Saquon Barkley’s magnificent showing in a crucial Big Ten matchup solidified his place as the top Heisman Trophy candidate entering Week 9.
With the emergence of Bryce Love as the spark for the Stanford Cardinal offense, the once foregone conclusion that Penn State running back Saquon Barkley would win the 2017 Heisman Trophy seemed far less certain. Love was out in Week 8 of the 2017 college football season as Stanford had an open week on the schedule. In the interim, though, it was up to the Nittany Lions star to prove himself.
Barkley and Penn State welcomed the vaunted Michigan Wolverines defense to town. Given recent performance, the running back needed to show he’s worth his salt in this game. And he took about a minute to do just that as he and the Nittany Lions tore Jim Harbaugh’s team apart.
It’s been evident for some time that the Heisman Trophy race is going to come down to the running backs. Baker Mayfield is trying his damnedest to stay relevant, but it’s just not the same level of dominance that we’re seeing at running back. With that said, this is a race that’s changed so much already that you can’t rule out even more drastic changes moving forward.
Having said all of that, let’s take stock of everything in the 2017 Heisman Watch going into Week 9 of the college football season.
6. Will Grier, QB, West Virginia
As a whole, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the West Virginia Mountaineers are just an above-average college football team and nothing more. They sit at 5-2 on the season with a 3-1 record in Big 12 play, but just narrowly escaped McLane Stadium in Week 8 against the winless Baylore Bears. With that said, it’s scary to think how poor this team might be without Will Grier at quarterback.
The former Florida Gators signal-caller (think they’d like to still have him in the program in Gainesville?) has been unbelievable this season. As per usual, the driving force of West Virginia has been their offense, but Grier has been the engine making that unit run properly. In the win over Baylor, Grier threw for 375 yards and five touchdowns while throwing no interceptions and completing 70.3 percent of his throws. Even crazier, though, is that’s really par for the course for him this season.
On the year now, Grier has thrown for 2,467 yards, 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions while completing a solid 66.3 percent of his passes. It’s simply the truth to say that the Mountaineers would be a non-factor if not for the phenomenal play of their quarterback. And though it may be short-lived because the team could lose again, Grier at least deserves his due for one week coming off a fantastic performance.