received four. Mensah was third in the polling while Ute QB Devon Dampier was fourth, Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker fifth.

The Athletic on Carr: “That performance Saturday night against Miami vaulted him back into the thick of this race. And Carr has the numbers to back it up, with 21 touchdowns and just one pick, and he’s quarterbacking a Playoff favorite.”

Dampier passed for 177 yards and two TDs and also rushed 20 times for 89 yards and two more scores in Utah’s 28-20 win over BYU. He’s risen to No. 4 in Bleacher Report’s latest rankings.

Bleacher Report ranked Mensah first. The Miami senior has thrown for 2,694 yards and 28 TDs against two just picks. It lists Carr second, the Irish QB boasting a 21-to-1 TD to interception ratio along with three rushing TDs and a win over a No. 1 team. Smith was third, followed by Dampier with Georgia QB Gunner Stockton fifth.

Smith is second nationally with 1,200 receiving yards and is tied for first with 14 TD catches.

Stockton’s stock, ahem, remains solid. He is completing 70.9 percent of his passes and has thrown for 1,857 yards and 20 scores, including four TDs on nine completions in the blowout over Mississippi.

The On3 poll has Mensah ranked just ahead off Smith with Carr not far off in third. Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop earned On3’s fourth spot in the staff’s Heisman rankings following his fifth straight 100-yard effort in a win over Kentucky. He has 1,066 rushing yards and 13 scores on the ground.

Mestemaker as fifth in the On3 poll and a rising Keelon Russell of Alabama in sixth. Mestemaker just threw for over 300 yards in his eighth straight game in a win at Kansas State. He leads the country with 29 TD passes and is second with 2,962 yards. Russel led the Crimson Tide to a win at LSU to keep Alabama at two losses, throwing for three scores.

Duke running back Nate Sheppard remains a Heisman contender as he continues to post big numbers, including five touchdowns two Saturdays ago against Boston College and 217 yards and three TDs against North Carolina State last weekend. He is second nationally with 1,189 rushing yards and fourth with 17 TDs.

Yahoo Sports’s top five Heisman candidates includes Oregon State QB Braden Atkinson, who — along with wide receiver revelation Jesse Legree — has provided the Beavers with an exciting offense. Atkinson leads the country with 3,169 passing yards while Legree’s 1,209 receiving yards are also No. 1. OSU is coming off two tough losses but will have ESPN’s GameDay on site when they visit Boise State this weekend, providing a boost for their long shot candidacies.

The service academies both feature impressive offensive performers putting up huge numbers. Navy QB Jackson Gutierrez has rushed for 1,159 yards and 18 scores and has passed for eight TDs. Army QB Cale Hellums has rushed for 908 yards and also has 18 rushing TDs to go with four TD passes.