Heisman Watch 2017: Is the race already over?
It’s finally time for Championship weekend, one of the best times in college football, but is the 2017 Heisman Trophy race already decided?
The regular season has (almost) subsided around college football. There are still a few straggling games left to be played, but now it’s time for the start of the postseason. No, we aren’t talking about bowl games just yet — instead, it’s all about Championship weekend as conference titles will be decided in a number of clashes between highly touted and ranked teams.
Many years, this is the week where Heisman Trophy candidates can really separate themselves and, ultimately, clinch the award when it comes down to it. After all, what better way to prove that you’re deserving of college football’s most prestigious individual award than by a performance that leads the way to a conference title? However, that’s not the case this season.
For much of the 2017 campaign, there have been guys proclaimed as “the guy” that’s going to win the award. However, “the guy” has changed numerous times for a number of reasons. But now that we’re sitting just under two weeks away from the ceremonies and official announcement in New York, “the guy” is pretty clear-cut and isn’t likely to change.
Crazier things have happened, but it does indeed seem like the race is over. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five players that are even in the running at this point, and who tops them all as the almost assured eventual winner.
5. Saquon Barkley, RB, Penn State
There was undoubtedly a point in the season where “the guy” that we previously mentioned was Saquon Barkley. The Penn State Nittany Lions running back started out the 2017 season like gangbusters and it didn’t appear that there was a defense in college football that could stop him. However, that changed as he was stopped largely against Indiana. And then he was bottle up for most of the game against Northwestern, and so began his fall.
Put simply, Barkley was just too mediocre during the heart of the regular season to be worthy of winning the Heisman Trophy. His final game of the campaign was arguably a microcosm of that. Yes, Penn State thrashed Maryland to the tune of 66-3. But in that type of game, you’d expect Barkley to be better than just 16 carries for 77 yards, even if he found the end zone twice. When talking about Heisman-caliber numbers, that’s a pedestrian stat-line.
His 16 rushing touchdowns on the season are undeniably impressive, as is Barkley as a player. By my estimation, he’s worthy of a top-five pick in the forthcoming 2018 NFL Draft. But be it because of a porous offensive line or just a lack of consistency, he’s not seriously in the running for the Heisman anymore. And with the Nittany Lions not in the Big Ten Championship, he won’t have anymore chances to change minds either — as if he could at this point.