The Hunt For The Heisman News And Notes Entering October

The calendar has turned to October, leaves are turning every shade between gold and crimson and the college football season has turned the page following another eventful Saturday.

The Heisman Trophy race has turned into an unpredictable drama with seemingly new frontrunners every week. Three top 10 teams lost this week in ranked match-ups, upstart programs continued surprising runs and early Heisman favorites tried to climb back into the conversation. 

How voters are sifting through and processing the constant change is worth its own column.

For now, we’ll start with the writers from Athlon Sports, which moved Oregon quarterback Dante Moore atop its latest Heisman rankings following his strong Saturday leading No. 6 Oregon to a 30-24 double overtime win over No. 3 Penn State. 

Moore passed for 248 yards and three scores while also running for 35 yards, moving Oregon to 5-0. Athlon praised him for his poise under pressure (and under the big spotlight), citing plays like this.

The Athlon top 5 also featured — in the Nos. 2-5 spots — Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, injured Oklahoma QB John Mateer, Miami QB Carson Beck, and Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss. 

All five are spearheading undefeated teams. Four of the five schools posted strong Heisman candidates last year. They’re doing something right!

Bleacher Report included Moore and Mendoza in its 3-player top tier of Heisman favorites following Saturday’s play, the third player being Alabama’s Ty Simpson.

Simpson helped No. 17 Alabama orchestrate a 24-21 upset over host No. 5 Georgia, throwing for 276 yards and two TDs while his 2-yard TD run in the second quarter proved to be the decisive score. Simpson now has 11 TD passes without an interception in four starts and has two rushing scores. 

As for Mendoza, the first-year Hoosier led No. 11 Indiana to a come-from-behind win over host Iowa, connecting on a 49-yard TD pass with 88 seconds left for the go-ahead score. Mendoza is second nationally in QB rating (197.77) and has thrown 16 TDs and just one interception. He and the Hoosiers have an upcoming bye ahead of a tilt with Oregon.

Bleacher Report’s Heisman list included Chambliss, Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar and Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith in its tier two slot. 

Maybe most impressive is Chambliss, who replaced current New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart at QB seamlessly, leading the Rebels to a fast start, including a 24-19 win over No. 4 LSU. Chambliss, who played at Ferris State last year, passed for 314 yards and a score and also rushed for 71 yards on 14 carries.

Aguilar helped No. 15 Tennessee defeat Mississippi State in overtime, 41-34, to move to 4-1. The first-year Vol has passes for 1,459 yards and 13 scores while rushing for two more.

Let’s pivot to Heisman winner Robert Griffin III’s latest top 10 Heisman frontrunner list, which features Moore at No. 1 with Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy at No. 2 and Ohio State QB Julian Sayin at No. 3. 

Griffin is bullish on Hardy, writing “Ahmad Hardy is running like a Heisman,” and citing his seven straight 100-yard games dating to last year and his current streak of three straight 130-plus-yard games. Not to mention leading the FBS in rushing with 730 yards and a national-tying nine rushing scores.

The 2013 Heisman winner is also excited by Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson, who he called the best signal caller in college football, although he lists him at No. 10 in his Heisman rankings. Robertson leads the country in yards passing per game (342.6) with 17 TDs and three interceptions.

Also in Griffin’s top 10 were Chambliss at No. 4, followed by Mendoza, Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed, Vanderbilt QV Diego Pavia, Aguilar and Simpson.

The folks at on3.com polled its college football scribes and listed Moore as their top Heisman contender heading into the first weekend of October. He was followed by Simpson, Beck, Smith and Chambliss in the top 5 while Nos. 6-10 featured Mendonza, Sayin, Pavia, Aguilar and Reed.

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt is also big on Moore, saying on his podcast: “Dante Moore proved that he is on a very short list for the Heisman Trophy.”

ESPN released a ranking of every Power 4 QB after a month of the season and while not a Heisman ranking, we can certainly glean some Heisman hints.

USC’s Jayden Maiva topped the list, reporting that “he is one of only two to rank in the top 20 in both completion rate (70.5%) and yards per completion (16.2). Illinois was comfortably his worst game of the season, and he still threw for 364 yards with a Total QBR of 85.5.”

Pavia was second on the list while Chambliss was third, Mendoza fourth and Moore fifth. Nos. 6 and 7 — Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby and Notre Dame’s CJ Carr — aren’t on the Heisman radar right now but keep an eye out if their numbers remain strong. Same for No. 10 Jalon Daniels at Kansas, who has passed for 1,262 yards with 250 rushing yards and 17 total TDs.

We haven’t seen Georgia Tech’s Haynes King on many lists, but he has the Yellowjackets at 5-0. King has passed for 758 yards and three scores, but he has done a ton of damage with his feet, rushing for 380 yards and seven touchdowns.

King passed for one TD — and a season-best 243 yards — and ran for two more in Tech’s 30-29 overtime win at Wake Forest, including a physical 2-yard scoring run to start overtime. The Yellowjackets, featuring Heisman winner Chris Weinke as assistant head coach, are 5-0 for the first time since 2014.