Heisman Watch 2018: Top 5 hopefuls look ahead to Week 3
Every week I’ll name my top five candidates for the 2018 Heisman Trophy, looking ahead to what they’ll face in the coming week.
After the first two weeks of the 2018 college football season, no one has really jumped out as a runaway leader for the Heisman Trophy. The top candidates are all bunched up, all delivering outstanding performances in their first two games.
The potential Heisman list did take a hit, however, with the loss of Oklahoma running back Rodney Anderson who is out for the season after going down with a knee injury against UCLA.
The list of top five candidates hasn’t changed much from last week, but some of the Heisman hopefuls will begin to face much stiffer competition as we get into conference play.
Coming in at 10-6:
10. Drew Lock: Quarterback, Missouri Tigers
9. Eric Dungey: Quarterback, Syracuse Orange
8. Justin Herbert: Quarterback, Oregon Ducks
7. McKenzie Milton: Quarterback, UCF Knights
6. Kyler Murray: Quarterback, Oklahoma Sooners
Holding steady at number five is one of the players I had on my list of dark-horse candidates to win the award in 2018.
2018 Stats: 42 of 53, 546 yds, 9 TD, 1 INT
Next Game: @ TCU
While some may have Kyler Murray sitting above Dwayne Haskins in their rankings, I give the nod to Haskins because of dealing with the coaching situation going on at Ohio State, as well as taking on two Power-5 opponents to open the season (albeit, not the most powerful Power-5 opponents).
Week 3 brings a real test for both Haskins and the Buckeyes. Their third Power-5 game comes against a team who could be the biggest challenge to Oklahoma in the Big 12, the TCU Horned Frogs.
A road game against a very good team will give us a more accurate depiction of what to expect from Haskins.
TCU has a tenacious, attacking defense that will really test the ability of Dwayne Haskins to read coverages and escape when needed. His receivers will also have a more difficult time finding space beyond the linebackers when facing the TCU secondary.
Haskins may not put up some of the ridiculous numbers he did against Oregon State and Rutgers, but if he can come out the game against the Horned Frogs with a minimal number of mental mistakes and certainly turnovers, then he’ll remain in the thick of the Heisman hunt.