Did Christian McCaffrey lose the Heisman with Washington dud?

Christian McCaffrey and the Stanford Cardinals turned in a stinker against the Washington Huskies, but are McCaffrey’s Heisman chances already over?

The Washington started the preseason ranked number 14 despite finishing unranked last year. They came in to the season with a lot of hype, and all they’ve done so far is prove it. Through five weeks, the Huskies are 5-0, and their average margin of victory has come by 32.6 points. Their closest game so far was an overtime win over Arizona.

But since a lot of people go to sleep before Pac-12 After Dark, Washington needed a statement win to prove they were for real. They got that when they beat up Stanford 44-6 to improve their chances of making the playoff. As Biggie Smalls once said, if you don’t know, now you know. And once again, their defense was the key to victory, as Christian McCaffrey was held out of the end zone.

Contrary to what you might think, his final stat line wasn’t bad at all; it was just poor by his standards. He finished with 223 all-purpose yards, with more than half of those coming on special teams. But he was visibly frustrated, as the Huskies defense limited him to 4.1 yards per carry, and 6 yards per reception.

It was an all too familiar scene, as any college football fan who watched that game surely recalled Leonard Fournette’s performance against Alabama last year. Through the first eight weeks of the 2015 season, Fournette had the Heisman locked up. He was the first, second, and third candidate for the trophy, and nobody even had Christian McCaffrey or Derrick Henry on their radar.

But when LSU and Alabama came face to face, the Crimson Tide won 30-16. Henry put up 210 yards and three touchdowns while Fournette had 91 yards and a score. And as the Tigers kept losing, Alabama rose to No. 2 in the CFP rankings while Henry averaged 30 carries a game down the stretch. By the time the Heisman was awarded, Fournette didn’t even finish in the Top 3.

So can Christian McCaffrey still win the Heisman? Stanford’s dud against Washington wasn’t on him, and he’s still one of the best all-around talents in college football. And with the Cardinals looking to get back in the win column, they’ll continue to look to McCaffrey to provide an offensive spark.

Stanford is going to be okay. Their schedule is very winnable from here on out. None of their remaining opponents are ranked which means they could easily run the table. Even though their Washington loss effectively rules them out of winning the Pac-12, McCaffrey has a great chance to pad his stats.

But if McCaffrey couldn’t win the Heisman last year despite a historic campaign, he shouldn’t win it after a game like this. Even if Stanford blows their opposition out of the water, the Heisman committee shouldn’t be impressed by big games against Washington State, Rice, and Oregon State to name a few. And even before this week, McCaffrey wasn’t garnering the national attention that Lamar Jackson and J.T. Barrett have.

When the Heisman voters look back, they will remember the performances each candidate had against big-time opposition. Lamar Jackson’s five-touchdown effort against Florida State, and J.T. Barrett’s four-touchdown performance against Oklahoma have already stood out. McCaffrey has been steady, and consistent, but he hasn’t had a monster game. And a loss like this has only pushed him further out of favor.

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As things stand, Jackson, Barrett, and Deshaun Watson are the three front-runners for the Heisman Trophy, and they all have big games ahead to further their case. If Watson goes off against Louisville, people might end up pushing Lamar Jackson off to the side. But since he doesn’t have a big opponent left on the schedule, it’s safe to say Christian McCaffrey’s Heisman chances are over.