The college football regular season is in the books but before we shift all of our focus to the College Football Playoff and bowl games, there will be some hardware handed out. The Heisman trophy race has been a lopsided affair since early on in the year and it appears as though there is nothing stopping Louisville’s star quarterback from picking up the award this year. On Monday night, ESPN announced the five finalists for the award as we now know who will be in New York in the audience. Although Jackson is the heavy favorite, here is a look at the five Heisman Trophy finalists along with some insight into their chances of winning:
QB: Lamar Jackson, Louisville
Jackson threw for 3,390 yards and 30 touchdowns with an additional 1,538 rushing yards and 21 scores in total this season. No other player in the country even comes close to Jackson in terms of the overall production and that is why he is listed as a ridiculous -2500 sports betting favorite to win the award. The only argument against Jackson towards the end of the season was the fact that he struggled with turnovers over the course of back-to-back losses at Houston and then home to Kentucky to close out the regular season. However, Jackson’s numbers are simply too good to overlook and nobody will be surprised when he wins the Heisman trophy.
QB: Deshaun Watson, Clemson
Watson finished with a flurry as he threw for over 600 yards and nine touchdowns in back-to-back wins over South Carolina and Virginia Tech to wrap up the season. However, for as good as those numbers were they weren’t enough to make up for a relatively sub-par season overall. Watson struggled with consistency throughout the season and even though he played some of his best football in the Tigers’ biggest games it won’t be enough to challenge Jackson. Watson threw for 3,914 yards and 37 touchdowns with an additional 529 rushing yards and six scores so while he won’t win the Heisman he does deserve to be in this discussion.
S: Jabrill Peppers, Michigan
Peppers’ versatility made him an intriguing candidate to challenge for the Heisman as he lined up all over the field for the Wolverines taking snaps on offense, defense and special teams. However, the numbers simply weren’t there overall even if Peppers did show flashes of his elite ability. The junior safety made a strong impression overall this season but in the end his numbers weren’t nearly good enough to earn a legitimate Heisman nod.
QB: Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
Mayfield completed 71.2-percent of his passes for 3,669 yards and 38 touchdowns but in the end it was a slow start that cost him an opportunity to truly contend for a Heisman trophy. The Sooners dropped their opener at Houston and then lost to Ohio State in their third game of the season and that was enough to doom their playoff chances out of the gate. Oklahoma closed out the season with nine straight wins with Mayfield playing some of his best football of the season in wins over Texas, Texas Tech and Iowa State but in the end it is the Sooners’ slow start that stands out as the biggest reason why he isn’t higher on this list.
WR: Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma
It came as a little bit of a surprise that two players from Oklahoma made the list as Westbrook joined Mayfield. In many ways, it’s hard to argue against Westbrook, who was arguably the best receiver in the country this season. He finished with 1465 receiving yards and a whopping 16 touchdowns (on 74 receptions). He had over a 100 yards receiving in seven of his last eight games with the lone miss being an 88-yard effort. He also caught a touchdown in nine straight games. He won’t win the award but getting the nod here was impressive.
Notable Omission
QB: Jake Browning, Washington
Browning missed the cut, surprisingly even though Browning was the most influential player on a team that’s going to the CFP. He led the Huskies to a Pac-12 championship in his sophomore season, playing some of his best football down the stretch before a relatively mediocre performance versus Colorado in the Pac-12 title game. His numbers speak for themselves – 3280 passing yards, 42 touchdowns and just seven interceptions – but unfortunately for him, he won’t be heading to New York.
Get lines on all of the college football bowl games and bet on the Heisman Trophy right here!
