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Heisman Watch 2017: Week 4

By Cody Williams

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 16: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the Tulane Green Wave at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Tulane 56-14. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 16: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the Tulane Green Wave at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Tulane 56-14. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Only three weeks into the college football season and the 2017 Heisman Trophy race is already much different than we would’ve thought.

Early in the college football season is hands-down the hardest time to evaluate the Heisman Trophy race. That’s the case for a number of reasons, the most obvious of which is that there is such a limited sample size. We’re only three weeks into the 2017 season, and even past winners have had bad games sprinkled in their season. So what if a player had a rough outing in one of their early three games? That could hurt their early candidacy.

Take a player like Sam Darnold for instance, the quarterback for the USC Trojans. He entered the 2017 campaign as the favorite to take home college football’s most prestigious award, but hasn’t lived up to that billing thus far. However, if he were to turn it up a notch from here on out while leading USC to an undefeated season, do you really think he wouldn’t be right at the top of voters’ lists?

Also making things difficult, though, is the way that schedules have played out to this point. Some players have had the opportunity to shine and step up against top competition already, while others haven’t had that chance just yet by no fault of their own. Subsequently, those that have been able to have those moments have an early advantage.

The point of all of this is to say that things are rapidly changing in college football as a whole, but particularly in regards to the Heisman race early in the season. Having said that, let’s take what we’ve seen and see how the race is shaking out heading into Week 4 of the 2017 season.

5. Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon

What does Royce Freeman have to do to start being taken seriously by everybody in terms of getting Heisman Trophy consideration? The Oregon Ducks have been impressive to start the 2017 college football season, starting out 3-0 and looking like a potential dark horse — or at least a team that’ll make things tough for the contenders — in the Pac-12. And behind all of that has been the play of Freeman, who’s been a driving force in the offense.

This past week in a rout of Wyoming, the senior running back carried the ball 30 times for 157 yards and found the end zone on three occasions. Though he caught only one ball on the day, he took that one reception for another 50 yards. Over three games, Freeman has yet to accrue less than 150 yards in a single game and has at least two rushing touchdowns in each game. He’s now got 460 rushing yards and nine scores on the ground for the season with 109 receiving yards to his credit as well.

Freeman is doing everything he can to this point to get noticed. However, it’s most likely going to take him keeping this up for now and either doing the same or being even better when the Ducks get into the heart of Pac-12 play. Beating up on Arizona State likely won’t do much for his candidacy in Week 4, but a strong October as Oregon faces Wazzu, Stanford, UCLA and Utah could put him in the thick of the race.

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