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Finally, Vegas bettors have realized what I’ve been saying in this column every week. There’s no chance Caleb Williams wins the Heisman. Their odds, coupled with some media’s decision to continually bring up Williams as a Heisman hopeful, nearly drove me insane. Kudos to the guy for playing great games against Texas, TCU, Kansas, and Texas Tech in the first four starts of his career, but..... those teams all suck.... bad.
So when Caleb Williams faced a team that didn’t suck, Baylor, he struggled. Williams went 9 of 18 for 142 yards and two picks. On the ground, he added 17 yards on 10 carries.
And just like that, his Heisman hopes were..... about what they were before, which is to say nothing.
Matt Corral had a chance to make a statement against Texas A&M, and even though the team got the win, Corral didn’t really seize the moment. His receiving corps is held together with tape and glue, but Corral played a pretty average game.
His QBR of 58.2 against A&M was NOT GOOD, and he didn’t really do anything on the ground to make up for it. Still, he helped the team come up with the win to move to 8-2 with a real shot at 10-2 on the year.
He’s an excellent quarterback. It’s just a shame that injuries have robbed us of the ability to see him cook for an entire healthy season.
CJ Stroud | QB | Ohio State | +150
There’s a new favorite in Vegas. Stroud’s 81% completion, five touchdown game against #19 Purdue pushed him over the edge, and rightfully so. He has been unstoppable this year (expect by Oregon lol) while rolling up 30 passing touchdowns to only five interceptions. His season QBR of 89.4 is magnificent. It was beginning to look like he would surpass Bryce Young, and this performance definitely put him in prime position for the award.
Bryce Young | QB | Alabama | +200
Statistically, Young was even better! He threw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (2), finishing 21 of 23. But this monster game came against New Mexico State. Readers might remember that former Ole Miss center Eli Johnson transferred to New Mexico State where he could start. More power to the guy, but I can’t imagine he was expecting a 1-9 season. But back to Bryce Young, there’s a fascinating development here. It looked like Young would have two huge chances to prove himself to close out the year against Arkansas and Auburn. Unfortunately, with Bo Nix out for the year, it’s tough to imagine Auburn being much of a fight. This means Young really may finish the season having played really well but never having to push himself on a national stage.
Kenneth Walker III | RB | Michigan State | +350
Ho hum. Against Maryland, Walker rushed for 143 and two touchdowns to bring his totals to 1,473 yards and 17 touchdowns on the year. It’s astonishing that this 1-loss Wake Forest team had him all last season and only got 4.9 yards per carry from him. I don’t know who to blame, if anyone, but.... like.... what happened?